“No one had done it and he said it’d be too expensive.” “My cousin said, ‘Look, it's impossible,’ ” Tejada said.

His cousin owns a hearts of palm factory in Bolivia, he said, and he thought a similar pasta substitute could be made with the vegetables, which are harvested from the inner core and growing bud of certain palm trees.īut making the noodles on a large scale would be tougher than he originally thought, he said. Tejada said he got the idea for Palmini when he noticed a trend in the healthy food market toward zoodles, or zucchini noodles. “They told us they’re going to do a big promotion of Palmini so all the Gators can try it,” he said. He is also working with a food distributor, KeHE, on getting into organic food giant Whole Foods’ Florida stores, including the one opening in Gainesville later this year. Since his episode aired, Tejada has received calls from Walmart and smaller grocery stores about Palmini. 'I had been in there an hour so I said, 'Let's do it.' Foods, but after some haggling and counter offers, the three settled on 25 percent. Greiner and Cuban initially offered $300,000 for 30 percent of O.A. 'Shark Tank' is a television show in which entrepreneurs go into the “tank” and pitch their new ideas, inventions or companies to “sharks,” who are seasoned entrepreneurs ready to reach into their deep pockets and invest. “I love this,” Greiner said after eating a Palmini dish on Sunday’s 'Shark Tank' season finale. In Palmini’s newest formula, Tejada said, 75 grams of the pasta substitute has just 20 calories, four grams of carbs and no sugar or gluten. Foods sells quinoa and chia seeds, which are produced in Bolivia, but its new product, Palmini - pasta noodle substitute made from hearts of palm using patent-pending technology - was what got Cuban and Greiner excited about his business.

A University of Florida graduate with a healthy solution to the guilt felt by some when they shovel carbohydrate-filled pasta into their mouths landed a mega-deal in September with two “sharks” on ABC’s 'Shark Tank.'Īlfonso Tejada, a UF Warrington College of Business graduate, agreed to a $300,000 deal with billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and multi-millionaire entrepreneur Lori Greiner for 25 percent equity stake in his company, O.A.

Hearts of palm pasta target