In 2018, a meal delivery service offering convenient, nutritious kids’ dinners for busy families appeared on Shark Tank and drew the attention of a reality TV star.
That service is Yumble, and the actress who fell in love with it was Bethenny Frankel.
Aside from stunning viewers in The Real Housewives of New York, Bethenny is also quite business savvy! She has appeared as a guest shark on several episodes of Shark Tank, and it’s there where she took a liking to Yumble.
As a mother herself and a keen food entrepreneur, Bethenny saw the value behind Yumble’s mission to help busy families serve healthy meals to their kids.
That’s why she was ready to invest $500,000 in the company in exchange for a 6% share of the total revenue!
Wondering what happened to Yumble, Bethenny, and the company’s food options after the Shark Tank appearance? We’ll take a deep dive into:
Read on to learn how is Yumble doing!
The Story of Yumble
Yumble traces its beginnings to a humble mom from Englewood, New Jersey.
Joanna Parker noticed that she wasn’t the only parent struggling to put healthy dinners on the table for her kids; many families – especially busy ones – were dealing with this problem too!
With an opportunity on the horizon, Parker launched a mission to help parents feed their kids with nutritious and delicious meals – all without compromising on precious family time.
This led to the idea of a food delivery service that allows parents to cook healthy, tasty dinners without having to spend hours each evening.
When it first started, Yumble meals were delivered weekly in a refrigerated box that could be heated in two minutes or less.
And getting those meals delivered was also a piece of cake! All you had to do was visit the website, select meals, and enter your delivery and payment information. Just like that – nutritious dinners sorted out for days or even weeks.
Yumble meals are built on food made of healthy, fresh, and balanced ingredients. The online meal selection feature also made choosing dinner options a great bonding experience for families!
Although Yumble is mainly focused on younger children (aged 3 to 6), it has options for everyone else too.
There are all sorts of choices that are designed to suit varied preferences. Not only do these foods cater to all dietary requirements, but they can also satisfy the pickiest of eaters.
Yumble still mainly operates on a meal plan subscription system, with plenty of options to suit mealtime needs.
While you can also choose to purchase individual meals, going for a subscription will end up saving you money in the long run!
And if that’s not enough, the packaging contains activity sheets and trivia cards to keep your little ones entertained. All in all, Yumble is a fun service for kids and takes the stress away from mom and dad.
Bethenny Frankel's Deal with Yumble
In 2018, Joanna Parker appeared on Shark Tank to try to snag investors for her growing business.
There, she asked for an investment of $500,000 in exchange for 4% of the business. With that amount, she and her husband David Parker could focus on expanding the business and generating sales.
As part of their pitch, the two dished out samples of Yumble meals and explained the current situation of the company. At the time, they already had $1.3 million in sales and a monthly growth rate of 30%.
During that episode, Bethenny Frankel was a Guest Shark who was impressed by the company’s business model.
When Shark Kevin O’Leary raised concerns over how Yumble would stand up against competitors such as Whole Foods, Frankel was quick to defend the company!
She suggested that the company was more similar to Lunchables because the meals were already prepared. It wasn’t just a case of a box of ingredients that customers had to cook by themselves.
Frankel eventually negotiated with Parker and offered to invest the $500,000 in exchange for a 6% share of the business revenue.
The business move made sense for Frankel. After all, she already had other food and beverage businesses under her belt including her own Skinnygirl cocktails, dressings, and popcorn.
What Happened to Yumble After Shark Tank?
After filming the Shark Tank episode, Yumble founder Joanna Parker stated that she was extremely excited to work with Frankel and described her as “the perfect partner” as she was both a mother and foodie herself.
Parker intended to use the $500,000 investment to expand delivery and make Yumble a nationwide company. However, you may be surprised to learn that the $500,000 deal was never finalized!
Despite that, Yumble benefited from the increased brand awareness and publicity after appearing on Shark Tank. The company received alternative investment and continued to grow and expand.
In December 2022, Yumble as we know it was discontinued and bought out by Dibz Kidz. An Instagram post by Yumble in February 2023 introduced “a new chapter of Yumble”, and announced a new lineup of ready-to-eat, shelf-stable school lunches!
Today, Yumble is still in business, but the offerings have changed. Instead of providing convenient dinner meals, Yumble now focuses on school lunch bags and snack packages.
The items within each lunch bag are mostly pre-packaged, mass-produced goods. Additionally, the foods offered seem to be less health-focused. This is a far cry from the fresh meals that Yumble initially offered.
As such, it’s understandable why many customers have criticized the company and complained that the lunch box offerings are something parents can prepare themselves at a cheaper cost and with minimal effort.
How Much is Yumble Net Worth Today?
At the beginning of 2023, Yumble was valued at an estimated $8.3 million. The company’s long-term performance and valuation since its rebranding remains to be seen!
Conclusion
To recap: while guest shark Bethenny Frankel took a liking to Yumble’s business model on a 2018 episode of Shark Tank, the proposed deal never went through.
However, the Shark Tank appearance was still a success for Yumble as it built brand awareness and increased company sales.
Since then, Yumble has gone through multiple important changes.
After being bought by Dibz Kidz at the end of 2022, the company has mostly changed its offerings to focus on ready-to-go school lunch bags containing pre-packaged snack foods.
This is clearly different from the company’s original concept of offering fresh, nutritious, and convenient dinner meals.
Although Yumble is now barely recognizable for long-time fans, it’s still kept itself afloat. They’ve worked on their aesthetics and returned with a new and improved website after a brief “summer break”!
FAQs
Yes. Yumble is still in business, proudly serving up food options to parents who stand to benefit from freeing up their time. However, as we’ve noted, the company’s current product line is quite different from what it was on the Yumble Shark Tank appearance.
Yumble is still doing well in 2023 even though its product range, mission, and target markets are quite different from when it first started. After being bought out by Dibz Kidz, Yumble has rebranded.
Not everyone is happy with the change, however; customers have complained about the use of artificial ingredients and unnecessary packaging.
While many people believe Joanna Parker was Yumble’s CEO, the CEO was actually her husband David Parker who worked for the company until late 2022.
