Columbia Company Appearing on 'Shark Tank'

COLUMBIA, MD -- A company spreading ugly fruits and vegetables around the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area will be on ABC’s reality show Shark Tank in January.

Hungry Harvest will appear on Shark Tank at 9 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 8.

Started by three University of Maryland graduates, Hungry Harvest buys abnormal produce from farmers for pennies on the dollar. Customers receive bags of fruits and vegetables from 15 to 23 pounds, delivered each week for $15 to $55. For each bag sold, the company gives away a bag to a family in need.

The business has been in existence since 2014 and in its first 10 months, did $100,000 in sales, Hungry Harvest CEO Evan Lutz said in a YouTube pitch for Shark Tank.

Hungry Harvest is currently based in Columbia’s Conscious Venture Lab, a startup accelerator where budding entrepreneurs can gain traction through a 17-week curriculum and access to capital. The venture lab is located in the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship on Bendix Road.

So far, Lutz said funding has come from a few sources: Hungry Harvest received $25,000 from the Conscious Venture Lab program; the three cofounders put in $18,000; and the business was awarded $13,000 in additional grants and donations.

On Shark Tank, Hungry Harvest is asking for $50,000 to expand its base of consumers and broaden its marketing efforts, according to The Baltimore Sun, which reported Lutz was approached by the show’s producers in February, taped the episode in June and learned last week that it will air on Jan. 8.

Watch Hungry Harvest on ABC’s show Shark Tank on Friday, Jan. 8, at 9 p.m.

Still from YouTube video by Hungry Harvest/Evan Lutz.