Brick Township business owners to appear on ‘Shark Tank’ with their soap project
In just four years, Dave Restiano and his partner Dan Staats went from patient and therapist to business partners in the world of soap.
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From a Brick Township storefront - to Hollywood. Two Ocean County friends and entrepreneurs combined their love of physical therapy and soap - and will soon be featured on the television show “Shark Tank.”
"In my mind, I always thought ‘Shark Tank’ was the ultimate milestone, the ultimate fence post to base our success on," said David Restiano, the CEO and co-founder of SorSoap.
In just four years, Restiano and his partner Dan Staats went from patient and therapist to business partners in the world of soap. Next month, they'll have a national audience and a pitch of a lifetime in front of the famous "sharks."
"I never thought it would happen to me and when he called me and told me we would be on ‘Shark Tank’ I was like, ‘You got to be kidding me!’ I couldn't believe it was real," said Staats.
The product is called SorSoap, designed after a therapy tool used to massage muscle tissue. By using social media, word of mouth and placement in other massage and therapy studios they've tripled their sales each year.
"I came home one day from a physical therapy appointment with Dan and I got in the shower to wash the ammonium off of my hip flexor and grab the bar of green soap that my wife had just put in there and it was hard and had a rounded edge and it made me think of one of the tools he was using,” said Restiano.
"I remember the first time we found out, I started studying shows. What Mark [Cuban] said, what Lori [Greiner] said, what everybody said and I called him and I said, ‘I think we need to answer this question, that question’ and he was like, ‘I think we'll just wing it,’" explained Staats.
Their episode of “Shark Tank” is scheduled to air on ABC on April 12 at 8 p.m.
