Product Update
Is Let Them Eat Candles Still in Business? (2026 Update)
Is Let Them Eat Candles from Shark Tank still around in 2026? The deal it made, the sharks who invested, and where to buy Let Them Eat Candles today.
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Loree Sandler and Bob Michelson walked onto Shark Tank with a genuinely odd pitch, chocolate birthday candles you light and then eat, and walked off with a Lori Greiner handshake that, according to Shark Tank tracking sites, never actually turned into a closed deal. The company kept growing anyway.
The Short Answer
Yes, Let Them Eat Candles is still in business, and it has expanded well past its original footprint. The edible chocolate birthday candles are now sold through the company's own website at letthemeatcandles.com and stocked in a growing list of grocery chains around the country, so you have more than one way to buy them today.
The Shark Tank Pitch
The company appeared in Season 15, Episode 17, out of Chicago, Illinois, in the Home and Lifestyle category, pitching premium edible chocolate candles designed to be a novelty replacement for the standard wax birthday candle. Sandler and Michelson asked for 250,000 dollars for 10 percent equity.
The Deal That Got Done, or Didn't
On air, Lori Greiner agreed to fund the full 250,000 dollars for 18 percent equity, nearly double the equity originally offered. But according to reporting from Shark Tank tracking sites, that deal did not officially close after the show wrapped, and it does not appear on Lori's public investment portfolio. This is one of the more common gaps between what airs and what actually happens with Shark Tank deals: a handshake on camera is not the same as a signed and funded agreement, and due diligence after the episode kills a meaningful share of on air deals.
Whatever happened behind the scenes, it clearly did not sink the company. Sandler and Michelson kept building without Greiner's capital attached, which says something about the underlying demand for the product independent of the Shark Tank bump.
Retail Growth Without the Deal
The company has since landed placement in Publix, Market Basket, Jewel Osco, Raley's, Lunds and Byerlys, Giant, and even a partnership arrangement with Nothing Bundt Cakes, a notable list for a novelty product that started as a single item. Lifetime sales reached roughly 2.3 million dollars as of 2024 reporting, with projected 2024 sales around 1 million dollars, up from about 675,000 dollars the prior year.
The product line has also expanded beyond the original birthday candle concept to include balloon shaped candles, numbered candles for milestone birthdays, and customizable message versions, the kind of line extension a company only bothers building when the core product is actually selling.
Let Them Eat Candles net worth in 2026
Shark Tank tracking sites have estimated the company's current net worth at roughly 2.06 million dollars, based on an assumed yearly growth rate applied to reported sales figures rather than any audited financial statement. There is no company confirmed valuation for Let Them Eat Candles, so treat that 2.06 million dollar figure as an estimate built from public revenue reporting, not a hard number.
Given the retail expansion into multiple regional grocery chains since the show aired, it is reasonable to think the company has grown past its early figures, but no updated, sourced valuation exists as of this writing.
Where Things Stand Now
Let Them Eat Candles is operating and growing, selling through its own site and a real list of grocery retailers, despite a Shark Tank deal that apparently never made it past the handshake stage. If you came here wondering whether the Lori Greiner deal is what's keeping the lights on, the honest answer appears to be no. The company built its retail presence on its own after the cameras stopped rolling.
That makes this one of the more interesting outcomes in the Shark Tank pool precisely because the on-air deal is not the explanation for the company's survival. Sandler and Michelson had a genuinely novel product in a category, birthday party goods, that has room for a lot of small players, and they clearly used the exposure from the episode as free national advertising even without Greiner's capital or retail contacts behind them.
The Nothing Bundt Cakes partnership in particular is worth flagging as a smart channel choice. Pairing an edible novelty candle with a bakery chain that already sells birthday desserts puts the product directly in front of the exact customer who is about to need a candle, at the exact moment they are making a related purchase, which is a more efficient distribution strategy than chasing broad grocery placement alone.
Where to buy Let Them Eat Candles
Still selling as of April 8, 2026. Check today's price and availability.
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See the full Let Them Eat Candles deal breakdown and term sheet →
