When you’re talking about massive business growth and execution, you have to talk about second chances and learning from the best. Repeat Shark Tank guest David “Dave” Alwan, Founder of Echo Valley Meats, returns to discuss his powerful comeback after his first no-deal appearance, detailing the explosive mail-order growth from $190,000 to over $1.4 million in just one year. Discover the critical lessons he implemented, how he strategically split his mail-order division from retail and catering, and why he successfully struck a “win-win negotiation” deal with Mark Cuban. Dave also reveals his next big move: pivoting to the multi-brand “Echo Valley Brands” by aligning with premium companies like Yeti and leveraging their incredible fulfillment and distribution process as the ultimate business superpower.

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The Power Of Dave Alwan, Founder Of Echo Valley Meats

I’m delighted to have my repeat guest on, yes, my repeat Shark Tank guest. His name David Alwan from Echo Valley Meats. We already did one episode with him the first time he was on Shark Tank, and we were fortunate enough to get him to join us again so we can talk about his second episode. I’m so excited to get started. This is going to be exciting. Fasten your seatbelt. It’s going to be a lot of lessons along the way. Welcome back, Dave.

I’m happy to be here.

All right, let’s get this party started.

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The Comeback Pitch: Why Dave Halved His Ask For 20% Equity

Hi again, Sharks. I’m Dave Alwan of Echo Valley Meats from Peoria, Illinois. You might remember me from season four and my delicious meat products.

He’s back.

I didn’t get a deal and I was devastated, but I walked out those doors, held my head high. Your tough questions made me go home and scrutinize my business and become a better entrepreneur. Last time I was here, I was asking for 300,000 for 20% equity. Now I am cutting it in half, $150,000 for the same 20% equity in my business. I am here to make a deal.

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You’re here to make a deal. Alright, so you learned a lot of valuable lessons. You decided to cut in half and we’ll talk about why you cut in half, but you certainly got their attention, right?

I did.

I don’t want to let the cat out the bag because you’re about to find out why he cut that evaluation in half.

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My company Echo Valley Meats has that old fashioned butcher shop quality. We deliver the most delicious meats and treats through our website and gift catalog. I know the meat business better than anyone. I can’t come empty handed. I brought my son, Jordan.

If I remember correctly, this food was delicious.

I remember it.

We ordered it on Thanksgiving. We order it every Christmas. I eat those cheese garlic spread things and gained about fifteen pounds. I hate those. Don’t bring them anywhere near me. Hand them out.

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That’s like the best testimonial ever, Dave. It’s always better when someone else sells you rather than you selling yourself. For Mark Cuban to say he eats that stuff all the time, you better take those dips away from him. You’ve got some raving fans.

We make some good products. I’m very proud of our products.

Let me tell you something, they look mouthwatering when they show them on TV. I’m here to attest to the fact he has great products. I’ve tried them. He was kind enough to send me a box.

Thank you.

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Ladies first, please.

Thank you.

Here we go again.

Thank you very much.

To die for.

Mr. O’Leary.

Thank you, Jordan. That’s great.

I’m just going to start eating, Dave. I’m not even waiting until they get theirs.

Everything on there is my own recipe.

These are so good.

Fantastic. See you, Jordan.

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He is a very cute kid. You know what, audience, it doesn’t hurt to have a cute kid or a cute pet when you’re going on Shark Tank.

No, that’s for sure.

He is adorable. How old is he now?

He’s 23. He’s in the business. Fourth generation.

How old was he then?

Fifteen.

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$190K To $1.4M: The Explosive Mail-Order Growth Strategy

What happened to sales after you were on the show?

Sales after the show exploded. Business has never been better, but I took your advice and realized the one opportunity I have to scale is the mail order industry. It’s not my retail and it’s not my catering. We decided to split the mail order off into its own entity now. Pre-Shark Tank last year, it was roughly $190,000. Right now, we broke $1.4 million on our mail.

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That is huge. Is that in one year?

Yeah.

How were you able to grow from $190,000 to $1.4 million?

I built a facility years ago and built a facility way bigger than what I needed. I had the infrastructure already in place. I have a manufacturing facility here at USDA. We used to be a USDA meat processing plant. We’re federally inspected by the government every day and state of the art equipment from Germany, Italy, and could make everything in house. It was very easily for me to scale at this point.

That’s a huge growth because it’s not just about the facility. You probably had to add more people. You have to pour more money in it for working capital. That’s tremendous to do that much growth in one year. Outstanding.

Thank you.

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The mail order? Just the mail order alone?

Are you selling us today just the mail order?

Just the mail order, which I feel has the most potential to scale.

That’s why you’re asking for less money.

As I recall, last time you were here, Dave, where you ran into problems, it wasn’t necessarily just valuation. You didn’t know your customer acquisition costs.

That number is $12. More importantly, it only costs $1 to retain that customer. We’ve had great retention. Between 35% and 40% came back and ordered multiple times.

Really? In the $1.4 million, what was your profit of that?

Approximately $260,000.

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Know Your Numbers: Why Retention Rate And Acquisition Cost Are Key To Scaling

A couple of things to unpack here. Number one, the evaluation was cut in half because you separated out the two companies.

It was three. I had retail mail order and catering the first time all under one roof and they didn’t really want anything to do with retail or catering it the first time. I felt that the mail order has the biggest potential in the growth.

The Sharks have a short intention span because you’ll see here soon, now they want a bite of it all and not just a mail order. It was very impressive that you know your numbers. You came back and you know your numbers. That’s the biggest thing. Most entrepreneurs don’t know their numbers, especially when it comes to acquisition cost. Furthermore, they don’t know what their retention cost is. For you to say it’s $12 acquisition cost and $1 to retain that client. You’ve got 35% to 45% retention rate, that’s huge.

First time, I took it to heart. Even though I was as devastated as I was, I went back and buried myself into numbers and I’m a numbers person and as I say, numbers don’t lie. When you can understand your numbers, you know how to manage a business much better.

Numbers don't lie. If you understand your numbers, you know how to manage a business much better. Share on X

I always say don’t get angry. Get the steps because numbers don’t lie. What’s impressive is that you almost don’t even look like the same person or sound like the same person. You had so much more confidence, you knew your stuff. There were no curve balls that they could throw at you this time.

I was prepared. I took all their constructive criticism and took it to heart and went back and did my homework in and out for two years.

We’re going to get into dividing the business because so many entrepreneurs face that decision. “Do I keep it all in one roof? Do I divide it? What do I do?” That’s coming up. We’re going to have some discussion on that because that’s a good point. All right, let’s get off. Damon is stuffing his face.

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In this calendar year, how much cash will the mail order division that you’re selling this equity in generate?

We are projecting about $1.8 million with a net of approximately $400,000.

This is a great story. David, how much has the retail business, the other business, grown?

12%, 15% and does not net quite as much as the mail order business. Retail is about 10% to 12%. Mail order’s 18.3%.

You have your numbers down this time.

The last time you were here, one of my issues was competition, fighting the big guys. Let’s take Omaha. They discount aggressively just before Thanksgiving. They do it again towards the holiday. They make really big offers. They’re acquiring customers that way. It’s very compelling.

That’s what I’m going to do with the money. It gives me a little bit better buying power Prime ribs and hams dip after Easter because nobody’s going to buy those again until Christmas. When the market softens, I can then take that cash and get all of my inventory bought in a lower time of the year because I know the market so well.

Just curious. How long can you buy inventory ahead of?

The USDA says they don’t really like anything longer than a year. Six to eight months is really my rule of thumb.

If you buy it on the 10th month versus the 6th month, does the quality change?

No, because it’s vacuum packed into our freezer.

You’re amazing.

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The Advantage Of Buying Power: Mastering Inventory And Market Softness

You are amazing. The reason I wanted to stop here is that most business owners don’t know their business intimately like you do. They don’t really understand buying power, seasonality, etc., and you nailed that. It’s very important to know the shelf life and then how you can preserve that. What feedback or comments do you have for our audience about what you did?

A lot of people wait till the last minute and want to get orders and then try to go out and find the inventory to sell. I was just the opposite mindset. I bought it when the market was softer and I knew I could tie up some cash even when I went to the bank and had a line of credit and used the bank’s money. I had inventory and then worry about sales because when you have the product you can sell it, but if you don’t have the product, then you got to go find the product and you’re going to pay a much higher price at that time.

When you have the product, you can sell it. If you don't have it, you have to go find it. Share on X

Yeah, and you’re right Dave, because most entrepreneurs think build it and they will come. Sell it. Build it and they will come. A lot of people like the Kevin Harrington’s and some of the Shark Tank people and people I’ve been involved with was like, “No, Michelle. Let’s just sell it, see if it sells, and then we’ll get the inventory.” That can be great because at least you know you have a market, but then you can have egg all over your face because you don’t have the inventory to back it up, right?

Exactly, or you’re going to lose out on sales because you can’t get inventory in the fourth quarter.

You’re going to upset people. I just advised a client earlier, I said, “There’s a lot of free marketing out there. You can go on Good Morning America, you can get an Oprah’s Favorite Things. None of this cost you anything but inventory. You’ve got to make sure you have the inventory.”

Steaks is one thing you can cut and get packaged right away, but hams and sausage and cheeses, you’re curing, you’re smoking, you’re chilling, you’re packaging. It’s a 5-to-7-day window just to get one batch through the system. It’s not like you can just flip it overnight.

I think the point of the story here is know your business inside and out. Know what your competitors are doing. Have you ever thought about doing huge, massive deals like Omaha does?

I’ve always had a different mindset, Michelle. I don’t care what my vendors do, I don’t care what any of them do. I know what I have to do to make money. I’m going to outperform them. I’m going to try to make better product than them and I’m going to deliver. If I’m going to chase the tail, I’m going to be spending like a hamstrung on a wheel that Heather’s no end in sight and worrying about what my competitors do.

If you focus on yourself and try to make money yourself, nothing else matters. If you make great product, they’re going to come back. We have about a 70% retention rate, maybe even higher than that, maybe even closer to 80% of our corporate customers that come back year after year because our product is so good, just like Mr. Cuban said, they order for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. He’s been a customer for years and years now. Multiple people in his family. I just worry about what we do and take care of business and have never been focused on what my competitors do.

I agree with you with a slight twist to that. I agree that you should be focused on it, but you should be aware of it.

Absolutely. I spend thousands of dollars to order all their products every year. I want to know what they’re doing, what their product is, what their packaging is, what their wow factor is, what their sizing is, what their portion cost is. Absolutely. I’m on all their mailing lists. Trust me, I see all their marketing campaigns, I buy their product, I try it and I see. I learn from them.

Okay, so you’re not focused on it, but you did exactly what I said. No way your competitors are doing that. You are doing so much better than your competitors. You can also learn outside of your industry. I’m sure you’ve done some of that too. I know that we’ve looked at Ritz Carlton. What does Ritz Carlton do?

What does their slogan? What’s on their tombstone? When you go to Ritz Carlton, you should always expect the same service. There’s no place like home. Same thing with Disney World, etc. You can learn from inside your industry and outside your industry. Don’t get focused on, don’t get caught up on it but do what Dave does. He orders their products. Yours is far superior, Dave. I bet it is.

We have several blind tastings and we outperform most of them at the game time and time again. There’s a reason.

Is that within your company or is that with the public?

Public. Not within my company. My employees can be biased. I want strangers.

Yeah. You blindfold them. Cool. Alright. Lori loves you.

Lori’s wonderful.

You just got to get seafood.

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Very impressed. You’re coming back in here learning from things, building your business that big in just a year.

It’s the power of Shark Tank.

I think it’s the power of you.

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I do too. I think it’s the power of you because so many people have went on Shark Tank, they’ve had the same advice. Great golden nuggets, great things to learn, great things to implement, but they don’t do any of it. It really is the power of you because somebody could spoon feed you and spoon feed people all day long like I do sometimes with my clients, but it’s up to the individual to implement.

You can lead a horse to water, but it doesn’t mean you’re going to make their horse drink. You can have the best tool bag in the country, but if you don’t know how to use the tools, what good does the tool bag?

You can always have the best tool bag in the country, but if you don't know how to use the tools, what good is the tool bag? Share on X

I always say knowledge is power, but implementation is key to success.

Yes, for your products.

You were so tan there.

That was years ago.

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There’s one little problem I have, because I’m not a big meat eater, I don’t think I’m the best partner to go into business with you. I’m out.

Dave, I’m trying to figure out, does it make sense to split the business? I’m not sure it does.

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Exit Strategy: The Critical Decision To Legally Split The Mail Order Business

I’m going to tell you my opinion. Dave, let me ask you something. Why’d you split the business?

The opportunity is in the mail order, not in a town of 4,000 or 5,000 people where retail is I’m going to live off of retail. On the internet, you have coast to coast. The first time they went on, they really wanted nothing to do with the retail or the catering, so I pay attention as well.

You did pay attention and sometimes the Sharks change their tune. As I said, they have a short attention span, I guess. Now they’re on a feeding frenzy and they want it all. I think it’s a great decision actually before we get into the rest of it. The reason I think it’s so prudent to do that is because one of the biggest mistakes that business owners make is they put everything under one umbrella. You got the retail shop, you got the catering, and you got the eCommerce business and it’s all under one umbrella.

A lot of times, they don’t do good accounting. They don’t really know what’s true cost here, what’s true revenue, what’s true cost of goods because they also co-mingle employees. They co-mingle supplies. They commingle a lot of different things, which is fine, but you don’t know the true numbers. The more important reason why I agree with your decision is because when you build to sell, and if you decide to sell one day, I know that you’re looking at passing the business on generation to generation.

However, here’s what’s happening. Buyers don’t want to buy all that. I’ve got a franchisor right now and he’s got five corporate stores and he says, “I’ve got an investor coming in for about $2 million. We’re going to build another 10, 15, 20, 30 stores.” I’m like, “Wait a minute.” He asked the franchise and I said, “Why are you doing that?” He didn’t really have any legitimate reasons and I said, “The buyer’s not going to want those corporate stores.”

I was just going to say I bet he didn’t even know why other than other people telling him he needs a franchise and he’s listening to other people.

No, franchise is fine. The problem is he’s franchising and he is got the corporate stores. One or the other. I said, “There’s no reason to build all those stores when you put need to put your money in the franchising and also using other people’s money. Build this up to 200, 300, 500, 600, 700 franchises and then sell it. The buyer who wants to buy, a franchisor, does not want to operate twenty stores. The buyer who wants to buy an eCommerce business is not going to want to own a retail and a catering business. It’s completely different.”

Especially somebody that’s going to buy an eCommerce and meal order business in the food. 99.9% of the world wants nothing to do with Peoria or live in the Bartonville, Illinois or the Midwest. They want to be on the coast. Me is for shipping, being in Imperial Illinois, the Midwest is beautiful because we can go to either coast until three or four days. We’re centrally located, which is an advantage for shipping.

Buyers won’t want to buy it because of the location. Buyers don’t want to buy it because they don’t want the headache. They want the money maker. The money maker is the eCommerce business and it always will be, unless you continue to build retail stores out, but why do that? It’s so much more profitable with eCommerce. Franchising is so much more profitable and less headaches and opening up another 30, 40, 50, 60 stores where you’re really going and dead on. Buyers are not going to want to buy those corporate stores. They’re going to want to buy the franchise model. Does that make sense?

Absolutely.

It’s really imperative and people do this. Business owners do this to us all the time. They come to us and it’s like 5 companies in 1 umbrella. It is a disaster when you try to split all that up. Even the accounting firms don’t want to do it. It’s always better. Even if you have everything on one umbrella. I’m sure you did this, Dave, because you’re smart. You’re a smart businessman. You probably have separate financials.

We call them class codes.

A lot of people don’t do that. They code everything. I think it’s a great decision. I don’t care what the Sharks say.

Thank you.

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Thank you. An offer. Here it is. I’m going to give you the $150,000 for 20%. I have one other covenant. I want you to sell my Wicked Good Cupcakes on your site. You’re not going to do it for free. I want an allocation of their profits to you too. That has to be worked out with them as entrepreneurs. My operating summary is this. I’ll give you $150,000 for 20% of the whole business and I want my Wicked Cupcakes on your site.

Wait a minute. The whole business?

Yes. I don’t know how to split your business up. That’s the problem.

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Your business is already split up for the most part. Is it not?

Yeah, it’s three divisions.

It’s already split up. They’re worried about you and what your time is going to go. You’re a smart businessman. Your time is going to go where the money is, what you can build up the biggest, right?

Absolutely. I’ve been here 36 years in the retail business and the retail really hasn’t changed over 36 years because the town is only so big and you only get so many cars a day pass your location.

When he says he doesn’t know how to split that up, that’s not true. You’ve already done the work, you’ve already split it up. Now he is really devaluating the business because he is offering you what you came in with for the entire business.

They are the Sharks for a reason.

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Dave, I’ll give you $300,000 for 35% for the whole company. A little a piece of everything, the whole structure.

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You see how they’ve changed dramatically. I want the audience to really pay attention to it. In the first episode, they didn’t want that. They wanted just a mail order business, but now they’re getting greedy.

I don’t know if it’s getting greedy or they bought into me. They paid attention that I took their advice and I went and did some drastic changes in growth in a year and a half, two-year time because of their advice. As Lori said, it was the power of me or I have my numbers down. I had my numbers down and I took everything to heart and I really started growing the company.

It is the power of you. However, if I was buying it, I would want to buy just the mail order, but I would want you going with the mail order business. That’s what I would want. That’s what I would require.

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$300,000 for 35%. Kevin is $150,000 for 20%.

I may modify my offer. I’ll pay you $150,000 for 17.5%, which I think matches Robert’s valuation, but I still want my cupcakes on your site.

Both businesses combined?

Yes.

He’s offering the same value I am.

He doesn’t have to give up as much of his family business.

How do you allocate your time between the two different companies?

You prioritize it. It is what you have to do. You surround yourself with great employees, which is what I’ve done. You start to delegate.

Mark, are you interested making an offer?

I’ll give you $150,000 for 25% of your mail order business. I want an option to buy 25% of the other business for the same $150,000. If everything you say is right and the retail business, it’s not really an impact, great. If it turns out you’re splitting your time or something takes your time, then I have that option. That’s my offer, but I want to know now.

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I love Mark.

I do too.

Analyzing The “Win-Win Negotiation”: Mark Cuban’s Strategic Offer

I love his strategy because he always sits back and listens. He asks intelligent questions, but he doesn’t jump the gun. Mr. Wonderful seems to jump the gun a lot of times. He sits back, he asks intelligent questions, he wants to see what everybody else is doing. He wants to jump in and wants you to make a decision right then and there. He’s savvy.

He’s very strategic.

He’s a very strategic and very savvy investor. I love his deal because he knows your hot buttons. Your hot buttons, your sweet spot is, “I want to sell this. I want to keep that,” because you could pass that other business onto your saw and your family, etc. You could keep it in in the family, but he also wants the option to invest in that. He’s getting what he wants and he’s giving you exactly what you want. That’s called a win-win negotiation.

Took words right out of my mouth. Literally, I was going to say win-win situation.

You and I think the same.

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What are you going to do?

Mark, you have a deal.

Done.

Wow.

I’ll just eat my money’s worth.

I appreciate it.

Thanks, Dave. I look forward to it.

Thanks, Dave. Congratulations, man.

Thank you.

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Does he get free product now? With that deal, did he get free product or he still has to buy the product?

He buys them, but I send him product too.

Who was your ideal Shark that you wanted? I asked you this on the last episode.

Mark, because he was already a customer and he believed in the product and I thought it was a great relationship.

What I like about Mark too is he actually has a really big network. He has a huge captive audience.

Any one of them are sharp as can be. They’re all world class professionals. I would’ve been happy with any one of them, but Mark was my first pick. Obviously, if it was about the money, I could have went with Kevin or Robert because they were offering me more money at the time, but it was about the relationship and who believed in you, who you believed in, and who I really felt could help grow the brand in the long run.

It was about the relationship: who believed in you, who you believed in, and who could help grow the brand in the long run. Share on X

I like how you went from 0 offers last episode to 3 offers this episode.

I think Damon was getting ready to make an offer too. Lori was the only one out officially.

It looked like Damon was. I like how Mark just jumps in there when he listens.

He wants to know now.

You’ve got to know now.

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Congratulations.

Thank you, guys.

Last time, I felt I blew an opportunity. I went back, corrected my mistakes and it feels absolutely amazing to get a deal on Shark Tank and to have Mark Cuban as a partner. It couldn’t get any better than that.

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You got your beautiful son. I love it.

He was a baby then. He’s a little man now.

He has grown up in the business with you. That’s amazing.

He’s here every day.

Really good job. I love how you said you corrected your mistakes. You learned from them, you corrected your mistakes and you came back and that’s what life is all about. We don’t know what we don’t know, but that’s why we got to listen and implement.

You have to be smart enough to admit when you don’t know and say when you don’t know and not be afraid to fail because you’re going to fail along the way. That’s human nature. You get up tomorrow, you don’t make the same mistake twice and you go back after it again and do a little better the second time.

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What is life like now after the Tank? When was that?

That was in 2015.

What’s life like now after the Tank? What can you tell us? What are you comfortable telling me?

Life After Tank: Pivot To Corporate Gifting And The ‘Experience’ Model With Yeti

Now, it’s great. We’ve become a really big corporate gift player. We partner with Yeti in 2018 and started putting meat inside of Yeti coolers as the best cooler in the market and our meat’s in there. We’ve had people order hundreds and honestly, thousands of coolers with meat in them. That is like a super wow gift.

We have partnered with some other companies, Funky Chunky Popcorn, First Lite Apparel Gear, Vortex Optics, Turtlebox speakers and radio. We’re getting all into these premium brands for corporate gifts because we have become our own fulfillment centers where we take the product on, we can logo it for them and send them a well-rounded package. If somebody wants one Yeti Cup with a logo, we can do that for them. We can order it or make it, create it, send it. If they want a Yeti cooler, we can sell them that. If they want a Yeti cooler with steaks, we can sell them that.

You sell them that with your meat package?

Yes, or without. We’re in a lot of points and incentive and rewards programs for some casinos, for Fortune 500 companies. Let’s say hypothetically you go to a casino in Vegas and you and your husband or you and your boyfriend or you and your significant other gamble. One of you gets 500 points on a casino, you might have enough for a Yeti for steaks. One of you might get 5,000 points where you might have enough for Yeti cooler full of steaks.

They’re all fulfillment programs is what they are. We’ve created that. I’m very fortunate because being in Peoria, Illinois is Maui Jim sunglasses world headquarters and Maui Jims, I stole a word from them. The experience. They created the word experience around fitting their sunglasses, going to these events and letting 500 people try on 3 different pairs of women’s and 3 different pairs of men’s and you go back and get to pick and choose.

What we’ve done is create the word experience around the food table because when you can send somebody a spiral ham, they buy a spiral ham, they get a spiral ham as a gift or recognition program or a reward, and they go home and cook that for 10 or 15 or 20 people and it’s one of the best hams they’ve ever had in their life. The next thing they’re talking about, “This was a guy on Shark Tank. This was Dave. We got this from work. My boss sent me this. I did this program and they sent me this.” It becomes an experience and it’s a 5-to-20-minute conversation around that brand. That’s how you build a brand.

That’s absolutely how you build a brand, by having great quality. That’s amazing because I don’t know if your competitors are doing that, and you probably know if they are or not.

Some are not.

That’s a very strategic because I always say your network equals your net worth. You’re aligning yourself with some really big companies and really huge brands.

Premium brands. In 2024, I had probably over 2,000 samples sent into us. We picked four. I’m very funny on what brands that I align myself with. Number one, it’s got to be a premium brand, but number two is, most importantly, they’ve got to be able to deliver. If I need product, I can’t wait 4, 6, 8, 10 weeks unless it’s a pre-order. They got to be able to manage what they sell and get us inventory and stuff like that. I’m really proud of the partners that we have chosen and that we’re working with. The Yeti and Echo Valley partnership is a dream partnership. We’ve just done wonders with them. They’re a world class company. Everybody that I work with there is world class and we just continue growing the brands.

You just keep getting better and better. I’m sure your revenue is growing exponentially. You might not be comfortable sharing that, though, and that’s okay.

It’s doing well. I’m very fortunate because you get what you work for now, what you wish for. I’ve missed 3 days of work in 36 years unscheduled and I’m not afraid to outwork everybody at the game. I always say, “Tell me the rules and don’t get pissed off at me if I play the rule, if I use the rules to my advantage and win.”

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You’re back to your one-liners again as another episode, which you get what you work for, not what you wish for. Any other golden nuggets from you because you are probably one of the only Shark Tank people that didn’t get a deal that learned everything, came back on a tank and really continued to build your business exponentially. I know you thought Mark was a really good partner.

Absolutely. Great family, great partner, great advice. I can lean on him, I can email him anytime and always gets back to me. If it’s something that his team wants to take care of, his team will get back to you. You cannot go wrong with any of the Mark Cuban companies or family people for sure. He’s got an unbelievable network.

Yeah, he’s amazing. Great. Any last words of Dave Alwan golden nuggets? You always have those great one liners. Tell my audience something that they probably don’t know.

We’re probably going to be doing a DBA in the spring of 2026 here as Echo Valley promo instead of Echo Valley Meats on a national level because we have 13 brands and only 2 of them are food now. We’re getting more into these promo channels and stuff like that. I think Echo Valley Brands makes more sense and realigning ourselves. Echo Valley Meats will be the primary corporation because we’ve been in business for 30-plus years, so I don’t want to lose that or start over with the new FEIN number, any of that stuff.

EchoValleyBrands.com, we already own the domain Echo Valley Meats and so they’ll all tie into one. On a national scale, it makes more sense when we’re going after these premium brands than we’re selling these brands. Why would we sell Turtlebox radios to Echo Valley Meats? People are always like, “Why are we calling Echo Valley Meats for Yeti?”

“Let me tell you why. We’ve been on Shark Tank, we put meat inside of coolers, we do this.” “What a great story, great idea.” I think we have to reevaluate and let the public know that we’re Echo Valley Brands. More importantly, meat is one of the primary brand and that’s what got me to where I’m at, but we’re going to have a lot of great brands.

The Next Evolution: Becoming ‘Echo Valley Brands’ Via Amazon’s 3 Questions

I love that because you started out as a meat company and you still are a meat company, but it’s like Amazon. Amazon started off as a bookseller. That’s what they did. They started off selling books. They asked themselves three questions and maybe you did this and maybe you didn’t, but you came out with the end product. Those three questions I think every entrepreneur should ask themselves. Number one, what business are you in? Amazon said, “We’re in a book selling business.” Echo Valley Meats said, “We’re in a meat business.” Amazon said, “What’s our superpower? What are we better at than anyone else? We’re the best at distribution. Nobody can beat us at distribution. We’re in the books sales business. We’re the best at distribution.” What was Echo Valley Meats the best at?

Distribution of fulfillment and turnaround. Customer service.

Amazon asks themselves, “What business should we be in?” Amazon said, “We should be in a fulfillment business. Not just fulfilling book orders, but fulfilling products all around the world for these sellers.” Those three questions catapulted Amazon from a very small company to a multi- billion dollar organization. Do you agree?

I absolutely agree.

What business are you now in? The branding business.

The branding business and aligning with premium brands because we know how to execute. That is the most important word, is know how to execute. Say what you mean, mean what you say. Under commit and over deliver.

The most important is knowing how to execute: say what you mean, mean what you say, under-commit, and over-deliver. Share on X

Execution is probably your superpower. Those three things. Do you see how your business pivoted and really grew? Did you ask yourself those three questions or you just did all naturally?

I learned about it and just did it naturally, honestly.

Every business owner should go out and ponder those three questions because that can really capital your business to the next level.

I listen to my customers. I listen to what they want. A lot of them will say, “Go out and give me this apparel brand and I’ll buy it from you. Go out and get me this and I’ll buy it from you.” A lot of times, I do that. They’ll give me a brand, I’ll go to the brand and they’re like, “Why would we sell it to Echo Valley Meats?” I’m like, “It’s because I can give you 100,000 orders tomorrow.” “That’s more than a lot of our retails sell all year in twelve months.” We have the logistics, the systems, the networking down, and we’re in a lot of these programs where it makes sense. That’s why I think changing our name from Echo Valley Meats to Echo Valley Brands really makes sense moving forward.

I absolutely love it. Those are the three questions. You know what business you’re in, your superpower, you know what business you’re going in. You’re not getting away from your core values. You’re not getting away from your core business, but you are growing into this brand business.

My father came to this country in 1947 from Lebanon and said, “We’re getting in the food business because of one reason. People have to eat each and every day. You can sell a watch, but not everybody wears a watch. You can get by with maybe not eating for a day or two, but you have to eat food every day. That is our primary business, is the food business. I have a tagline. Feed your family what I feed mine.

That’s a great tagline. Everybody has to drink water and everybody has to eat food.

Food is our primary, but all these other premium brands that we can build around the spear or the focus that, and bring them into our network, it just makes sense. As long as they’re premium brands, they’re good companies or solid companies, they can deliver product to me because we like to bring everything into us and fulfill it ourselves. That is what we like to do.

It’s synergistic. It didn’t cost you a lot more money to do that. You didn’t have to build out an entire infrastructure.

I’ve got the infrastructure already in place.

The Philosophy Of AIM: Innovate And Market (Grow Or Die)

You already had it in place. You were creative. You were thinking outside the box or throwing a box away. What business should we be in? You have to evolve the other. You are either growing or dying. There’s no in between. I always say it used to be that 95% of startups would fail for within the first 1 to 5 years. Now, only 30% of starts will fail. However, business owners that have been in business 10 years or longer, 70% of those are dropping like flies.

Do you know why?

I know why.

I know you do, but most people don’t. It’s lack of knowledge or lack of money. A lot of people have lack of both or they’re not willing to learn or they think they know it all or they’re not willing to take advice from people or hear what they don’t want to hear. I listen to you. We learn from our ears, not our mouth.

I agree with that but mine is lack of AIM. Always Innovate and Market. If you don’t innovate, you’re going to be left behind. Amazon is always innovating. Apple is always innovating.

It’s like us changing our name from Meats to Brands because we’re innovating with all these premium brands and we have the network. Why not sell a Blackstone or a Weber grill? Why not sell Yeti knife? Why not sell Hammer Stahl knives? Why not sell hunting gear, outdoor optics? We’re in that space and it makes sense to align with all these premium brands.

Guess what? They have aligned with you, which speaks volumes about your product.

Some of them came to me and said they want us to be the exclusive distributor in special markets for their rewards programs. That is a real compliment to us.

It’s always better when somebody else sells you than when you sell yourself.

My son Jordan is all about hunting and fishing. Vortex Optics, First Lite apparel, GSM brands, some of these premium brands we’re bringing on because that’s his passion. He grew up in the meat business, but he didn’t go to Europe and get trained and hands on like I did. It’s a different ball game. I want to be able to align premium brands that makes him happy and he’s excited to get it like I did with the meat business. When we align the two stars together, you really have a superpower.

That’s the name of the game. AIM. Always invent and market knowledge and working capital. Any other last golden nuggets?

No, I think it’s great. I would tell any entrepreneur, new, young, older or existing, don’t be afraid to fail because you’re going to fail and you’re going to make mistakes along the way. Just don’t make the same mistake twice and learn from your mistakes and be smart enough to admit when you do make a mistake or you something messes up.

We had a perfect example. A new client ordered a ton of steaks and on the packing slip, their note got messed up. We didn’t know it until they brought to our attention and it was somebody out of Colorado and I felt terrible. What we were going to do is we’re going to hand write all those cards and send it to every one of their customers at our expense explaining what the note should have said. It was our internal problem on a printer that we didn’t realize. We’ll take the blame.

It’s always easier to retain a client than go out there and get a new one.

Don’t make excuses. Just fix it. Make it right.

That’s what so many business owners do. They make excuses. I get so irritated when I talk to some of the biggest companies out there for service for me. I’m like, “Just fix it. You’re doing more damage by not fixing it.”

Admit it when you’re wrong and fix it and move forward

Learn from it. Also, if you’re going to learn from somebody, learn from the people who have mastered success. Don’t learn from people who have opinions because everybody has opinions. If they’ve never done it before, they’re the last people you want to learn from. He went to the Sharks on the Shark Tank. Sometimes they get it wrong, but most of the times they get it right. He learned a lot of valuable lessons and that’s why people watch Shark Tank. Dave, it was a pleasure to have you on here. Dave Alwan, Echo Valley Brands. I’m excited to have you on my second episode and we’ll probably have you on again to talk about Echo Valley brands when you do your DBA.

It’s a pleasure and an honor to be on your show twice and talk to your audience and share our story.

Thank you so much and thank you to my audience. I always under promise and overdeliver. I told you it was a good episode. I told you it’s going to be like drinking from a fire hose. Go back and read this episode many times. There’s lots of golden nuggets in here. If you’re ever interested in preparing to go on Shark Tank, know your numbers and valuation. We help get clients ready to go on Shark Tank. Make sure you share this episode. Share it with your colleagues, share it with your friends, your sphere of influence, and make sure you subscribe to the show. I’ll see you next time. Thank you.

 

 

Important Links

• Echo Valley Meats
• Echo Valley Brands
• Dave Alwan on LinkedIn

 

About Dave Alwan

Raised in a family-owned meat business, third generation farmer and cattleman Dave Alwan, founded Echo Valley Meats Inc. in 1998 with his wife, Dawn. Together they’ve grown Echo Valley from and “Old Fashion Style” retail market, into a mail-order business, offering employee recognition, corporate gifts and incentives.

Dave purchased his first farm at age of 23 to breed and raise Angus cattle. With that experience, he knows the meat business from “conception to consumption.” Because of his desire to offer high quality products, Dave also decided to learn from the “best” and traveled to Germany and Denmark for training in the art of making smoked hams and sausages, completing a 3-year apprenticeship in just six months.

Not satisfied with his local success, Dave decided to audition for the ABC TV show “Shark Tank.” He flew to Los Angeles, California, gave his “Pitch,” and impressed producers enough to make it to the show. Though he didn’t secure a deal, the “Sharks” loved his meat products, authenticity, and enthusiasm. Not getting a deal has still been successful in many ways. Online sales have increased over 600%, and Dave is now being recruited to speak at colleges, universities, corporations, and business organizations across the country.

Not only has Dave been recognized by audiences for his inspirational story, he also earned the attention once again of ABC-TV. In 2014 Dave received the invitation for a return visit to “Shark Tank,” where he had the rare opportunity for a second pitch to the Sharks during Season 6. This time he secured a deal with billionaire investor, Mark Cuban, making Dave the only entrepreneur in the show’s history to pitch the same business successfully the second time around. Since his second appearance, Dave has expanded into the corporate gifts market and also become a regular on QVC, consistently receiving rave reviews and record-breaking sales.

Dave and Dawn Alwan, along with their company, Echo Valley Meats, are a growing success because of common sense judgment, hard work, leading by example, giving back to the community and above all, finding passion in life.