Crio is a brewed drink made from cacao beans. It brews like coffee and tastes (and smells) like hot chocolate. Crio Bru, which has no fat, sugars, sodium, or cholesterol, does have theobromine, which is a natural stimulant that is longer lasting and milder than caffeine. The founders of Crio, chiropractor Dr. Eric Durtschi (son of a candy maker) and Jon Fortheringham of Provo, Utah, pitched their beverage business on Shark Tank in April 2014. They went into the Tank seeking a $1 million investment in exchange for 10 percent equity but, alas, didn’t get a deal.
Almost five years after Shark Tank, you can still buy a very large selection of Crio Bru on Amazon and Durtschi is still listed as President and CEO of Crio. According to LinkedIn, Fotheringham is currently Director of Customer Experience Operations for computer software company Workfront in Lehi, Utah. New episodes of Shark Tank air Sundays at 10 pm on ABC, right after American Idol. [Related: 27 Favorite ‘Shark Tank’ Products at Amazon — New List]
