Whatever Happened To Banana Loca After Shark Tank?
"Shark Tank" Season 13, Episode 9 introduces the Sharks to a particularly memorable business idea in Banana Loca. Renee Heath and Bechara Jaoudeh present a neat kitchen tool that can core a banana and fill it with delicacies such as jam or peanut butter before it's even peeled. Banana Loca is already a fun gadget, but the pitch work truly drives home the product's potential. Heath and Jaoudeh kick things off with a giant banana mascot, back up their product with decent figures, and even add a fun interactive element that reels in multiple sharks.
It's no wonder, either. The Banana Loca owners bring the sharks an attractive business proposal and a fun product with manufacturing costs of roughly $6 per unit and a retail price of $26.99. As such, Heath and Jaoudeh's quest to acquire $250,000 in exchange for a 25% stake in Banana Loca gets plenty of interest. Their "Shark Tank" visit succeeds, but how have the product and the company behind it fared since the show? Here's a look at what Banana Loca has been up to since appearing on "Shark Tank."
What happened to Banana Loca on Shark Tank?
Banana Loca's "Shark Tank" turn in December 2021 went very, very well. Renee Heath and Bechara Jaoudeh give a fun, relatable, and visually captivating presentation. They establish the need for a product that allows you to eat bananas and assorted spreads without making a huge mess — and then demonstrate how said product works, ending their pitch with a fun little dance and Banana Loca-themed jingle. They even get the sharks involved by giving them a chance to try the product themselves, which the investors do with visible glee.
From the beginning, the sharks seem invested in the presentation, and when the time comes to actually invest, three of them remain interested enough to put their money on the line. Robert Herjavec, Kevin O'Leary, and Mark Cuban all offer deals, but at the end of the day, O'Leary and Cuban team up to put down $250,000 for a 25% share in Banana Loca. This is much in the same way that, Herjavec and Lori Greiner join forces to finance Pretty Rugged in "Shark Tank" Season 14.
Heath and Jaoudeh take the deal with O'Leary and Cuban and agree to pay the duo a $3 royalty per every sold product until the two investors recoup the $250,000.
Banana Loca after Shark Tank
As Bechara Jaoudeh said during the "Shark Tank" pitch, they already had an impressive $134,000 in sales in just five months before they came on the show — with very little marketing. While they had already invested around $224,000 in Banana Loca, they had an attractive product, and their production, stock, and distribution were in order. As such, apart from a cash influx, the thing they truly needed from "Shark Tank" was visibility to help promote the product.
On this front, the appearance was definitely a success. The product went viral on TikTok, as people who'd seen it on "Shark Tank" tried to use it. When Heath and Jaoudeh noticed that some of the people were lambasting the product because they weren't able to use it in a correct way — something Daymond John also struggled with on "Shark Tank" — they addressed the issue by improving the product manuals.
The immediate impact of the "Shark Tank" effect was also considerable. Banana Loca received over 11,000 orders after appearing on the show, which meant nearly $300,000 in sales at the quoted retail price of $26.99 per unit.
Is Banana Loca still in business?
Banana Loca is still very much around. The kitchen gadget has received a price hike since "Shark Tank," as the product's official home page and Amazon both sell it for $28.99. The product's price was a point of concern for some of the "Shark Tank" investors, but it appears that the company has kept this in mind. The Banana Loca home page also offers a comparatively cost-effective "Shark Tank special" deal of two units for $55, complete with free shipping and handling.
Possibly to address the difficulties some users have reported, the Banana Loca website features several how-to videos that teach how to assemble, use, and maintain the apparatus. In case a Banana Loca owner can't figure out what they want to stuff their banana with, the company also offers several recipe ideas. These range from healthy options to topical Halloween bananas and opulent pudding fillings.
What's next for Banana Loca?
While the company has focused its marketing on bananas, Renee Heath noted in a 2022 interview with New Jersey Monthly that people have indeed been getting pretty creative with Banana Loca. "My mom uses it to put cottage cheese in a cucumber," she said. "We've had people do fun things like inside-out hot dogs, putting the mustard and ketchup inside. And with sausage and peppers, putting the marinara inside. I've seen cake and cupcake decorating, filling a churro with Nutella, jalapeño poppers filled with cream cheese, all sorts of things."
This is something Banana Loca has the potential to expand upon — in more ways than one. The Banana Loca YouTube channel already has a how-to video of the cottage cheese and cucumber recipe, but while the possibilities that come from opening the product's marketing to include other food items might seem obvious, Heath has a more surprising vision for Banana Loca's future success. "My hope is to one day have a food service version," she said. "So think about an ice cream parlor making sundaes, or smoothie stores and pretzel shops. We can have different outlets that actually retail bananas with whatever filling is appropriate."
On the surface, Banana Loca may seem like a fairly one-dimensional curiosity gadget. However, with so much untapped potential, who knows what new Banana Loca heights Heath and Bechera Jaoudeh may yet achieve?