Carol Foster, single mom and former truck driver from Louisiana, served her grandmother’s gumbo in her restaurant. Unfortunately, heavy rains brought the ceiling of the restaurant down, and Carol decided to sell the Gumbo Brick online. The Gumbo Brick is a frozen block of all the makings for authentic Louisiana style gumbo. Just add water, three to four pounds of sausage and shrimp, and in less than 45 minutes, you have gumbo for six to eight people. Lori made an offer, and Kevin joined in once Carol mentioned she was homeless. He was touched (yes, he was!) by her dedication to her business and to providing for her young daughter. Lori and Kevin gave Carol $200,000 but took 50% equity, because they were going to put a lot of work into it.
The deal fell through. We do not know why, but Carol was obviously very upset about it. She wrote “Shark Prank: How I Got Jerked Around by that Stupid ‘Investor’ Show” that’s available on Kindle. She is, however, now running a very successful company. Her gumbo is selling in Costco, Safeway, Publix, Albertsons, and Tom Thumb. She has also branched out with products such as jambalaya, corn bread batter, and red beans and rice.
