Here's What You Need To Know About Gatsby Chocolate From 'Shark Tank'
Gatsby Chocolate is one of the latest food brands to attempt to get to the next level on "Shark Tank." The show's 15th season premiere is slated for September 29th on ABC, where the co-founders of this low-calorie chocolate brand will be standing before sharks like Barbara Corcoran and Mark Cuban. You might have heard of one of its co-founders, ex-lawyer Doug Bouton because he also co-founded Halo Top, the popular low-cal ice cream. After selling Halo Top in 2019, Doug wanted to do the same for chocolate as he did for ice cream, and two years later, he founded Gatsby Chocolate with his brother and co-founder Ryan Bouton, who will appear on the show with him.
The current product lineup includes chocolate bars in four flavors: Almond Dark, Cookies and Cream, Fudge Brownie, and Sea Salt Extra Dark. Its Facebook page also promises new products launching soon, including a peanut butter madness chocolate bar. Gatsby also used to sell peanut butter cups that were just 50 calories each, so we personally hope those make a comeback. You can purchase the chocolate at Walmart stores nationwide. The brand even wants to treat customers around this "Shark Tank" buzz, so it's offering one free chocolate bar when you purchase two at your local retailer by signing up with your cell number via this link.
It's the lowest-calorie chocolate
What stands out the most about this chocolate is how low it is in calories. Worry about packing on pounds is often what prevents folks from picking up sweets like chocolate, but Gatsby is trying to allay those concerns. According to the brand, it's the lowest-calorie chocolate available, with roughly half the calories of other major brands. The Fudge Brownie and Sea Salt Extra Dark varieties each have 180 calories for the entire bar. The Cookies and Cream bars have 200 calories each, and the Almond Dark bars are 210 calories.
Each bar has three servings, meaning you'll eat 60 to 70 calories per 30 grams of chocolate. For comparison, a 3.5-ounce Lindt Roasted Hazelnut Dark Chocolate bar has 160 calories per serving, making it 480 calories per bar. For even more proof, a 4.8-ounce Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel bar has a total of 680 calories. According to those calculations, you could eat an entire Gatsby Chocolate bar for about the same number of calories as a single serving of comparable brands.
Less sugar and high-quality ingredients
Perhaps one of the reasons why these chocolate bars have so few calories is because they also use 75% less sugar compared to other brands. The Almond Dark, Fudge Brownie, and Sea Salt Dark Chocolate bars only have 7 grams of chocolate for the entire bar. The exception is the Cookies and Cream bar, which is made from white chocolate and has a total of 10 grams of sugar, giving it just over 3 grams per serving. That Lindt chocolate bar we mentioned has 14 grams of sugar per serving, giving it 42 grams for the entire bar. How does Gatsby make such delicious chocolate with so little sugar? One of its tricks is including ingredients like allulose in place of some of that refined sugar, which is a sugar alcohol that occurs naturally in foods like figs and raisins.
All of the bars are dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan, except for the Cookies and Cream bar. The latter chocolate bar has whole milk powder and wheat in the chocolate. In addition to the allulose, the bars each contain EPG (a modified plant-based oil), palm kernel oil, sunflower lecithin, and soluble corn fiber. The Almond Dark, Fudge Brownie, and Sea Salt Extra Dark bars have cocoa powder, while the Cookies and Cream bars have cocoa processed with alkali. Despite the alternative ingredients, the chocolate doesn't seem to lack taste because the vast majority of the ratings they've received on Walmart.com are four and five stars.
What happened to Gatsby Chocolate on Shark Tank
If you're wondering what happened when the co-founders of Gatsby Chocolate stood before the sharks on Friday's season premiere, we have an update. The two gained respect from the sharks when they revealed that their former business was the Halo Top ice cream brand, but they were less impressed by the brothers' opening offer. The pair wanted $500,000 for a 5% stake in the company, which led Daymond John to back out immediately. We also learned the chocolates are also now available at Albertsons, Safeway, and Sprouts, in addition to Walmart.
After explaining the reason behind the company's name (Nelson wasn't impressed) and business facts — like that the company has no free cash flow and lost $3.5 million last year — the sharks became skeptical. John and Nelson eventually pulled out. O'Leary offered $500,000 as venture debt for 12% equity, and the duo went back and forth with Cuban and Greiner. There was some negotiation (like we expect from "Shark Tank"), which led the pair to partner up with a joint offer. The brothers eventually made a deal with Cuban and Greiner of $250,000 for 20 percent equity, plus the other $250,000 as a loan with 6% interest. The shark's stake will increase to 30% when Gatsby sells $10 million and 40% when sales numbers hit $50 million. The brothers, who were concerned walking away without a deal might spell the end for Gatsby Chocolate, were happy to make a deal.