Product labels can make or break sales. This is why we at Pro-Motion Industries work hard to guide all our clients toward the right labeling choices. We then apply industry best practices to ensure that every package that comes off the line is of excellent quality.
In this blog, we are sharing the success story of one of our clients: Simply Good Jars. Sounds familiar? That’s because Simply Good Jars was featured in the hit reality show Shark Tank.
What is Simply Good Jars?
Simply Good Jars is a Philadelphia-based startup that breathes new life into the packaged salad market with its grab-and-go jars. People can easily mix their salad by just shaking the jar. They can also eat straight out of the jar even while they’re on the go.
The company has five salad offerings, each sold for $10.99 a jar:
- SouthWestern Cobb
- Smoked Salmon
- Simply Greek
- Heavenly Pesto
- Chicken Quinoa
Who is behind Simply Good Jars?
The company was founded by chef-turned-entrepreneur Jared Cannon. After an 18-year career in the restaurant industry, Cannon took up an MBA at Temple University’s Fox School of Business. While spending late nights studying, he found himself eating too many unhealthy ready-made meals. That’s when he thought of selling healthy food and making it accessible.
So after graduating in 2017, Cannon launched Simply Good Jars with a $1,000 loan. To “revolutionize” packaged salads, he came up with an innovative packaging technique: the patent-pending SMARTJAR technology. This technology keeps salads fresh for two to three times longer than normal without preservatives. By using such packaging, the company can provide restaurant-quality salads in convenient, easy-to-carry jars.
How does Simply Good Jars sell its products?
Simply Good Jars initially sold its products in refrigerated vending machines that were stationed in places with “captive audiences,” such as airports, convention centers, universities, and office buildings. The company encouraged customers to return the used jars to cut down on the company’s environmental impact.
However, with the stay-at-home orders brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, Simply Good Jars was forced to pivot to a home delivery business model before finding its footing in retail stores. Since all the ingredients it uses are sourced from within a 500-mile radius of its production facilities, the company was able to fulfill almost 99% of its wholesale orders in 2021. This is in stark contrast to its competitors, which had more scattered supply chains, limiting them to only half of Simply Good Jars’s production capacity.
Unfortunately, the shift in business model ended the company’s jar return policy and threatened to derail its goal to keep its jars out of landfills. To solve this issue, the company today asks customers to pledge to reuse, repurpose, or recycle the used packaging. Customers simply need to scan the QR code on the jar to make such a pledge. And for every pledge received, Simply Good Jars donates to a local food drive.
What happened to Simply Good Jars on Shark Tank?
Cannon pitched Simply Good Jars to the show’s five “sharks”: Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Kevin O’Leary, Robert Herjavec, and Daymond John. He came in seeking a $500,000 investment in exchange for 7% equity.
All five sharks were impressed by Simply Good Jars’s tasty salads, innovative packaging, and sustainability mission. However, they were concerned about the company’s financial situation since a lot of money was sunk into the refrigerated vending machines from the original business model. The company was even projected to keep losing money until it had scaled up to national distribution by its target time frame of 18 months.
Given the financial risk, O’Leary offered $500,000 as a loan at 9.5% interest for a 7% stake in the company, while Herjavec and John did not make any offer at all. Eventually, Simply Good Jars scored a $500,000 investment from Cuban and Greiner in exchange for 10% equity.
How is Simply Good Jars doing today?
Cannon had to keep his shark connections a secret until the episode aired in Shark Tank‘s 12th season. After the episode was taped, Cuban and Greiner started helping Cannon grow the business in different ways, mainly by expanding the company’s retail distribution. Within two days of the episode airing in March 2021, Simply Good Jars’s website traffic skyrocketed and the company received hundreds of inquiries from various geographical locations. Since being featured on Shark Tank, the company’s sales have ballooned by 1,200%!
Today, Simply Good Jars is sold through the meal delivery platform goPuff, in hospital cafeterias, local coffee shops, and the following retail stores:
- Walgreens locations in Chicago
- Sheetz convenience stores
- Wawa convenience stores
- Weavers Way Co-Op
- DiBruno Bros.
The initial sales in Wawa convenience stores were five times what Cannon expected. In January 2022, the company opened a new production facility in Florida to accommodate the skyrocketing demand.
The company is currently in the process of patenting its packaging process in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Once it has secured the patents, Simply Good Jars may expand internationally in 2023.
How has Pro-Motion Industries helped Simply Good Jars?
Pro-Motion Industries has been working with Simply Good Jars for quite a while now. Aside from labeling its products, we have been guiding its team as they explore investing in their own labeling equipment. By having their own equipment, they can conduct in-house labeling in some of their remote locations, which could potentially bring down their costs. As Simply Good Jars further expands its geographical reach, we will continue in our commitment to helping them achieve continued success.
Want your business to be the next success story? Outsource your labeling needs to us. Alternatively, let our labeling experts guide you in purchasing the labeling equipment that best meets your business requirements. Contact us today at 856-809-0040.