"My strategy was to get the Sharks interested in the product itself, get them chewing, and then hook them with my social good story," Evan Delahanty said.
AKRON, Ohio - Evan Delahanty, founder of Peaceful Fruits acai-infused fruit strips, is pitching his business on the hit ABC show "Shark Tank," on Friday, Feb. 10, trying to convince the panel of wealthy entrepreneurs to invest in his venture.
Delahanty, a former Peace Corps worker in Pikin Slee, South America, started the fruit snacks business to help the Saramaccan villagers in the Amazon Rainforest who harvest the main ingredient: antioxidant-rich acai berries.
Peaceful Fruits converts the dark purple acai berries into all-natural fruit strips that are gluten-free, non-GMO, ethically traded, and suitable for vegan and paleo diets. Each 2-inch by 3-inch strip of fruit leather contains about 25 acai berries, Delahanty said.
The fruit strips are made, packaged, and shipped by workers at the Hattie Larlham Food Hub and the Blick Center in Akron, some of whom have developmental delays.
"Shark Tank" airs at 9 p.m. EST on Channel 5 (WEWS) here in Cleveland. The "sharks" on the episode are: Mark Cuban, Daymond John, Kevin O'Leary, Lori Greiner, and Robert Herjavec.
"It was an incredible process, working with the producers to craft a pitch that was 100 percent Evan and Peaceful Fruits, but would also fit the audience -- not just the Sharks, but the millions of people at home," Delahanty said. "It was half MBA, half theater class, and 100 percent the big leagues!"
Peaceful Fruits' founder Evan Delahanty on "Shark Tank." Delahanty, a Peninsula native who graduated from Old Trail School in Bath, Walsh Jesuit High School in Cuyahoga Falls, and Cornell University, said acai berries can be sustainably harvested to provide a livelihood for the ethnic African people who live there, without harming the rainforest where they grow.
Since launching Peaceful Fruits in 2014, he has sold more than $25,000 of snacks online and through local retailers such as Mustard Seed and Krieger's Market in Cuyahoga Falls.
Peaceful Fruits is hosting a watch party and Q&A from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at the Mustard Seed Market & Cafe, 867 W. Market St., in Akron.
He will appear in an episode themed "America's Heroes" that also features a firefighter and his wife's fireproof bags, a pediatric nurse who invented a vibrating mat to calm crying babies; and a former Army intelligence officer and his business partner from Portsmouth, Ohio, who created a healing ointment from essential oils.
"Walking into the Tank was an incredibly surreal experience," Delahanty said. "It was like stepping into your TV and suddenly it was really happening!"
"My strategy was to get the Sharks interested in the product itself, get them chewing (literally, making TV is hungry work!) and then hook them with my social good story," he said.
"On TV, the Tank is non-stop and high energy. In real life, it's the same thing times 10! These are five high-level, Type-A all-stars -- and they are used to getting answers. Talking over each other, coming at you from every angle, and asking followups or debating you while someone else is already asking the next one!
"There is editing for length, of course, but it's not 'TV magic' with multiple takes, etc. It's hectic and live and the Sharks are evaluating you every second - it's one of the highest pressure things I have ever done, and also one of the most fun!"
Legally prohibited from discussing the outcome before it airs, Delahanty said he, too, is looking forward to seeing the episode for the first time.
"I guess the world will see how good of a job I did on the 10th!"