Buena Papa Fry Bar made an appearance “Shark Tank” and earned an investment from Robert Herjavec.
Buena Papa Fry Bar was born on accident, but a new strategic investment is preparing the franchise for expansion beyond the four corporate stores open.
Co-founders James and Johanna Windon appeared on a “Shark Tank” episode that aired in October, in which they received a $400,000 investment from Robert Herjavec. The investment comes with a 19 percent stake in the business for Herjavec. The pair initially pitched $400,000 for a 7 percent stake.
“We had a safe range, so the deal still fell within our safe range,” James said.
Buena Papa, which means “good potato” in Spanish, started because Johanna wanted to make a dish that required rice, but they were out. This was at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, so the couple was trying to stay home when possible.
“I suggested to my wife, why don’t we just swap out a carb for a carb with French fries in it?” James said.
Buena Papa Fry Bar Co-founders James and Johanna Windon on “Shark Tank”
“I didn’t want to do that,” Johanna said. The Colombian dish, bandeja paisa, required rice and she didn’t want to switch, she said.
“But we did it,” James said. “All those juicy Latin flavors, all those flavor bombs, deep into the fries … it was delicious.”
The brand has fry toppings that reflect different cultures, like Italian (topped with meatballs, cheese and pomodoro sauce), Mexican (carne asada, guacamole and pico de gallo) and American (cheese, bacon and sour cream). The flavors are heavily based on street food the pair tried while on vacation.
Buena Papa has four corporate-owned stores in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Miami, and more franchised restaurants on the way. The couple invested their life savings in the brand, to the point where they had just $18 in their bank account.
A Tik Tok video about Buena Papa earned 50-plus million views, which led to a “Shark Tank” recruiter reaching out to James and Johanna to encourage them to apply for the show. “Nothing was ever guaranteed, but we just went through the process,” Johanna said.
The preparation process reminded James of being back in school studying, “But in the theater department, because you’re practicing lines,” he said.
On the show, the high school sweethearts pitched the concept, stating, “Who doesn’t love potatoes? But they never seem to get to be the center of attention,” James says. “How many times have you heard, ‘Would you like a side of fries with that?”
Being so new, banks weren’t giving Buena Papa the loans necessary to open more stores, James said.
“You started this with $18 in your account and now you’re running a $2 million business,” Herjavec said to the pair on “Shark Tank.” “You should be so proud of that.”
“Shark Tank” investor Robert Herjavec
Fellow star Mark Cuban wasn’t interested in Buena Papa because of its decision to franchise, which Cuban called a second business of “babysitting.” Barbara Corcoran and Lori Greiner declined because they each thought Buena Papa didn’t need any help from an investor.
Following the investment, Buena Papa is “going back with a fine-tooth comb over our whole infrastructure,” James said. The co-founders want to ensure they are prepared to grow responsibly and have the “strong bones” in place to support franchisees.
Next, the franchise is looking to expand in major metropolitan areas across the United States, like New York City, Las Vegas and more.
Buena Papa is looking for operators who have experience working in the business or QSR fields. Each restaurant is fairly small, with footprints ranging from 800 to 1,200 square feet. The first store was in a food hall, with about 200 square feet to work with. “I don’t know how we did it, but we’ve done it,” James said.
That tiny store earned Buena Papa $1.9 million in its first year. The store opened mid-2021. The brand’s website states Buena Papa expects about 900 to 1,100 customers per week with an average ticket price of $19, which would make average unit sales about $889,200 to $1.08 million. The initial franchise fee is $29,500.