Handy Pan is one of those cooking products that you didn’t know you needed until you saw it. Handy Pan is a non-stick pan with a built-in strainer for convenience. Childhood pals Adam Chaudry and Josh Conway made the product, and they got an investment on Shark Tank from Lori Greiner. According to recent estimates, Handy Pan is worth $250,000.
The Duo Behind Handy Pan
Adam Chaudry and Josh Conway have been friends since grade school in Ohio. Josh is secretive about his educational background, but it is known that his partner studied business administration at Ohio State University.
Chaudry later went to Capital University Law School. After graduating in 2012, he became the lead attorney and litigator at Chaudry Law, specializing in criminal defense and civil rights.
In 2015, he called his old buddy Conway to become a partner in Chaudway Enterprises, where they invented digital and physical products. Before this, Josh worked at a tech firm as a general manager.
Establishing Handy Pan
The idea for a non-stick pan came when the two gentlemen were talking about the properties of a napkin. At one point, they decided to add a twist to the product by having a strainer built into it.
They started a Kickstarter campaign to bring this concept to life, but it unfortunately failed. Josh and Adam weren’t ready to let go of the invention yet, so they partnered with Priority Designs, the consulting firm that brought their product to market in 2019.
The pan was well welcomed and slowly gained attention after releasing it. However, the founders didn’t know how to promote their product online and spent only $550 on advertising. Consequently, they made a measly $7,900 in revenue.
The $10K Pitch That Shocked the Sharks
To overcome their advertising obstacles, Adam Chaudry and Josh Conway joined season 13 of Shark Tank in 2022. They asked for $10,000 for 20% of their startup, a surprisingly low offer.
Robert Herjavec asked why they only wanted $10,000, and the duo said they weren’t in it for the money. They just wanted a Shark that could help their product reach a massive audience.
Lori Greiner was the one who showed the most interest, while the other investors were backing out one by one. In the end, she agreed to the initial request, saying she had nothing to lose.
The Rise and Stall After Shark Tank
After the Handy Pan episode aired, they experienced an initial surge in demand and quickly sold out its inventory. Customers were flooding its Facebook page with requests to be notified when stock returned. By December 2022, Handy Pan posted that the pan was back in stock.
However, growth appears to have slowed in the years since and the deal with Lori Greiner never closed. After the show, it’s common for deals to fall apart as the Sharks do diligence. Sometimes entrepreneurs also change their mind about giving away equity and just want free publicity. The product is still available online, but the company has shown limited marketing activity and no major retail expansion.
The pan is available on the official website (BuyHandyPan.com) for $39.99, up from the original $29.99 launch price. It can also be purchased through QVC at the original $29 price point, and third-party sellers list it on Amazon.
The company’s social media accounts – Facebook, X, and Instagram – have been inactive for over three years. No new products, such as the teased Handy Pot, have materialized.
Both founders appear to have returned to their old careers. Adam Chaudry is a practicing attorney at Pierson Ferdinand LLP, while Josh Conway is a licensed real estate agent at Generations Realty. Neither references Handy Pan prominently on their professional profiles.
