WEST DES MOINES – Carlisle natives, Randy Rothfus and Jennifer Brick, had the chance to swim with the sharks.
“Everyone asked, ‘Are you going to go on Shark Tank? Are you going to go on Shark Tank?’ But it isn’t that easy! You don’t just go on Shark Tank, you know?,” said Guzzle Buddy Creator Randy Rothfus.
Randy and Jennifer are brother and sister-in-law. They graduated from Carlisle High School, then moved to Medford, Oregon later on in life. They say they’re avid wine drinkers and invented the “Guzzle Buddy” after seeing a prop on an old sitcom.
“It was a glass that attached to a bottle and we’re such avid wine drinkers that I thought, ‘This would be a perfect thing for us to use!’ So I went and searched the internet for it and couldn’t find it. We did see though that other people were looking for the same product and so we thought, ‘Let’s make this! Let’s turn a prop into an actual drinking glass,'” said Guzzle Buddy Creator Jennifer Brick.
The “Guzzle Buddy” was created in 2015 and as the demand grew they made different types of it. One for beer drinkers and another unbreakable version. The product went viral in 2017, but being on Shark Tank never crossed their mind, until they called.
Local 5’s Angelina Salcedo asked them what was going through their minds during that moment. They said they didn’t know if they wanted to it at first.
“It’s scary. It’s stressful. But then you’re thinking to yourself, ‘Where else can I get in front of nine million people?’ So we said, ‘What the heck! Let’s do it!,'” said Rothfus,
They ended up filming 5 months before the show aired on ABC this Sunday and had to keep it a secret from family and friends.
“The sharks, when we were there, are exactly what you see on TV. They’re just firing questions at you. You never know what they’re going to ask or what their response is going to be and you don’t know how you’re going to respond either,” said Brick.
During their time on the show, the two convinced the judges to fund their invention. Now they say their goal for 2018 is continue to grow the brand and get four products out on the market.
“It’s just been an incredible experience. Win, lose, or draw, there is now losing in this situation,” said brick.
To catch their moment on the show, you can head over to ABC’s website. Their pitch will be towards the end of the show.
