Creation Nation is the brainchild of Karen Nation, who has always dedicated her time and attention to health and nutrition.
She realized that when it comes to snacking, people often tend to forget that the nutrition or protein bars they like to put in their bodies do more harm than good. They are packed with high sugar content, preservatives, and other poor-quality ingredients.
Karen has reinvented the game of protein bars with her brand, Creation Nation, to finally put an end to all the other products that claim to be healthy in nature but are actually filled with unhealthy and harmful ingredients.
What Do They Make?
To get rid of the protein and nutrition bars that were sugar-packed candies in disguise, Karen came up with the idea of Creation Nation homemade protein bars. They can be customized to cater to vegan, gluten-free, or paleo vegan consumers, as you decide the amount of sugar and choice of liquid that you put inside the mixture to make these protein balls.
What Makes Them Unique?
Creation Nation manufactures an energy bar mix that can prepare protein balls, energy bites, homemade cookies, and snack bars. They are as easy to make as a protein shake. You need to pour the mixture into a bowl, add your choice of liquid, then your preferred nut butter, mix, and roll, and you’re ready with your own customized protein balls.
Are They Still an Active Company?
Creation nation has received tons of positive feedback on Amazon and is now running an active website and social media accounts.
How Did the Shark Tank Pitch Go?
Karen Nation came to Shark Tank seeking $300,000 for 12% equity in her company, Creation Nation.
She began her pitch by demonstrating how her Creation Nation mixes worked and how they provided the freedom to customize your protein balls however you like.
According to Karen, Creation Nation was leading a DIY snack revolution and provided the Sharks with her keto-style and energy bite mixes.
Her mixes contained between 12 to 15 grams of protein in a protein bar and about 5 grams of protein in a protein ball. Kevin asked her to walk through her sales procedure, and Karen responded that they majorly sell the products online, and recently a big e-commerce platform made a deal with them as their retail partner. They were also in the whole foods market on West Coast, and the products were also available at Costco in Midwest and Walmart on the East Coast.
The company hasn’t scaled up to the national level because they were still available in less than 500 stores.
Karen had spent some years in the foster care system and realized that most of the families couldn’t accommodate her food allergies. That is how she became obsessed with her diet and nutrition. She later became certified in sports literature.
Kevin asked about her sales revenue, and Karen replied that they made $500,000 last year and were set to make $500,000 that year.
Mark asked her whether there were other no-bake products in the market, and when Karen said no, he responded that her sales were not higher than that.
Karen revealed that they hit a major co-packer problem. Karen had some specific instructions regarding the shelf life of the products, which the packers didn’t follow. They sent out tainted products to the consumers, and the company had to call back all the products. However, Karen was quick to reel back as the company had made a contract with a different co-packer and were already working with them for more than a year.
Then came COVID, and she pivoted her strategy to e-commerce sales, which boosted them more than triple times. Mark asked her to tell them about her sales last month, and Karen replied that it was almost $30,000. She was expecting to make almost $500,000 by the end of the month.
Kevin kept insisting that she tell the Sharks about her profits, and Karen finally revealed that she wasn’t getting any profit out of her business. Kevin said that if she didn’t even know the proper definition of “profits,” she was standing in the wrong place. He went out.
Lori said that even though she liked healthy food, this business didn’t feel like the right investment for her. She went out.
Alex was next to go out. He said that Karen’s story was very inspirational, and he loved what she stood for, but she was someone who didn’t even know the correct numbers involved in her business, and for that reason, he wasn’t interested in investing his money.
Barbara also thought that Karen was making no money through her business and went out.
Mark thought that her product was fun, but the business itself requires a lot of work to get it out there, and for that reason, he wasn’t interested in making an investment as well.
Karen left Shark Tank with no deal but lots of good wishes from the Sharks. After she went outside, Barbara decided that she would check up on Karen because she thought Karen would take this rejection way too hard.
Barbara walked outside and told Karen the fact that she stood up to so many challenges was a remarkable feat, and Karen should walk out of the show totally proud of herself because there are a lot of people who will get inspired by her story and hard work.
Our Review of Creation Nation
Creation Nation is a great snack option that fills the gap between healthy protein powders and unhealthy nutrition bars. They can be easily prepared into protein bars and protein balls, comes in keto or vegan flavor mix as well, and provides you with the choice to customize the energy balls however you like.
Pros of Creation Nation
- Easy to prepare protein balls or bars
- Easy to customize according to your preference
- Comes in great flavors.
Cons of Creation Nation
- You need to purchase additional ingredients like nut butter or milk to add to your protein mix.
Who Is Creation Nation For?
Creation Nation is perfect for those people who want to take back control of the food they eat in a day and whether it is healthy for them or not.
Are There Any Alternatives?
- Orgain Organic Plant Based Protein Bar, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
- Quest Nutrition Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Protein Bars
- Quaker Chewy Granola Bars
- RXBAR, Chocolate Sea Salt, Protein Bar, High Protein Snack.
Our Final Thoughts
A partnership with one of the Sharks would have proved to be a great benefit for Karen as her enthusiasm and passion for her product were unmatched. Her only drawback was that she failed to provide the Sharks with proper numbers and sales figures. Otherwise, her business would’ve been a great deal for any one of them.
