Where Is Daisy Cakes From Shark Tank Today?
How did a supposedly un-investable startup eventually bloom into one of Barbara Corcoran's most successful companies? It's all because of some delicious family recipes, one determined entrepreneur, and a little bit of help from Corcoran herself. Daisy Cakes originally began in the south, where Kim Nelson's love for baking was a generations-old family affair.
Using farm-fresh ingredients, her Great Aunt Daisy and grandmother developed cake recipes that Nelson became quite familiar with as a child. As a business-savvy adult, Nelson still uses those same recipes and even some of the same kitchenware. For example, Nelson exclusively uses her mom's old enamel pot to make lemon curd.
After she and her mom turned all of this into a baked-good delivery service, Nelson went on Season 2 Episode 6 of "Shark Tank," seeking an investment that would help them meet the high demand they'd drummed up. More specifically, Nelson asked for $50,000, offering up 25% equity. The judges all loved her cake, but Daymond John, Kevin O'Leary, and Robert Herjavec — as well as the Guest Shark — dismissed Nelson's venture as being too small to invest in.
Corcoran agreed, but she liked Nelson and her edible wares. So, she decided to "take a flier," as Corcoran put it — and the gamble paid off! Over the years, Nelson has continuously returned to "Shark Tank," sharing updates about her journey. She also wrote two cookbooks. Seemingly nothing could stand in Nelson's way.
Nelson became a recurring character
Season 2 Episode 6 of "Shark Tank" premiered in 2011. Just one year later, Daisy Cakes made a second appearance during Season 3 Episode 7. Within this update, Nelson confirmed Daisy Cakes had benefited from the "Shark Tank" bump, securing an average of $100,000 in sales each month. "Because of this huge increase in orders," she explained, "I was forced to find a larger bakery." The small kitchen Daisy Cakes used was replaced by one with walk-in ovens, making it 20 times more productive. Instrumental in this success was Corcoran, whose intelligence and networking skills made this growth possible.
Circa 2013, Daisy Cakes was featured for a third (but not final time) in Season 5 Episode 9 of "Shark Tank." Yet, Nelson was only shown as being present at Fire Island, the annual weekend retreat Corcoran holds in her summer home for what she calls her "most successful 'Shark Tank' entrepreneurs." Corcoran's definition of success? "They're making me money!" she proclaimed (while also mentioning the creation of many new American jobs).
The 2010s continued to be good to Daisy Cakes. In 2014, Nelson published her first cookbook, and just four years later, in 2018, she followed it up with a second tome. It wasn't all good news, though, and the early 2020s, of course, were tough on all sorts of businesses. How did Daisy Cakes overcome its hardships?
Daisy Cakes is as fresh as a daisy
As of 2023, Daisy Cakes is still in operation, selling jarred, four-layered, and seasonal cakes online. However, in 2020, Nelson admitted to Yahoo she'd faced many challenges in building this 2,000-cakes-a-day business. Following its TV debut, Daisy Cakes' website crashed and its phone lines went down. Nelson hadn't anticipated such demand nor did the "Shark Tank" producers or even Corcoran herself, back in those early days of the show.
The growing pains didn't stop there. Those large-scale bakeries Daisy Cakes moved into yielded subpar products. "We ended up losing 6,500 cakes due to poor quality at the cost of $165,000 — that would have translated into $300,000 in sales," Nelson noted, claiming it was a miracle the company survived. Corcoran advised Daisy Cakes to move operations back home, something that worked well for a time. Eventually, though, expensive shipping rates forced Nelson to move to Las Vegas to open up a second bakery that could easily service the American West.
In 2020, Daisy Cakes returned to "Shark Tank" for the final time — for now, at least — during Season 12 Episode 12. The company remained one of Corcoran's favorites, having achieved $8.5 million of sales to date. In fact, despite the economic upheaval of the pandemic, Daisy Cakes fared well as an online delivery service that provided quarantining consumers with comfort food. So much for being too small to invest in!