Mango Mango, mango preserves, entered the Shark Tank in Season 5. Their episode is rerunning on December 19.
Heavy interviewed Lakesha Brown-Renfro, one of the owners and product executives, to see how their company is doing today.
To read all of Heavy’s Shark Tank coverage, click here.
1. They Estimate 300% Growth After ‘Shark Tank’
They received 15,000 orders in the 48 hours after the show.
Before appearing on the show, they were selling to only three Whole Foods stores. Presently, they can be found in all of the chain’s stores in the Mid-Atlantic region. They are also sold in a number of specialty stores in both the US and Canada.
The picture above is of their savory mango vinaigrette.
2. A Group of Women Started It
Three women started a event and party planning company, Simply Panache. One was a military spouse, one a nurse, and the other, a physician.
After making countless recipes for their catering venture, the recipe for mango preserve always seemed to stand out from the rest, which sparked the idea for the company. The product contains only four ingredients, mango fruit, pure cane sugar, vanilla extract and fresh lime juice. It is all natural, with no artificial flavors added.
“Our clients loved the preserves so much, we knew that the next step was to commercially manufacture them and form our second company, Simply Panache Products,” Brown-Renfro explained.
3. It Can Be Used in Over 100 Ways
Besides simply spreading it on toast, it can also be whipped into cream cheese for a fruit dip, or put into vinaigrette salad dressing.
Brown-Renfro explained the plethora of possibilities:
You can easily maneuver from sweet (mix with cream cheese for a delicious fruit dip) to savory (shake with red wine vinegar and olive oil for a mangolicious vinaigrette) to spicy (stir with our Spicy Jammin’ Ginger PARTY Mix spice blend and shrimp for our scrumptious mango ginger shrimp). You can glaze a ham for the holidays, sweeten your tea, pair it with brie.
Watch the video above, where the founders explain their beginnings and recipes.
4. They’re Opening a Restaurant
The picture above is of their bistro, which will open in the spring of 2015. It will serve breakfast, lunch and weekend brunch. Of course, the menu will be replete with mango-inspired recipes.
Behind the restaurant is their manufacturing building and the second floor will house their corporate office.
Other future plans include a January 2015 launch of a Mango Cocktail Sauces line. Later, they will also introduce mango chutney, vinaigrette and mixed drinks.
5. Their Last 2 QVC Orders Required 20,000 Mangoes
They sold out both times they were featured on QVC.
The product is hand stirred in small batches. To fulfill both those orders, they needed 20,000 thousand mangoes! The picture above is of their mango cream cheese.