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Whitney and Chaz Gates are an African-American husband-and-wife team from Dallas, Texas, and the proprietors of wine label Wondry, which has made a stunning $1 million in sales after signing a deal with Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban around a year ago.
In November 2022, the couple came on Shark Tank to sell Wondry, which had made $250,000 in lifetime sales with a $60,000 profit in 11 months at the time. They struck a deal with Mark Cuban, who put in $225,000 in exchange for a 15% ownership in the company. In less than a year, their local Texas business had grown into a globally renowned brand, according to Whitney.
Whitney and Chaz made an initial $100,000 investment from their personal funds to create Wondry in August 2021. Whitney’s background in beverage brand marketing and Chaz’s legal experience from a technology company laid the groundwork for their entrepreneurial path.
Initially, their goal was to locate an investor so that they could automate their manual labor operations and expand beyond their 1,400-square-foot location. Wondry now runs out of a 10,000-square-foot facility thanks to Mark Cuban’s investment, and their 100% natural cocktail wines with flavors of berries, citrus, and exotic fruits are now available in over 400 retailers nationally. That’s a significant increase from merely 50 businesses a year ago.
Cuban’s involvement supplied not only finance but also critical relationships. Just two weeks after the investment, he introduced the Gates to a national alcohol distributor, and this relationship has paved the path for a distribution arrangement, increasing Wondry’s reach to restaurants, retailers, and airplanes across the United States.
