What Happened To Schulzies Bread Pudding After Shark Tank?

Bread pudding has been around a long time — since the 11th and 12th centuries, to be exact. Classic bread pudding is a popular and delicious comfort food, and even though the dish has frugal roots (it was created as a way to give new life to stale bread), it's not uncommon to see it on even the swankiest restaurant dessert menus today. Entrepreneur Sarah Schulz is a huge fan of the custard-based treat and could never find what she considered the ideal version in stores, so she set out to make it herself. Soon after, Schulzies Bread Pudding was born.

According to Schulz, her bread pudding differs from anything else on the market because it's made with fresh bread, has the perfect texture, and is served chilled — making it almost ice cream-like — although Schulzies did include some warm varieties for traditionalists. Schulz began selling her bread pudding at farmers markets in Los Angeles' Venice Beach in 2010 and opened a small storefront later that same year, selling flavors like S'more for Me! and Oh So Citrus Jalapeño.

The small shop was an immediate hit in the Venice Beach community, so Schulzies added another location in San Francisco just two years later. Schulz put her entire $300,000 inheritance from her father into the company, but she wanted to expand. Expansion is expensive, so Schulz ventured into the "Shark Tank" studio in November 2013, appearing on Season 5, Episode 8 to hopefully get her hands on some more capital.

When Sarah Schulz pitched her concept to the Sharks, she requested $160,000 for 20% equity in her bread pudding business. In its first year of activity, Schulz's original Venice Beach location made $190,000 in sales. Kevin O'Leary, aka "Mr. Wonderful," was impressed by the revenue per square foot in the smaller store, but the larger San Francisco location gave all of the Sharks pause.

In the Venice Beach shop, which was previously a Del's Lemonade location, Schulz was making $1,300 per square foot, while in San Francisco, she was only making $450 per square foot. O'Leary said this number was no good if she was looking to franchise.

The Sharks were all impressed with the bread pudding samples Schulz handed out, but not the business plan associated with the venture. Mark Cuban even told Schulz that the "biggest risk" was herself. Lori Greiner was the last Shark to pull out of the deal. While she gave Schulz some hope that she could be onto something, she also said Schulz wasn't ready for investors yet. Schulz left the Tank without a deal, but she still had two bread pudding businesses to go home to.

Businesses often get an exposure boost following an appearance on "Shark Tank," and after Schulzies Bread Pudding premiered on the show, the San Francisco location, which offered over 100 flavors of bread pudding, did well — at least for a while. One user on X (formerly known as Twitter) posted a picture of his family at Schulzies Bread Pudding in 2014, captioning it, "Line out the door, @mcuban you missed a big opportunity."

Unfortunately, this location closed in 2015, two years after founder Sarah Schulz's "Shark Tank" appearance. The San Francisco outpost posed problems from the beginning with construction delays and additional red tape related to the historic part of town where it was located. Schulz also told Hoodline in 2015 that running and attempting to grow the San Francisco location from her hometown of Venice Beach was too difficult.

In a Facebook post announcing the closure, Schulz said Schulzies Bread Pudding wouldn't disappear altogether. Instead of being sold in dedicated Schulzies shops, jars of the pudding would be available in other retail locations, as well as on the business' website. "I'm going to be focusing my resources on building Schulzies' online and grocery presence, and making it a national brand. So to all of my loyal customers, don't worry. You'll still be able to enjoy the pudding you love," Schulz told Hoodline.

Fans did have reason to worry, though. In 2016, Schulzies Bread Pudding stopped posting on social media, and its website is no longer functional. According to the 2015 closure announcement on Facebook, the new tenant moving into the San Fran shop space, Project Juice, would sell Schulzies wares on its "secret menu." However, as of this writing, Project Juice is no longer at that location. A rug store called Minimal now occupies 364 Hayes Street.

The fate of Schulzies' original Venice Beach location is unclear, but all signs point to it also being shut down in late 2016. According to Sarah Schulz's LinkedIn, she lists the end of her time as Schulzies' founder as January 2017.

So, what went wrong? While there's no concrete answer for why Schulzies Bread Pudding went under, perhaps Sharks like Robert Herjavec and Mark Cuban were right about the business not being ready for expansion. Herjavec said Schulz didn't have a strong business plan, while Cuban felt she needed a business partner for the company to survive. Despite the popularity of Schulzies' bread pudding, it's possible that Schulz bit off more than she could chew too early on, perhaps leading to the downfall of her business.

According to Sarah Schulz's LinkedIn, after shuttering Schulzies Bread Pudding for good, she made a few career pivots before finally moving into the real estate industry. Her Compass real estate agent profile says she "sold her company" and moved to New York with her husband to briefly work as a hospice care chaplain. However, it's unclear exactly when or how long she was working in New York, as her LinkedIn profile also lists her as co-founder of Mandala Yoga from January 2017 (when she officially ended her tenure at Schulzies) until June 2019. The page then shows a brief gap until July 2021, when Schulz added her real estate role to her profile.

It appears Schulz's other entrepreneurial venture, Mandala Yoga, was also short-lived. Listings for Mandala Yoga in Santa Monica, California show that the studio is no longer open, and Schulz's LinkedIn entry indicates she was there for just over two years.

As of this writing, Schulz appears to still be working in real estate back in her hometown of Auburn, California. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and management from California State University, Sacramento, so with this education and her entrepreneurial experience, we wouldn't be surprised if she eventually jumps into a new business venture. Whether it will be food-related, yoga-related, real estate, or something else entirely, only time will tell.