After dipping their toes in shark-infested waters, Verity Noble and Rachel Irons decided to pull out.
The two founders of local grocer Nude Foods, which describes itself as “zero waste,” decided against a cash infusion from Robert Herjavec and Kevin O’Leary, two of the celebrity investors on ABC’s “Shark Tank.”
During an episode that aired March 11, the pair went in asking for $250,000 for 5% of Nude Foods and left with a deal for the same cash amount in exchange for 20% equity. Herjavec and O’Leary went 50/50 on that proposal.
Shortly after the episode aired, Irons said giving up that much equity “hurts a little bit,” but they were “OK having a smaller piece of a bigger pie.”
On Tuesday, however, Noble said that, while going through due diligence over the past several months, that 20% figure loomed larger and larger. During that process, the Sharks also flagged that they don’t have a ton of expertise in the grocery world, she said. So the company pulled out.
Instead, Noble said Nude Foods, which has two stores in Denver and Boulder, hopes to raise $1 million from angel investors. She’s starting to take meetings this week and is being advised by Jeffrey Hollender, the co-founder of Seventh Generation, which makes cleaning products that aim to be eco-friendly.
Noble also hopes to add $300,000 to a recently completed $500,000 crowdfund round, which gave small-scale investors equity in Nude Foods.
“The most important thing is our community, and they’re the ones that have supported us and helped build Nude Foods,” she said. “They’re the ones who’ve invested already, and we’d rather favor them and keep this local and not give away too much power.”
She and Irons will still use the money to add stores locally and beef up marketing spend, something that hasn’t been a big line item for the grocer in the past. The two also are looking for a new spot for their original Boulder store, which opened in 2021, and a bigger distribution center, which is currently in the back of that outpost.
Nude Foods sells its produce, snacks and premade meals in glass jars, which customers return empty to the store when they shop for their next round of groceries. The store cleans the jars and refills them.
Irons vets all of the store’s vendors to make sure the food and supply chains are up to the marketap standards, she said. Forty percent of the store’s items are sourced from Colorado.
“Itap really just enabling us to get to a size where we can make this really work,” she said of the capital infusion.
Despite not getting a deal with the Sharks across the finish line, going on the show wasn’t a bust, Noble said.
She said she’s seen sales increase 20% across the board at the two stores. In Denver at 3538 W. 44th Ave., that number is a bit higher, she said. Engagement and “local chatter” have also exploded in the past month, Noble added.
In 2023, Nude Foods lost $420,000 on $1.5 million in sales, investor materials show. In 2024, the business lost $350,000 on $1.8 million after adding the Denver store. Last year, it did $2.4 million and was “not quite” profitable, according to Noble.
“People tend to love the idea of what we do, but they forget that they actually have to change their habits and come shop with us,” Noble said. “People would be distraught if we ever closed down, and they’d say, ‘Man, we should have gone and shopped there.’
“If you want this kind of local business, you actually need to make the change and go shop there and not just admire it from afar.”
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