Cannes winner pitches family mithai brand on Shark Tank India; gets no deal despite Anupam Mittal calling it a ‘goldmine’

What is Pistabarfi?

Carrying the family legacy forward, brothers Tanay and Harshit decide to revive their family business that had shut down during the lockdown. They rebranded traditional sweets with modern and convenient packaging and sizes. With design-forward packaging and strong brand collaboration, they said they aspire to give mithai a global makeover. Sharing their story, Tanay added, “In the lockdown, the family business of sweets shut down, so we decided to revive it again.” In September 2021, after they put a few pictures on Instagram, Vogue covered them, and they collaborated with Puma and Nykaa, too.

Also Read: Shark Tank India pitcher breaks down during questioning, nearly cries while explaining numbers before closing Rs 1 crore deal

 

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Harshit shared that he is also into full-time film production, and shared that he works as a producer in ad films and feature films, and was one of the executive producers in All We Imagine As Light, which won at Cannes last year. While Tanay fumbled sharing sales figures, Harshit prompted him, which left the Sharks a little underwhelmed.

Varun Alagh asks the founder to quit film production

While the ‘Sharks‘ were impressed with the packaging and the vision, the lack of strong passion in the founders became a red flag. Sharing his feedback on the product, Anupam Mittal lauded Tanay and Harshit and said, “The product is very good. When my daughter was born, I had insisted that we send Pistabarfi to everyone. I love it, so thank you; you reminded me of that taste again.”

However, with limited sales channels and a lack of visibility on quick commerce platforms, food delivery apps became a major concern for Kunal Bahl, Varun Alagh, and others. Sharing his views, Varun said, “You’ll do product intervention, but the biggest problem is you guys are not available on platforms where consumers come daily for food.” Anupam added, “Kuch to baat hai aap nahi bata rahe ho. (There is something you’re not sharing).” Vineeta also enquired if there was some problem at the family level.

 

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Further, when Varun asked Harshit if he would quit film production and join the business full-time, the founder refused, leading to Varun Alagh opting out. Varun said, “Harshit is the heart of the business, and he is not giving his full time to it. Harshit, if you get an investment, will you quit your production career and fully join this business?” Harshit says no. Soon after this, Varun announces that he is out.

Anupam Mittal felt extremely disappointed with the founders

Namita also opted out, stating that the business is not investible given the profit margin and revenue is in lakhs. Sharing her views, Vineeta also opted out and shared, “In season 2, we invested in a similar brand, they were also two brothers, and their ask was the same. We invested, and then because it wasn’t making any money for them, they changed their minds. So, unless you intend to do this full-time, please don’t raise capital from me or anyone. But once you figure out how to grow this, please come to me. I will definitely be interested in investing in his business.”

Kunal also announced his exit from the deal and told how the founders didn’t realize the brand’s potential. He said, “In any business, just the product is not important; momentum is necessary, and that builds with the founder’s intensity. I was getting worked up inside, seeing how you guys don’t understand how big an opportunity this is. Feel the pain to build something. Hopefully, you’ll make this brand reach its potential.”

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Anupam also shared how he was extremely disappointed and added, “Our family business was of making sweets, so I thought this was the opportunity to re-associate with it, but this is not the way to build a great business. If you cannot see this goldmine in front of you, aap kya hi kar loge? (What will you do?) My heart still wishes the best for you, good luck, and prove us wrong.”

So far, the Sharks have invested a total of Rs 18 crores with 9 successful deals out of the 17 pitches made. Anupam Mittal has invested in five ventures and put in a total of Rs 4.25 crores. Aman Gupta has invested Rs 4 crores in 3 ventures. Namita has invested Rs 3 crores and joined 4 pitchers in total. Kunal Bahl has invested a total of Rs 2.88 crores, while Mohit, Amit, and Ritiesh have invested a total of Rs 50 lakhs each so far.

Shark Tank India 5 airs on Sony TV and streams on SonyLiv every Monday to Friday at 10 pm.