Whatever Happened To Wanna Date After Shark Tank?

It's not every day that an entrepreneur comes into the "Shark Tank" proclaiming to be the creator of the next great superfood, but that's just what recent college graduate Melissa Bartow did when she appeared on the ABC series to pitch her brand of date-spreads called Wanna Date? Years before, she had moved from the suburbs of Kennesaw, Georgia to New York City to attend New York University, where she started her business during her junior year.

After launching her first website for Wanna Date?, Melissa took a chance and submitted an application to be on "Shark Tank." Within a year, producers began moving her through the audition process until it was finally time for her to film a pitch at the show's Las Vegas studio. Strangely enough, one comment from an unusually prickly Shark turned the Wanna Date? pitch into one of the most awkward and contentious in the series' 15-year run.

Melissa Bartow enters the "Shark Tank" seeking $100,000 in exchange for 20% of her company, imputing a $2 million valuation that is certainly ambitious for someone less than a month out of their undergraduate program. Nevertheless, the Sharks are visibly impressed by the taste and presentation of her product.

Barbara Corcoran seems particularly interested at first, asking Melissa to share more about her background. When the young founder says that she lives in New York and runs her business full-time — and once Daymond John points out that her $31,000 in sales is nowhere near enough to support life in the Big Apple — she explains that her father is financially supporting her. Barbara thus accuses her of having everything handed to her and that it means she won't make it as an entrepreneur.

Mark Cuban rejects that idea and even remains in consideration for Wanna Date? after the four other Sharks bow out. His main issue is that Melissa offers too many flavors, and essentially told her he'd invest if she agreed to focus solely on a "plain' spread. She agrees and ultimately accepts an offer from him for 33% in exchange for the $100,000.

On the r/sharktank subreddit, viewers couldn't believe Barbara Corcoran's main reason for going out was that Melissa Bartow wasn't financially independent. "By far the worst comment Barbara has made this season," wrote u/sirzoop. "Really? You don't understand why [a] recent college [graduate] needs help from her family to live in Manhattan? Barbara literally sells and rents units in the city and she's confused how a girl with no job can afford 2500-3000k+ a month in rent?" Other users wrote that the exchange highlighted what they described as bullying and criticized Corcoran.

Those who weren't criticizing Barbara's out-of-touch standards expressed their confusion at Mark Cuban's seemingly arbitrary demand that Wanna Date? focus only on a date-flavored spread. One user shared their disappointment over Cuban's suggestion, though they felt the business was little more than a home jam-jarring business and that Melissa was lucky to get any deal at all.

After the Wanna Date? episode of "Shark Tank" premiered on ABC, Melissa Bartow said on her YouTube channel that sales "skyrocketed" over the following 24 to 48 hours — but that didn't make her a millionaire overnight. Though she filmed her episode in the summer of 2019, it didn't air until the start of 2020 — right when the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the time, she had been working at the healthy fast-food chain Avocaderia — a company which, coincidentally, appeared on "Shark Tank" two years before Wanna Date? (and if that isn't ironic enough, the founders had secured a deal with Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran). When the call came in that her episode was set to air, she quit her job and moved in with her parents to prepare for the workload ahead.

From their garage, she personally packaged and shipped every order Wanna Date? received for the following 18 months. During this time, she officially closed her deal with Mark (an impressive feat in and of itself — though she admitted she didn't think to renegotiate for free Mavericks tickets).

Wanna Date? is still in business today and steadily progressing — even if Melissa Bartow maintains that nothing has changed since she filmed her "Shark Tank" appearance over four years ago. As of February 2023, she still wasn't profitable enough to afford to take a salary, working a number of part-time jobs to support herself. (Based on her LinkedIn, Melissa was working even at the time of her "Shark Tank" pitch, making Barbara Corcoran's comments all the more irrelevant). But while the day-to-day business may not have changed much, the products have significantly.

Melissa kept her promise to Mark Cuban and finished the plain date-flavored spread, though Wanna Date? still offers the wide range of sweet flavors it did when Melissa appeared on "Shark Tank." By working with nutritionists and altering her recipe, however, she has managed to lower the calories per serving from 30 to 25. The company also introduced a new bagged snack product called Date Dough, as well as a hoodie that reads "spread dates not hate." Most recently, Melissa announced that her products would be carried in various HomeGoods across the country.

When she's not running Wanna Date? or working one of her day jobs, Melissa runs a health and wellness YouTube channel where she shares nutrition tips, exercise stories, and, of course, date recipes. Every so often, she'll even talk candidly about her "Shark Tank" experience.

"My future — or anyone's future — is not guaranteed," opined Melissa Bartow in a recent YouTube video titled "5 misconceptions about being on Shark Tank." She's well aware that, especially as a new entrepreneur, the odds are stacked against her, admitting that most businesses fail whether or not they had the reality TV head start she did. "If you start googling... like 'list of "Shark Tank" companies no longer in business,' it's a lot," she shared.

Even so, Melissa is committed to continuing her war of attrition, confident that if she sticks to her guns and moves slowly and carefully, she'll be able to set herself up for professional longevity. "I have my passion, my priorities, and I wanna see Wanna Date? in the wild," she asserts. "It makes so many people so happy! So I'll do whatever I need to do to keep it alive and well." 

To her, this likely means having to be patient with her full retail push, as the immediate capital needed to do so would have to come from investors. As for her goals outside the business, she has at least one idea: "Maybe [appear on] a Forbes 30 under 30 [list]. That'd be cool."