James and Johanna Windon owned a cleaning business before closing their doors in 2021 due to the pandemic. Like many business owners, they were out of money and needed a steady income to stay afloat. The couple opened their first Latin-inspired food business, Buena Papa, the same year, and they had only $18 in the bank after using their life savings.
Two years later, the couple brings in millions of dollars in revenue, with three locations in North Carolina. According to CNBC, the Windons shared their story on Friday’s episode of Shark Tank and landed a $400,000 investment deal from millionaire entrepreneur Robert Herjavec.
Buena Pap Fry Bar is a restaurant specializing in Puerto Rican, Colombian, Mexican and American flavors piled on top of French fries. The husband-and-wife duo opened their first location in Raleigh in July 2021. While the pandemic left the couple scrambling to develop their next business venture, Johanna, of Colombian descent, wanted to create a business highlighting Latin street food, per CNBC.
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During the episode, James told the investors how they spent $40,000 of their life savings to open the restaurant, with only $18 left in their bank account. However, four weeks later, their specialty fries went viral on TikTok, and their business started booming with paying customers.
“Our first year, we did $1.1 million. We took all the profits from that and invested it in [our second] store. … Combined, this year, we’re going to finish at about $2 million,” James explained, adding he and Johanna plan to open another location in Miami later this year, according to CNBC.
The Windons wanted to avoid using their own money to open additional locations and turned to the panel for help. They asked them to invest about $400,000 in exchange for a 7% stake in the business. The couple planned to open a new business each year over the next five years, but they didn’t want to use their profits since it was “sucking up all the cash flow.”
According to James, the pair had already sold franchise rights to four other locations that are yet to open.
As the couple continued sharing their story, each Shark investor had their own reaction to the proposal.
Mark Cuban opted out because he believed the couple were running multiple businesses, and it would have been too much to handle. Meanwhile, Kevin O’Leary was on a health journey and thought investing in french fries would be hypocritical. Barbara Corcoran and Lori Greiner thought the couple didn’t need any help and were already in great shape.
Lastly, Herjavec proposed a $400,000 investment deal with 20% of the business. While the couple tried negotiating with him, he lowered it to 19%, and the Windons accepted.
‘We’re going to take Buena Papa from Raleigh, North Carolina, and it’s going to travel all over these United States until it’s in every metropolitan city,” James said. “The sky is the limit.”
