Where Is The Peanut Butter Pump From Shark Tank Today?
Among other things, "Shark Tank" is a place for entrepreneurs to pitch their product solutions to everyday problems. And if you're a peanut butter lover, you're likely familiar with scraping the sides of a jar to get those last few precious bites of peanut butter. Inventor Andrew Scherer came to "Shark Tank" with the solution: The Peanut Butter Pump. Scherer pitched the Peanut Butter Pump to the sharks in Season 11, Episode 7.
He came up with the invention in 2017 after being laid off. The Peanut Butter Pump is a soap dispenser-like attachment that you screw onto any of your top-ranked peanut butter brands' containers. Once affixed, the mechanism can scoop and scrape the peanut butter from the jar and pump it out, making for easy serving and spreading. The pump comes with different nozzle head attachments depending on what you're using your peanut butter for. This includes a faucet-like head for pumping into smoothies or a flat head for spreading on sandwiches.
What happened with the Peanut Butter Pump on Shark Tank?
During his pitch to the sharks, Andrew Scherer demonstrated how the product works, pumping a dollop of peanut butter onto a slice of bread. He asked for $200,000 for a 15% stake in the company, having already raised $129,000 in funding via an Indiegogo campaign. This also enabled Scherer to value his company and product at $1.3 million. Scherer's pitch caused quite an entertaining debate among the sharks about whether or not peanut butter should be refrigerated. But this debate also pointed out a flaw in Scherer's invention, as it would not work well after refrigerating the peanut butter. It may also be challenging to fit a jar with the Peanut Butter Pump attached into the refrigerator. The sharks also expressed concern with Scherer's business acumen after he admitted to not meeting his production deadline or fulfilling any pre-orders. He was demonstrating the product on the show using a prototype.
Despite Scherer having raised a large amount of money, the sharks didn't feel there was enough of a need for the product, as it solved a problem they didn't think was an actual problem. In addition, Scherer had withdrawn some of the money he fundraised for personal use, which raised a few eyebrows on the panel. Ultimately, Scherer walked away with no investments from the sharks.
The Peanut Butter Pump post Shark Tank
Despite promising during his "Shark Tank" exit interview that the Peanut Butter Pump would get made, Andrew Scherer still has not delivered on that promise. The Peanut Butter Pump website currently states that all products are sold out, with an estimated shipping date of March 15, 2020. That date is a bit head-scratching as it was almost four years ago. Despite general disruption at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Scherer was still able to progress on the tooling manufacturing for the product but still fell behind schedule with testing and production.
Since the pandemic, Scherer has faced repeated roadblocks on his way to manufacturing the pump and delivering it to supporters and interested customers. Scherer has posted frequently on the Indiegogo campaign site, sharing everything from production updates to promises and predictions for a manufacturing and shipping deadline. In an Indiegogo update from February 28, 2023, Scherer stated that he "nearly gave up" amongst the manufacturing slowdowns and missteps. Soon after, he posted on Indiegogo about a serious investor changing the game and helping to move things along.
Is the Peanut Butter Pump still in business?
Currently, the Indiegogo campaign for the Peanut Butter Pump is still live. You can contribute and receive a perk: A twin pack of the original pump design for $68 or a single for $38. On September 12, 2023, Andrew Scherer shared the details of version two of the Peanut Butter Pump on Indiegogo, a new design that includes a clamp that pushes the peanut butter out of the jar and forces it through a spout. The new design is, essentially, a typical condiment spout but for peanut butter.
Scherer's most recent post in January of 2024 reports that a representative from the factory he's been working with said the manufacturing design was complete for version two after the factory failed to deliver on a December 2023 deadline for production. As for Scherer's next estimate? According to the factory's estimations, he is shooting for production to begin in the spring. With this timeline in place, loyal supporters of the Peanut Butter Pump look to get their promised product and be able to use every last drop of their peanut butter soon.