Bread is a basic necessity for households as it is rich in complex carbohydrates. However, some people avoid bread because it is unhealthy. Founders William and Christine Schumacher pitched Uprising Food on Shark Tank but were unable to land a deal. As of 2024, Uprising Food is valued at $0 as the company shut down on March 28, 2023.
William and Christian Schumacher
William and Christine Schumacher are a married couple living in Cincinnati, Ohio. William has a degree in marketing from Wright State University, and his wife studied psychology at Ohio State University.
After college, William worked as a bank analyst at KeyBank and gained brand management experience at Procter & Gamble. He led the group’s Olay North America division for more than a year. Kristen has worked in sales and marketing at Nehemiah Manufacturing Company and Trunk Club.
Bread Revolution
William and Christine both grew up in entrepreneurial families. They also love sports and pay attention to health. Later, the couple decided to create a brand that would have a significant impact on the food market.
Eventually, they connected with artisan bakers Mark and Sarah Frohmeyer and came up with the idea of creating bread without gluten or dairy, making it suitable for keto and paleo diets. William serves as CEO and Kristen as chief brand officer.
Uprising Food, originally called Uprising Bread, launched in 2019 and made $85,000 in its first year. In 2020, sales were just under $1 million, and six months into 2021, they had revenue of $2.1 million.
Uprising Food Promotion
Uprising Food had no problem selling, but the company was burning through cash. William and Kristen believed they could reach profitability with greater scale. The couple appeared on Season 13 of Shark Tank, seeking $500,000 for a 3% stake.
The founders were confident in their product and the sharks liked the taste. However, the sharks were surprised to find out that the bread retailed for $12! That was way too much for a small loaf of bread. William also used a lot of buzzwords and jargon, which seemed to annoy Mark Cuban.
The high price and low profit margins put the Sharks off. The valuation was unrealistic, and the business wouldn’t be profitable even with $5 million in sales. The couple went home without a deal.
Post-Shark Tank Updates
Despite the criticism, the Schumachers embraced the feedback. After the episode aired, Uprising Food revealed in a press release that they were surprised by the positive response to their product. Uprising Food closed on March 28, 2023.
They packaged the bread with other products like prebiotic chips, sweatshirts and cooking aprons. The price went up from $12 to $15 a loaf, which made it harder to sell bread given the cost of living crisis.
The company’s 5-in-1 prebiotic kit has an average of 4.5 stars out of more than 2,300 ratings. Negative reviews mention the taste, and some complain about the rubbery texture. Although Shark Tank has reduced its customer acquisition costs, the company is still not profitable.
In January 2023, William landed a part-time job at PrettyDamnQuick, a checkout-to-delivery platform, as the Lead E-Commerce Growth Specialist. It was clear that William was a talented digital marketer, but selling bread was a tough business.
Categories: Shark Tank
Source: svlsf.edu.vn