Whatever Happened To Wine & Design After Shark Tank?
Wine & Design first appeared on "Shark Tank" in Season 8. Presented to the Sharks as an art studio where you go to drink, relax, and get creative, entrepreneurs Harriet and Patrick Mills originally asked for $500,000 for 10% equity in their company. Their evaluation seemed particularly ambitious, but they had the sales and the franchise locations to back it up. All of their locations were women-owned, and they had a trajectory to do $10 million in revenue.
According to "Shark Tank's" official recap, this got the ball rolling as a discussion amongst the Sharks kicked off. Mark Cuban went out early on, as he had doubts about the numbers the entrepreneurs offered. Lori Greiner and Barbara Corcoran thought that such a company had too much competition, so they also both went out. Robert Herjavec made an offer, but ultimately they made a deal with Kevin O'Leary after all the back-and-forth.
While Harriet and Patrick managed to secure a deal in the "Shark Tank," it's been several years since they appeared on the show in 2017. Since first pitching to the Sharks, Wine & Design has done a lot with the investment they made.
After Shark Tank, Wine & Design grew rapidly
As many businesses pitched on the show do, Wine & Design boomed after it premiered. Since its "Shark Tank" debut, the business has received nonstop hype and dozens of new franchises and partners. Kevin O'Leary was invited to Raleigh for the 82nd store opening back in 2019, even acting as a model for a "Shark Tank" recap and the company's celebration of a million masterpieces. The connection between entrepreneur and investor appears to be strong.
"Harriet Mills continues to work as the CEO of Wine & Design, with the company claiming that its sales revenues have grown between 35% to 47% every year since 2011," the official recap claims. Despite O'Leary originally being weary of the business model presented by Harriet and Patrick, Wine & Design is one of his most profitable deals to come out of the Tank.
"It's a very successful model because if you can get more franchises to open faster, everything works for everybody," Kevin O'Leary commented on why the rapid success of the company continues to build.
More recently, Wine & Design has introduced Art Wellness Programs by partnering with the American Art Therapy Association. Due to COVID-19, they have also worked on virtual classes that send supply kits and step-by-step how-to videos to the customer's homes. Even now, despite the pandemic, the many franchises opened through Wine & Design are still thriving.
"Since day one, our mission has been to create the greatest art experience we can for anyone wanting a fresh, surprising way to connect with the people in their lives," Mills said on the Wine & Design website. "After 10 years, it is clear that paint-and-sip is not just a trend — wine will never go out of style and the design world is always evolving."