‘Shark Tank’: Will Saavy Naturals Stack Up To Past Natural Skin Care Companies And Land A Deal?

Saavy Naturals won’t be the first natural skin care company to pitch Shark Tank, but it may be one of the few that has expanded its home-based operations into a brick-and-mortar store. The Orange County Register reported Thursday that Saavy Naturals is one of the new businesses at Pacific City in Huntington Beach. The husband-and-wife team opened their doors just one day before their Shark Tank pitch is due to air.

So, will they land a deal? Fans of Shark Tank can almost hear the immortal words of “Mr. Wonderful,” Kevin O’Leary, saying there is nothing proprietary about the product and he doesn’t know the brand. But similar things have been said about other natural skin care lines that have pitched Shark Tank, and they’ve left with a deal — or at least the promise of one.

What may make Hugo and Debra Saavedra stand out is their background in food rather than skin care. According to the Saavy Naturals website, the couple owned restaurants and grew edible flowers and herbs. That eventually led them to transition to skin care, following the philosophy that whatever you put on your skin should be as natural as what you would eat. A press release posted Tuesday revealed the line is available at the company’s online store, at Whole Foods Market, and other retailers.

Fans of Shark Tank have seen proprietors of many natural soap and skin care lines stand on the carpet in front of the investors. In February, 2012, there was the cleverly-named You Smell, and an equally engaging entrepreneur in Megan Cummins. Cummins considered offers from Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran before accepting $55,000 for 20 percent of her company from Robert Herjavec. As CNet reported after the episode aired, however, the deal fell apart in due diligence. Without the ability to fund inventory, Cummins was struggling to fill orders, especially after her Shark Tank episode aired. As of November, 2015, the You Smell website was offline and the company’s Twitter feed hadn’t been updated in more than a year.

A happier tale was that of Simple Sugars’ Lani Lazzari, who pitched a company she started at the age of 11 when she was only 18. She secured an investment of $100,000 for 33 percent of the company from Cuban, who told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in May, 2014, that “Lani works hard and has a good [handle] on her business so my job has been easy.” At the end of 2013, Simple Sugars had sales of $2.1 million, up from $80,000 the previous year.

SWAG Essentials, whose owner Lydia Evans did not secure a deal with the sharks, did get an offer from Daymond John to take his phone number, in case he’s single in the future. The move was prompted after John asked Evans if she was married during her original pitch and Evans responded that she likes “long romantic walks to the bank.” Evans updated the Shark Tank viewers this season, reporting she’d expanded her product line beyond a loofah soap. Her sales were six times what they had been before the show, and she was able to move operations out of her home.

.@SWAG_Essentials left the tank without a deal but walked away with so much more. https://t.co/ggSsruZfdL

— Shark Tank (@ABCSharkTank) November 4, 2015

Then there was Nando’s Natural, a skin care company using all-natural ingredients — including coconut oil — run by four brothers from Tampa Bay, Florida. They got an investment from Barbara Corcoran. Although, sadly, one of the brothers passed away unexpectedly, the company continues to enjoy success, giving a positive update to Shark Tank viewers in February, 2014.

Fans who want to see how the latest skin care product entrepreneur fares on Shark Tank can see Saavy Naturals do their pitch starting at 9 p.m. on ABC.

[Main photo courtesy of Saavy Naturals/Instagram]