Here's What Happened To Coffee Joulies After Shark Tank

ABC's "Shark Tank" brings a lot of ideas to the table — notably, in front of its panel of investors popularly referred to as the Sharks. Going into its 17th season in 2025, each and every episode brings a new group of founders into the limelight, giving them the opportunity to pitch their concepts directly to potential investors. The show has seen a long list of food brands, too. From some of the best kitchen gadgets to iconic food startups like I Love Chamoy and Toast-It, you've likely seen them on "Shark Tank" — but where are they now? Coffee drinkers, in particular, might remember a company called Coffee Joulies, which appeared on Season 13, Episode 4 of the show.

When Coffee Joulies' founders pitched their proprietary coffee bean-shaped Coffee Joulies to the Sharks, the ears of coffee drinkers everywhere perked up. The two founders promised an answer to every hot cup sipper's prayers: a solution that would prevent burnt tongues but also keep the drink at the right temperature for longer. Following the episode, thousands of orders were placed through their website, and they saw a huge boost in followers across their social media accounts. But, that was in 2013, and despite receiving a four-shark deal, the hype surrounding Coffee Joulies has been rather quiet since. In that silence, one question arises: What ever happened to Coffee Joulies?

The founders, Dave Patrillo and Dave Jackson, presented the Sharks — Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, and Kevin O'Leary — with their proprietary Coffee Joulies. Stainless steel and coffee bean-shaped, Patrillo and Jackson explained how their product was born from a Kickstarter campaign. Their invention worked to not only cool coffee to the ideal temperature, but also kept it at that temperature for longer.

After providing each Shark with their own thermos of hot coffee with the Joulies — each made with the highest grade of stainless steel and filled with a food-grade phase changing material — the judges were wowed. Hours after dropping the Joulies into their coffee, it was still piping hot. While Mark Cuban offered them $250,000 for 12% of the company, the founders chose to leave with what they said was exactly what they wanted: a $150,000 joint investment from the other four Sharks, Greiner, John, Herjavec, and O'Leary, without giving up any of their equity.

Coffee Joulies' founders agreed to pay the sharks $3 on each wholesale unit sold and $6 on each retail unit sold until their investment was returned. Once the $150,000 investment was paid back, they'd then received $1 per unit in perpetuity thereafter. But, the negotiations didn't end there.

Two weeks following their appearance on "Shark Tank," Petrillo told the Obsever-Dispatch that their negotiation with the Sharks was still ongoing. "Deals that are made on the show are offers to continue negotiating that deal," he said. Even before Coffee Joulies' appearance on the show, stores like Bed Bath and Beyond and Office Max expressed interest in stocking the product. But Petrillo and Jackson said that they preferred selling the Joulies directly through their website because it allowed them to keep their operations small. 

The exposure and inherent boost in online sales that followed their appearance on the show, however, were unavoidable, and it's unclear if they were prepared to manage it. The co-owner of their production company, Matt Roberts, explained to the same publication that the Joulies were produced by just eight people — and that it was challenging to manufacture the 30,000 Joulies that were ordered after they were featured on "Shark Tank."

While both Petrillo and Jackson reportedly moved to Sherill, New York for the initial production of their temperature-regulating Coffee Joulies in 2011, by the time they appeared on "Shark Tank" they were splitting their time between New York City and San Francisco.

Apparently, in the weeks after their "Shark Tank" offer and the continued negotiations, the deal for Coffee Joulies failed to reach fruition. And, despite receiving thousands of orders through its website, many of the product's reviews were not positive. Sold as a pack of five for $45.99, the Joulies are no longer available for purchase on Amazon. The reviews, on the other hand, remain. "Unfortunately, I went into this purchase hoping for a wonderful product to help my husband enjoy his coffee longer. Sadly, these do not work," says one. Others note the size of the Joulies, and the fact that you need to use three to five of them to hold the heat of your coffee for any significant amount of time.

Given the impracticality issues with the product and the alleged manufacturing issues similar to those that have contributed to the demise of other "Shark Tank" deals — including the worst meatless ground beef brand — along with the failure to actually secure an investment deal, there's a multitude of factors that could have contributed to Coffee Joulies going out of business. Nevertheless, the company's website has been taken down, and the only trace of it on social media is an X (formerly known as Twitter) account that hasn't posted since October of 2015. The Coffee Joulies Amazon page also no longer exists, and a search for the Joulies themselves only brings up a third party site that sells them for double the price along with other, unrelated coffee gadgets.

As of the founders' interview with Observer-Dispatch in 2013, the two were happily living off of the means of their own invention — and they didn't "have any other gigs," as Petrillo put it. It seems, at least in the early stages after their appearance on "Shark Tank," both of the founders were committed to the company. Petrillo himself gave an interview with Growth Hacker TV in 2023, but he failed to acknowledge anything about his coffee brand invention or the state of it. What he did discuss, on the other hand, was his tips for fundraising via Kickstarter, based on his and Jackson's experience doing so for Coffee Joulies in 2011.

In the years following the Shark Tank" deal, it appears that Petrillo also served as an advisor through the Clarity platform, where he took calls with other inventors and founders to offer his business advice. According to Petrillo's personal LinkedIn profile, he has served as the President of Coffee Joulies for 14 years — from 2011 to present. However, his current role is listed as the Principal Mechanical Engineer for a company called Fauna Robotics. Dave Jackson, on the other hand, has maintained less of a presence online.

While it is unclear what Jackson is doing now and where he's doing it, it's safe to assume he's moved on from Coffee Joulies as well. One can only hope that, despite the company's outcome, they'll both continue to build off of their personal experience.