Quevos Egg White - Shark Tank Update

Quevos began not in a commercial kitchen or a food science lab, but with a simple observation Zack Schreier made while cooking eggs at home. Zack had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a teenager - a condition that made snacking more stressful than enjoyable, since nearly every chip or cracker on the market spiked his blood sugar and required an insulin injection in response.

One day while cooking, he noticed the thin, extraordinarily crispy layer that forms at the very edges of a fried egg white and realized it behaved structurally just like a chip. Together with his college friend Nick Hamburger, Zack spent two years developing a recipe that could scale.

The process involved countless failed batches and iterative refinements to baking temperature and ingredient ratios, ultimately landing on a formulation made from egg whites, milk, and coconut that delivered the satisfying crunch of a traditional chip without the carbohydrate load that triggered Zack's insulin management. The final product launched in four flavors - Quevos Rancheros, Sour Cream and Onion, Dill Pickle, and Honey Mustard - each retail bag costing just $0.83 to manufacture while selling for approximately $3, producing gross margins strong enough to fund early growth without outside investment.

The founders committed fully to the business: both Nick and Zack dropped out of college, with their parents' blessing, to pursue Quevos full-time. Their dedication paid off quickly.

A Kickstarter campaign in 2019 raised over $70,000, validating consumer appetite for low-carb, egg-white-based snacks before the product had any retail shelf presence. They used that momentum to begin placing Quevos in mom-and-pop health food stores, Vitamin Shoppe locations, and Hannafords supermarkets.

By the time the founders filmed their Season 12 pitch, they were on track to generate $3 million in sales in 2020 - a remarkable figure for a company less than three years old, achieved despite the COVID-19 pandemic reshaping their distribution mix. Approximately 80 percent of revenue was flowing through online channels as retail foot traffic collapsed during lockdowns, while the remaining 20 percent came from roughly 400 physical stores stocking the product at time of filming.

When the episode actually aired in January 2021, that store count had already grown beyond 1,000, reflecting the operational momentum the founders had built independently. Another key differentiator was manufacturing: unlike most snack brands that outsourced production, Nick and Zack had built a proprietary in-house manufacturing process, giving them greater quality control and the ability to manage costs as volume scaled.

They entered the Tank asking for $200,000 in exchange for 5 percent equity - reflecting confidence in both their $4 million valuation and the competitive dynamics they expected once the Sharks heard their $3 million revenue trajectory.

The pitch drew competing offers from two experienced food investors. Kevin O'Leary proposed a royalty-based structure: $200,000 in exchange for a ten-cent royalty on every bag sold until he recouped $400,000, plus 2.5 percent permanent equity.

Daniel Lubetzky, the founder of KIND Bars appearing as a guest Shark, countered with $200,000 for 10 percent equity plus an additional $200,000 line of credit - a total capital package of $400,000 alongside equity participation. Nick and Zack chose Lubetzky, attracted not just by the deal terms but by his operational background.

As the architect of KIND, Lubetzky had spent two decades scaling a snack brand from a garage startup to a global product line, and he was intimately familiar with the Whole Foods and natural channel retail ecosystem that Quevos was targeting. The deal closed.

In advance of the air date, Lubetzky invested in a packaging redesign for Quevos, recognizing that shelf appeal was critical in competitive retail environments before millions of viewers encountered the brand for the first time. In the two weeks following the January 2021 episode, Quevos recorded $500,000 in sales - a spike driven by the national television audience.

Lubetzky then invested an additional $1.35 million into the company post-show, doubling down on his conviction. The founders also raised a further $3.6 million from outside investors, giving them substantial runway to professionalize manufacturing operations and expand distribution nationally.

In a Forbes interview, Lubetzky described his strategy with Quevos: he saw enormous potential but wanted the founders focused on building what they had rather than spreading too thin. Full-year 2021 sales topped $2 million.

The retail footprint grew from 400 stores at time of filming to over 1,500 locations, adding Whole Foods, GNC, Vitamin Shoppe, and Wegmans to the distribution network. Quevos was invited back for an update segment in Season 13, Episode 9, at which point the founders reported lifetime sales of $3.2 million, presence in over 1,500 stores, and sales volumes at Whole Foods that had tripled since the original episode aired.

In January 2023, Quevos was acquired by Joe Oblas, former CEO of Stryve Foods, with financial terms of the transaction not publicly disclosed. In June 2024, co-founder Zack Schreier launched a new venture called Lifestacks - a company making coffee creamers infused with nutritional supplements - continuing his track record as a health-focused food entrepreneur building products designed around his own personal wellness needs.