Where Is Kookn' Kap From Shark Tank Today?
According to the August Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, chef hats serve a very practical purpose in the kitchen. While the exact origin is up for debate, one famous story involves King Henry VIII and his great displeasure upon finding an errant strand of hair when eating dinner one day. As the legend goes, the king was so unhappy about the discovery that he insisted his chef be beheaded to make up for the slight. As a result, subsequent chefs made sure that their heads were fully covered in the kitchen, a practice that continues to this day.
Although most chefs don't wear hats or caps when cooking at home, doing so offers a surprising benefit. Culinary headwear prevents loved ones from discovering a hair in their food and having a reaction similar to King Henry VIII (hopefully without the need for a guillotine), but that's not all they do. They can also protect the chef's hair from absorbing food odors in the hot kitchen. In fact, the desire for clean, fresh-smelling hair resulted in two women developing a product that took them right to the pitch room of "Shark Tank."
This cap keeps chefs and diners happy
Entrepreneurs Juli Deveau and Ozma Khan are the proud creators of Kookn' Kap, per the Shark Tank Blog. The ladies were inspired to develop a head covering for the kitchen after a fun night of cooking caused their hair to retain food odors (via YouTube). Their concept was to create a comfortable cap that could be washed easily, and their big idea purportedly resulted in 1,729 hats sold during the business's first year (via The Hollywood Reporter).
Upon entering the "Shark Tank," the plucky entrepreneurs asked for a $50,000 investment in exchange for 20% equity in their emerging business (per the Gazette Review). But the Sharks were wholly unimpressed.
Both Barbara Corcoran and Robert Herjavec had concerns about the look of the hat, believing most women wouldn't be happy with the style. Mark Cuban passed the chance to Lori Greiner, the so-called "Queen of QVC," who expressed appreciation for the entrepreneurial duos' bubbly personalities. However, Greiner believed the cap could easily be replaced with a less expensive product. Kevin O'Leary simply proclaimed, "absolutely not," which ultimately left Kookn' Kap without a deal.
No cap, no deal, no more
Without a deal, Kookn' Kap has followed in the footsteps of many other "Shark Tank" pitches that failed to find an investor. The business website is now defunct, and the product's Twitter page has not been updated since 2014. Similarly, the Kookn' Kap Facebook page features a message stating that "this content isn't available right now," which doesn't bode well for the brand.
But despite the failure of Kookn' Kap, co-founder Juli Deveau appears to have a new business venture in the works. Deveau has developed a lip gloss brand, according to the Jule Lip Gloss about page, which promises to give the wearer a boost of "je ne sais quoi." The website offers a subscription service that offers new gloss every one, two, or three months.
As for co-founder Ozma Khan, her LinkedIn page lists her most recent position as a recruiter for Deloitte. While it's a far cry from their days swimming with Sharks, there's life after Kookn' Kap.