What do you do when your Shark Tank deal falls through?

Henry came up with the idea for Henry’s Humdingers at age 12.

Henry and I chat about his appearance on Shark Tank and the deal that was…… and then was not with Mark Cuban.  But that didn’t stop Henry!

Henry is in college now and has his folks on board who do most of the day to day to keep the business afloat.  It’s not too many 19 year olds who are running off to meetings at Kroger and QVC……but that’s a pretty good excuse to miss class every once in awhile.

Henry’s invention of infused honey appears to be just what large retailers and millions of consumers are looking for to add some spice flavor their meals these days.

Henry is funny and sweet, so tune in to his tale of how he decided to create something fabulous while saving honeybees at the same time.

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Henry Miller is the 19 year old Founder and CEO of Henry’s Humdingers. Henry founded Henry’s Humdingers in 2009 when he was just 12 years old after learning about the devastating plight of honeybees from Colony Collapse Disorder.

Since then, Henry’s products have been endorsed by Weight Watchers, and can be found in specialty stores as well as Wegman’s and other regional chains. Henry has donated thousands of dollars to help save the bees, spoken to schools and appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank.  He has his own cookbook and has been on QVC five times – four times with David Venable on “In the Kitchen With David” – selling out multiple times where Henry’s Humdingers has an unbelievably high customer rating of 4.7 stars out of 5.

In addition, to the new cookbook and his new flavors, Henry decided that he had to follow Mark Cuban’s advice and grow the spicy honey category so he opted to not only sell infused honeys under his own label, but to investigate private label. “You see, since we’ve had such a limited budget (as the Shark Tank deal didn’t close) it’s difficult to do all the food demonstrations and advertising necessary to get people to try such a unique product,” Henry figured that it would take a trusted brand name to get people to try spice-infused honey. So he flew to Cincinnati and is now the infused-honey supplier to Kroger for Private Selection with products on the shelves in 2100 stores nationwide. It seems since Henry’s appearance on Shark Tank he’s started a trend for spicy honey in the marketplace.

Henry is currently  a sophomore at Washington State University. Henry is both employer, leader in business, mentor and innovator, yet he is also a student, son and employee on campus (because an education is by no means free). He had to miss the junior prom to go to the Northwest Food Processor’s Annual Meeting, and he finds the irony in having to explain to his professors how he needs an excused absence from class because he has to appear on QVC, how he’s got to gently tell his father, the creative director, to redesign his labels and then ask for some money for fraternity dues.

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Written by Sarah Shaw

There are 3 comments

Connie Inukai says:

May 4, 2017 at 7:29 am

Great interview from Sarah Shaw. Nice work from such a young entrepreneur!

Reply

Andrew Rosin says:

January 23, 2019 at 2:34 pm

You never told us why the deal didn’t close with Shark tank. Why? Why? Why? That is the only reason anybody clicked on this story.

Reply

• Sarah Shaw says:

  February 25, 2019 at 10:47 am

  Did you listen to the podcast?

  Reply

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