The two sharks who seemed the most interested in Kate Field's Kombucha Shop were Barbara Corcoran and guest shark Sara Blakely. The two went in together to give Field $200,000 plus a $150,000 line of credit in return for 10 percent equity. Not quite what she was asking for, but pretty close. As it turned out, Field had already built the Kombucha Shop into a thriving, primarily online business. What she had started in 2013 with just $800 of her own money was already moving $1.7 million in sales, and Field herself was able to pay herself $500,000 a year from her business.
What Field needed, as she told the somewhat stunned sharks, was advice and expertise, particularly in the area of brick-and-mortar retail. Whole Foods, as Field said, had proven a particularly hard nut to crack, as she hadn't managed to get in touch with anyone who could get Kombucha Shop kits onto their shelves. Corcoran and Blakely both believed that was something they could help out with. While Field accepted the sharks' offer, the deal was never finalized after the cameras stopped rolling. That being said, as so often happens after an appearance on "Shark Tank," the publicity boost translated into a big increase in sales for the Kombucha Shop. It would also appear that the deal with Whole Foods finally came through. According to Field's LinkedIn, she sold the Kombucha Shop in 2020 to pursue other ventures, but the company is still going strong without her.
