The Dough Bar: Here's What Happened After Shark Tank
Bay Area donut makers Ondrea and Marquez Fernandez brought their "hole foods" revolution to "Shark Tank" during the show's ninth season, and shocked the sharks with their pitch. It wasn't just the couple's direct-to-consumer donuts — made at the aptly named The Dough Bar — that impressed, but also their visual presentation, which included a bodybuilding customer, Dan Zigler, breaking through an adjoining wall to demonstrate the donuts' efficacy as part of a healthy diet. The sharks appeared genuinely surprised by the breakthrough moment.
Zigler's flex was a visual illustration of the product's healthy bona fides, but the couple also noted that they bake, rather than deep fry their donuts, which are low in fat and sugar, and packed with protein. In fact, each donut contains an estimated 11 grams of protein. The proof of concept was in the strong sales numbers. Since starting their website-based business in June 2015, the couple had sold nearly 300,000 donuts and garnered more than $1.2 million dollars in sales. That translated to better than $500,000 per year on average, given that their "Shark Tank" episode aired in January 2018. But according to their projections, they were about to top $1 million in sales in a single year for the first time.
What happened to The Dough Bar on Shark Tank
The sharks on this episode — Barbara Corcoran, Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, and Alex Rodriguez — were impressed by the Fernandez's record of sales success with The Dough Bar. They looked favorably upon the donut makers' robust return customer rate, and also noted Marquez's SEO and social media acumen. The couple was seeking $300,000 for 15% equity in their business, and they didn't have to wait long for the offers to begin rolling in.
It's true that Mark Cuban never made an offer. Barbara Corcoran, however, was in from the beginning and got a bidding war started with a "sharky" offer of $300,000 for a 30% stake. Lori Greiner quickly countered that offer, which she easily topped by offering $300,000 for only 20% equity. The strength of this offer caused Herjavec to opt out.
Former baseball star Alex Rodriguez complicated the proceedings by roping Greiner into his own offer, which upped the investment to $400,000 but pushed the equity back to 30%. This team-up by the two sharks spurred Corcoran to revise her own offer to $300,000 for 25% equity, and she called the Fernandez's "my kind of people." She didn't feel that was true for Greiner, who appeared hurt by this characterization. Corcoran battled hard to win the deal, and when the Fernandez's asked her to lower her equity ask to 20%, she did, and the deal was done.
The Dough Bar after Shark Tank
The Shark Tank spotlight gives a boost to many businesses, and that turned out to be the case for The Dough Bar, as within nine months of the episode airing, they were closing in on $2 million in online sales for the year. New investor Barbara Corcoran recommended a focus group to help refine their offerings, including new products, and the results were impressive. Corcoran even said, "They're an inspiration to every entrepreneur out there."
Like many direct-to-consumer businesses, the Fernandez's chose retail as an avenue to greater growth. A little over a year after their Shark Tank appearance, in April 2019, the couple opened a bakery in Fort Collins, Colorado, called The Doughnut Club. A pop-up store in Broomfield, Colorado, would soon follow. These physical locations did not prove long-lasting, however, and by October 2019 the Fernandez's Fort Collins location had closed due to The Dough Bar's bankruptcy filing.
What went wrong? The reasons were unclear, but whatever they were, they appeared to be fixable. By June 2020, the Fernandez's had reopened The Doughnut Club at the same location in Fort Collins. "We want to find the best balance to offer our product locally as well as continue to grow the online business," Ondrea Fernandez told the Coloradoan.
Why did The Dough Bar go out of business
The recipe for reinvention appeared to be new products. When The Doughnut Club reopened in Fort Collins in 2020, it featured more than just protein-packed donuts. Protein-boosted items like cinnamon rolls and monkey bread were also added to the menu.
The reboot worked. Within one year of reopening its Fort Collins bakery, the company had expanded to four locations, including one in Denver, Colorado. After some fits and starts, The Dough Bar finally seemed headed for long-term success, having firmly established itself with online sales and in the retail arena.
It was not to be, however. The Dough Bar shut down in 2022, but for reasons that had nothing to do with business. Instead, as the Fernandez's noted in a farewell message on Instagram, the closure was precipitated by serious health complications for their newborn infant daughter, who had to be airlifted to a hospital after suffering kidney failure, and likely requiring a kidney transplant. The couple quite rightly prioritized their family over business success, and based on their previous history — Marquez worked as a nurse in the Bay Area before becoming a full-time donut entrepreneur — are as ready as any parents can be for the challenges ahead.
What's next for The Dough Bar
Given the Dough Bar's history of overcoming tough times, it shouldn't be a surprise that the business may yet rise again. On May 5th, 2023, one year to the day after the couple announced they were closing the business, a new message was posted to the company's website. It read: "We're working on a few exciting things on our end! STAY TUNED!!!" and was accompanied by an announcement that The Dough Bar was opening soon.
What could be next for The Dough Bar? The four retail-oriented Doughnut Club locations were closed in August 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. When The Dough Bar itself was closed for family reasons in 2022, it returned to its roots as a direct-to-consumer business. Perhaps if it returns in this capacity, it can recapture its "Shark Tank"-era magic, when it peaked with more than $2 million in annual sales.
All the company's loyal customers can do now is wait for more news, and hope it's good.