Here’s the Outcome for Nui Following Shark Tank

Kristoffer Quiaoit and Victor Macias arrived to the “Shark Tank” casting call knowing that they had to stand out, as they were only two of thousands of hungry entrepreneurs praying for their chance to pitch their idea for what they believed to be a booming business. That being said, the casting agents were that as well: hungry. No, literally — the duo offered the casting agents some of their product, which were keto-friendly cookies under their new brand Nui. While Quiaoit swears it wasn’t to bribe them, it obviously didn’t hurt. The two were invited onto the American reality show “Shark Tank” just a few months later to pitch a deal with the sharks in order to expand their business.

Quiaoit and Macias braved the “Shark Tank” stage in 2018, standing in front of five sharks to talk about Nui, their brand of gluten-free, low carb, and low sugar cookies that could be eaten by those following the Keto diet (which both Quiaoit and Macias were following at the time). Quiaoit told the sharks that, while following the Keto diet, he no longer needed to nap following an increase in energy. Macias also stated that he had lost over 40 pounds because of the change in his diet, which obviously shocked the sharks. However, the duo stated that their biggest weakness was still the sugary goodness of a pack of cookies. This is why the two set out to create a healthy alternative with far less sugar and harmful ingredients: Nui cookies. After its conception, the brand had already made over $1 million strictly from selling the cookies on their website and pushing the brand out to keto influencers. The Nui founders asked the sharks for $300,000 for 10% of the Nui company, and after a fairly heated conversation, would eventually accept guest shark Alex Rodriguez’s offer of $300,000 for 25% equity.

Following its “Shark Tank” appearance, Nui’s business was booming. Not only did the show lead to more sales and traffic to the company’s social media pages, but various flavors of the cookie were sold on Amazon. Nui made over $1.4 million in 2018. However, if things seemed too good to be true, that is because they were.

The aforementioned deal with shark Rodriguez actually never occurred, falling through after the episode’s airing. While Nui continued to sell products, its social media posts came to a halt in February 2020, and customers began to complain about never receiving their orders (or refunds of said orders). Fans of Nui cookies would not find closure until January 2022, when Victor Macias would post an explanation of the brand’s downfall on his website. He stated that many of the cookies were recalled due to quality issues (which cofounder Quiaoit would eventually confirm via LinkedIn were reports of moldy cookies shipped from a co-manufacturer). This immediately caused monetary problems for Nui and, while the two put their all into keeping the brand alive, even raising money in order to fix the recipe and receiving great feedback from their customer base, the debt was ultimately too much to handle. Both Macias and Quiaoit would file for bankruptcy in 2020 and call it quits for Nui.

While the loss of Nui and each of their individual bankruptcies weighed very heavily on each of the cofounders’ families, this has not stopped them from going on new business ventures. Since the closing of Nui Foods, Kristoffer Quiaoit has since become a cofounder of Good Journey alongside donut shop owner Helen Ma, known for their low sugar, gluten-free, keto, and diabetic-friendly cake donuts. Good Journey found its start in January 2021 and is still operating today.

Victor Macias now acts as a self-employed business coach under his company Aligned Ventures. In March 2021, he founded NIARANI, a shop that produces bags with ancient techniques in the hopes of preserving tradition. He also opened Santana Snacks in January 2023, which reimagines iconic Mexican foods with healthier ingredients. And while Nui is in the duo’s past (which met an unfortunate end similar to fellow “Shark Tank” alumni Bantam Bagels and Float ‘N’ Grill), their love for healthy alternatives has clearly not dwindled even a little.