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A Drexel University alum will look to add a little spice to “Shark Tank” when he pitches his South Jersey-born Fila Manila sauce brand to the hit show’s slate of celebrity investors this Friday.
Fila Manila will be one of several businesses vying for a capital infusion – and a major brand awareness boost – on the "Shark Tank" epsiode airing at 8 p.m. on March 1.
The Filipino American sauce brand is the brainchild of Jake Deleon, a 2004 graduate and former longtime South Jersey resident. Deleon launched Fila Manila in November 2020 with his $1,200 stimulus check in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic and has seen it take off in the less than four years since, including landing on the shelves of major retailers, setting up his opportunity to pitch on "Shark Tank."
In the past 18 months alone, the company has doubled the number of stores its products are sold in to 2,000 locations across about 25 states. Within key retailers, Deleon estimates that business is growing 30% to 40% annually, underscoring demand for Filipino cuisine.
That was a major reason Deleon created the business in the first place. An alum of Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), he wanted to bring awareness for Filipino cuisine to more households across the U.S., something he felt was drastically underrepresented in consumer packaged goods.
Known for its selection of sauces, condiments and jams, Fila Manila launched with adobo, caldereta, and kare-kare sauces. The adobo is made with tamari soy, garlic, onion and other spices, while the caldereta has a tomato base, and the kare-kare a peanut base.
The brand has expanded to a Coconut and Ube Spread as well as an Isla Pineapple Rum Sauce. The spread, along with a Banana Ketchup and the adobo marinade have all landed NEXTY Award nods from the Natural Products Expo.
While the adobo sauce was a longtime best seller, it has since been surpassed by the ube spread, made from the tuber native to the Philippines, where Deleon’s parents grew up and where Deleon was born. The family immigrated to South Jersey when Deleon was young and until recently he had called the region home.
The recipes for the original sauces were adapted from his family’s recipes, which can be found in variations in kitchens throughout the Philippines.
Fila Manila was formed and headquartered in the suburb of Laurel Springs, New Jersey, until late 2022 when Deleon moved to Washington, D.C., where the company is now based. Fila Manila has six employees and operates on a remote basis, with several manufacturing and distribution facilities across the U.S., including in Lancaster.
Its products are stocked in select stores of retail giants like Target, Whole Foods Market, Fresh Thyme Market, Stop and Shop, and Meijer, in addition to online retailers like Amazon, Umami Cart and Asian market Weee!
When it landed on the shelves of Target in October 2022, it was the first Filipino food product to hit shelves at the retailer, Deleon said.
Locally, the brand can be also found at Kimberton Whole Foods and Mom’s Organic Market.
Being a “category pioneer” is something Deleon is proud of and is looking to continue pushing.
Not yet 4 years old, Fila Manila has garnered major attention, including from Kraft Heinz Co. and Whole Foods, both of which have backed the company in its pre-seed funding rounds. To date, Fila Manila has raised about $900,000 from a mix of institutional and angel investors. Deleon has a goal of raising another $500,000 this year to further fuel growth.
He said that figure is “just enough to help us meet our goals for the year,” noting that Fila Manila has already raised a large chunk of that. For the remainder, he’s considering existing investors or even crowdfunding through platform Wefunder. If the company goes in that direction, Deleon said he expects to launch crowdfunding “in the low six figures” in the next few weeks to capitalize on the “Shark Tank” episode.
A longtime viewer of the popular show, Deleon applied to “Shark Tank” in 2021 and again in 2022 without any luck. With his third application last year, he was finally tapped for the show, which he filmed in June.
“Taping the show was just a surreal experience,” he said. “…Just being able to get to that stage was just like a lottery ticket.”
The episode's sharks are former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban; FUBU CEO Daymond John; software mogul Kevin O’Leary; “Queen of QVC” Lori Greiner; and guest judge Daniel Lubetzky, the CEO of snack brand Kind LLC.
More than appearing on a show he has long loved, Deleon saw the business potential of a “Shark Tank” appearance.
“I saw it as the opportunity, as kind of almost like the coming out party for Filipino cuisine, because I'm sure many people have heard of it but there's a huge swath of the population that it’s still new to,” he said.
Deleon said he only learned a few weeks ago that his segment would air and while he can’t increase product inventory in time, he is working on a way to capture contact information for interested viewers who visit Fila Manila’s website as part of his strategy to grow e-commerce.
“We’re very bullish on growing our own online store,” he said. “Hopefully the ‘Shark Tank’ airing will help boost our own direct-to-consumer business.”
Last year, e-commerce sales made up about 15% to 17% of business, roughly double compared with 2022. That increase came thanks in part to a switch from glass jars to pouches and squeeze bottles, which reduced product and shipping costs.
“It's great because it sets us up for long-term business health because of the profitability of the change,” he said.
Deleon remains focused on product innovation and said with the product packaging transition complete from “2025 onwards, you can expect more innovation from us around these core flavors that we’re developing.”
He’s also hoping to expand the brand’s reach to wholesale clubs like Sam’s Club or Costco in the future. “That in itself is such a massive whitespace for us right now,” he said.
In anticipation of the show, Deleon said he plans to host a small watch party in Washington on Friday with friends and coworkers. His mom, who has since retired and returned to the Philippines, will watch via a video stream with them.
While the results of the show remain to be seen, Deleon said finally seeing it air will be “pretty exciting.”
Deleon will be the latest entrepreneur with local ties to pitch his business on "Shark Tank." In December, Black Paper Party, an inclusive holiday décor and paper products brand whose CEO is based in Philadelphia, landed a $250,000 deal on the show. Other successful local businesses have included KIN Apparel, Spergo, Bleni Blends, Simply Good Jars and Dino Don.
