Kim Nelson had never heard of the ABC reality show Shark Tank when a friend told her about it last winter, but she had big dreams for Daisy Cakes, her made-from-scratch bakery business, so she sent in an audition tape. It turned out to be a smart business decision.
Nelson was selected as a contestant on the show, which brings entrepreneurs face-to-face with a panel of “sharks,” or potential investors. In a nail-biter episode that originally aired in April, she turned on the Southern charm, handed out samples, answered some tough questions and secured a last-second investment of $50,000. Orders flooded into the company’s website, ilovedaisycakes.com, and Nelson sold more cakes in two days than she did in all of 2010, making her business the most successful venture profiled in two seasons of the show.
The daughter of Laurens Electric Cooperative members Richard and Geraldine Adams, Nelson has been cooking with her mother, grandmothers and great-aunt Daisy since she was nine. After years of catering and teaching cooking classes, she and her mother launched Daisy Cakes in June 2009 in the kitchen of her Spartanburg home, using old family recipes and farm-fresh ingredients like hand-sifted flour, cage-free eggs and real butter. The company now employs 13 people baking around the clock, but Nelson says everything is still made from scratch and that she and her mother still cook together every day. “It’s what I love to do,” she says.
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Kim Nelson
AGE: 49
HOMETOWN: Spartanburg
OCCUPATION: Owner of Daisy Cakes
LITTLE-KNOWN FACT: Holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Wofford College
FAVORITE CAKE: Lemon