Sabeena Ladha, the entrepreneur behind Deux, lived in Dallas, Texas, then moved to Los Angeles. She wanted to eliminate all the variety and shapes of supplement capsules she had taken her whole life. She merged her obsession with junk food with her health consciousness to create Deux, a cookie dough that is good for your health and, at the same time, tastes delicious and addictive.
What Do They Make?
Deux is enhanced cookie dough enriched with vitamins and other ingredients that benefit your health. They are a safe and healthy alternative to other cookie doughs packed with refined and processed sugars, preservatives, and animal byproducts. The products are also gluten-free and vegan.
What Makes Them Unique?
Deux cookie dough is made with healthy ingredients like almond butter, oats, flaxseeds, and coconut sugar. One jar of Deux chocolate chip cookie dough contains the same amount of zinc as three pounds of chickpeas. The brownie butter Deux cookie dough delivers the same Vitamin C as five oranges.
Are They Still an Active Company?
The company runs an active website and has also introduced a new product, DRIP, which you can spread and eat on bread like healthy nut butter. The product has also received tons of positive reviews on Amazon.
How Did the Shark Tank Pitch Go?
Sabeena Ladha entered the show seeking $300,000 for 10% stakes in her company Deux. She provided the Sharks with samples of four flavors of Deux, and Kevin commented on the high-calorie percentages in one serving. Sabeena responded that they were not focusing on the number of calories in their product.
Robert asked her about the inspiration and idea behind the product, and Sabeena replied that both of her parents were immigrants. Her mom was from Pakistan, and her dad was from India. Her dad worked at a gas station for most of the day, taking Sabeena with him, who mainly lived on gas station food. She landed a job at one of the biggest CPG companies, but she was going through a health transformation and said goodbye to the food and beverage industry. She wanted her startup and created her company, Deux, in 2020.
The company made $70K from October to December that year, and sales from the start of the year to date were $630K in revenue, and they were on track to do $1.2 million in sales.
Whole Foods also approved the company, and Deux would go in 40 stores. Sabeena raised $1 million at a $6 million CAP. The Sharks were impressed by her numbers and sales strategies.
Robert was the first Shark to go out. He wished her well but didn’t think it was a suitable investment for him.
Lori was next to go out. She wanted the product to be even healthier than it was and didn’t think it was the right match for her.
Nirav appreciated Sabeena for living the American dream and said her father would be proud of her. However, he felt he wouldn’t add much value to this company since he was more of an internet guy, which is why he went out.
Kevin said he was very impressed with Sabeena, but at the end of the day, he would not indulge in this kind of food. Sabeena told him that he was not the target consumer for the cookie dough, but Kevin replied that he was the target investor and wouldn’t invest in the company. He went out.
Sabeena then turned to Mark, who began by saying that at the end of the day, the product still had too many calories, which doesn’t solve the problem of obesity in America. If any aspect of this product promised to eliminate that problem, he would’ve gone for an investment offer. Since there wasn’t, he was going to go out.
Sabeena mentioned one last thing before the Sharks wrapped it up. She said that Deux was the culmination of her career, and she thought there was no other person out there who could scale a business like this other than herself.
To this, Mark retorted that Sabeena had a problem reading the room, which was evident by her remarks about Kevin’s comment and not making the Sharks feel good about who they are. Robert countered Mark by saying that he wasn’t being fair to Sabeena.
After that, Robert made her an offer. He offered her $300,000 for 15% equity and didn’t want negotiation.
Sabeena still tried to bring him down to 12%, but Robert insisted he would only do it for 15%.
Sabeena still countered with 10% equity and 5% advisory shares, which was Robert’s final straw. He said that he wanted to believe in Sabeena and didn’t want her to leave without a deal. Sabeena agreed to take his initial offer, but Robert said that now he wouldn’t do it because Sabeena didn’t need him as much as he wanted to invest in the business. Sabeena left the show without any deal, and the Sharks discussed how she failed to read the room and grab Robert’s offer when she could still do it.
Our Review of Deux
The
cookie dough is great to eat as a single serving or bake into delicious and healthy cookies. It suppresses the cravings for sweet treats and doesn’t negatively affect your health.
Pros of Deux
- Clean and healthy ingredients
- Gluten-free and vegan
- Delicious flavor cookie dough enriched with vitamins.
Cons of Deux
- A far greater amount of sugar is present than is usual for healthy snacks
- The texture is too gooey, and the taste is sweeter than desired.
Who Is Deux For?
Deux is a healthy snack for those who love to indulge in delicious cookie dough but don’t want to compromise their health. Deux is also perfect for vegan people or those who avoid gluten.
Are There Any Alternatives?
- Quest Nutrition Dipped Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Protein Bars
- 365 by Whole Foods Market, Ice Cream Cookie Dough.
Our Final Thoughts
Even though Sabeena faced rejection on the show, she managed to scale up her business and garnered customers who loved her products due to their unique texture, taste, and healthy ingredients.
