Kim James 
In October 2018, an emotional pitch by using 3 kids trying to show their overdue father’s invention right into a commercial enterprise so deeply resonated with “Shark Tank” visitors that the siblings sold out all of their corporation’s inventory inside minutes of the episode airing. Now the young marketers have signed a licensing address Williams Sonoma that they say could make their dad proud.
On the unique season 10 episode, the Young siblings — Kaley, then 24; Christian, then 20; and Keira, then 15 — from Long Island, New York, confronted the Sharks to pitch the Cup Board Pro, a bamboo reducing board with an attachable tray and strategically positioned grooves for easy cleanup.
The product has been created with the aid of their overdue father, Keith Young, a New York firefighter, firehouse chef, and two-time “Chopped” big name who died from cancer-related to his time doing cleanup at Ground Zero in decrease Manhattan after September 11, 2001, in keeping with the Youngs. The Youngs’ mother had also died of breast most cancer.
In the authentic episode, Kaley advised the traders that her father created the Cup Board Pro when she became in excessive college in 2010, but as he received the product’s prototypes, their mother, Beth King, was sick. The business took a backseat, and King died at age forty-seven in 2012. After her death, Keith turned into decided to be on Food Network’s “Chopped” and went on to win — two times. That revel in gave him the self-belief to resume paintings at the Cup Board Pro, Kaley said. In December 2017, Keith had 2,000 Cup Board Pros made to launch his commercial enterprise. But simply as he acquired the very last product, Keith changed into identified with a Sep 11-associated cancer. He died in March 2018.
The siblings, but we’re now not inclined to let their father’s passion die with him. They took his inventory, released a website, and started selling the product. The heart and resilience the Youngs showed brought about an extraordinary cope with all 5 sharks at the October episode — Mark Cuban, Kevin O’Leary, Lori Greiner, Daymond John, and visitor shark Matt Higgins. Each Shark agreed to contribute $20,000 for a total of $100,000 for 20 percent of the enterprise. As part of the deal, any earnings the sharks earn from the funding might accept to a charity supporting firemen who became ill after September 11, the Sharks stated.
The Cup Board Pro has since long passed directly to attain wild achievement, in line with an update on Sunday’s episode of “Shark Tank.” The siblings explained that once their episode aired, they straight away sold out of their father’s slicing forums and obtained one hundred,000 emails from clients soliciting for the item. Still, they didn’t have inventory to satisfy the call. So, the Youngs defined, the Sharks stepped in and added the entrepreneurs to Williams Sonoma. The excessive-end kitchenware company struck a licensing address, the Youngs, re-engineering the product, producing it, and distributing it. The Cut Board Pro presently retails at Williams Sonoma for $ fifty-nine. 95.
In a press launch, Williams Sonoma introduced it had made minor upgrades to the authentic layout of the slicing board (making it warmness proof against 350 tiers Fahrenheit and antibacterial), but that most of the people of the board’s authentic design remained in-tact. “Our dad loved shopping in Williams Sonoma, so we are delighted that Cup Board Pro might be at the cabinets of one in all his preferred shops,” said Kaley. “When our Shark Tank episode aired, we heard from such a lot of viewers who desired to buy our product right away. We are so proud to provide each person the trendy version of Cup Board Pro.
We realize that all of the new features of the cutting board could make our dad proud too.” In addition to the achievement of the slicing board, the Youngs used their exposure at the show to create a GoFundMe campaign and raised $41, one hundred that they donated to the FDNY Foundation. “The way it’s working out, they’ll in no way ought to paintings for anyone else once more, and that is what their dad’s dream become,” visitor Shark Higgins said on Sunday’s episode.
