Spretz, an all-in-one breath and hand freshener, entered the Shark Tank on January 8. Heavy interviewed creator Tony Gauthier about his unique and refreshing product that’s all natural, yet effective against odors. “We didn’t want to add any additives or crazy chemicals to Sprëtz,” he explained. “I just wanted fresh feel and something that worked to freshen breath.”
Here is what he told us about…
To read all of Heavy’s Shark Tank coverage, click here.
How The Idea Came About
I was hosting a non-profit fundraiser and I went outside to have a quick cigarette. A little embarrassed, I didn’t want to return to the event smelling like smoke, but I also felt as though I needed some cologne or mints or smell-good lotion for my hands in order to remove the harsh odor of the cigarettes. As I searched for gum, or mints, and cologne and or lotion, I noticed I only had one piece of gum and nothing for my hands. So I opened up the gum wrapper and popped a piece of gum in my mouth. Here comes the gross part, I then, after chewing the gum for a few seconds, placed the gum in hands and began rolling the gum in my hands to absorb the odor on his hands. But it was at that moment in time that the light bulb went off. I knew I was onto something. We all know that the smell of cigarettes can leave the hands with a terrible odor let alone the breath, and this is why Sprëtz was created. After realizing I was on to something huge, I quickly teamed up with a friend of mine who is a professional chemist, to create and design an 100 percent-all-natural formula that the world would appreciate and love.
Researching to Create the Product
There is always more to learn. Learning about the industry, the business, competitors and ingredients…We are relentlessly researching in order to provide our customer with an exceptional product. Working with my friend who is a professional chemist, we researched for many months for a product that had dual uses and we came up with nothing. There was nothing on the market that could freshen both your breath and hands simultaneously. Yes, there is gum, mints and colognes, but nothing that did two things from just one product. I would always ask why, but that just helped to fuel me to move forward with Spretz. We tested the formula, we’ve done focus groups and performed market research on breath sprays and/or hand fresheners. We researched other companies that have chemicals in their products and we just didn’t want to go that route. We’ve research the ingredients and which ones were best to use for the purpose of Spretz.
How He Got Into the ‘Tank’
Belief, pure belief! Going on Shark Tank has always been something I wanted to do. I would always joke about it like, “One day we’re going to Shark Tank, watch.” And that one day came to pass. We heard through the social media grapevine that BUILDUP, a tech VC out of San Francisco, was going to be hosting a Shark Tank open casting call. So we did everything we could to make sure we went and made it happen! Talk about speaking things into existence!
The Future of Spretz
Our goal is to continue to grow Spretz from a small business into a nationally known, if not worldwide company that will provide freshness to the world one Spretz at a time. To be in stores both large and small, airports, bus depots, gas stations, sports arenas, you name it. We want everyone to be able to use Spretz.