Moink: Here's What Happened After Appearing On Shark Tank

Lucinda Cramsey is an eighth-generation farmer. Growing up poor on 1,500 acres that her family maintained in a tiny Missouri town, there were times that she and her loved ones went to bed hungry. That struggle ignited a fire in Cramsey, namely a commitment to try and improve life for small farmers. It's a big ask in an agricultural society where four companies control the lion's share of American meatpacking business and, if you don't want to play ball with them, you are all too often left out in the cold. The reason why meat is so cheap at big grocers like Aldi is largely because chains can be pretty undiscriminating with where their meat comes from. If, like Cramsey, you care about the animals that eventually turn into your dinner, things get more complicated.

After getting swindled on a deal related to her moderately successful produce stand, Cramsey and her husband changed directions and partnered with neighboring small farmers to roll out a subscription-based meat company. Dubbed "Moink" — a portmanteau of "moo" and "oink" — the Moink boxes would, per Cramsey's vision, contain ethically produced meat sourced from family farms. The meat would be top-notch: cruelty-free/grass-fed and -finished beef, pork, chicken, and lamb and wild-caught salmon (as opposed to widely-banned farm-raised salmon), all delivered to your door. Moink was already having some success, but it faced the same scale issues that often plague growing businesses. Cramsey, armed with a southern drawl and a fiery attitude, took a dive into the "Shark Tank."

On Season 10, Episode 15 of "Shark Tank," Cramsey brought the sharks samples of her Moink bacon and ribeye. She wanted $250,000 in exchange for 10% equity in the growing company. Kevin O'Leary claimed that the bacon was the best he'd ever eaten. Things got heated, however, when Cramsey started talking numbers. Despite having made an impressive $700,00 in sales during 2018 (the year the episode was filmed), Moink's margins were razor-thin. Each box (containing roughly 13 to 16 pounds of assorted meats) cost $127 between stocking, packing, and shipping ... but only sold for $159. Despite that, Cramsey argued that Moink was doing well. It had a 79% customer retention rate, which is excellent for monthly subscription boxes, and was growing every year.

Lori Greiner, Daymond John, and Mark Cuban all took a pass on investing in the company, for reasons including competing interests (Cuban) and a dislike of Cramsey's defensive attitude (John). Guest shark Jamie Siminoff, however, stated that he remembered what it was like to have a young business with bad margins, and that he believed in Cramsey — so much so, that he felt she needed more money than she'd originally asked for. In exchange for 20% equity, he offered $400,000, the amount he said she needed to scale production and improve her margins. Cramsey was hesitant but ultimately took the deal.

While some companies leave Shark Tank without securing a deal, like KidsLuv and its ill-fated juice boxes, many others shake hands with a shark, yet never see the agreement come to fruition. Yet Siminoff not only closed the deal with Cramsey, but he actually came to Missouri to visit Moink headquarters and bought his own farm in her town. It seems that he was exactly the sort of pit bull investor that Cramsey sought. Right after its episode of "Shark Tank" aired, Moink hit $3 million in sales.

Cramsey knew that Moink was facing big competition from rivals like ButcherBox, who could afford much better prices for its products because it wasn't burdened with the same self-imposed ethical restrictions. What she had, however, was an unshakable belief in her products and her mission. These carried her through with grace and good humor when Moink hit some very big snags, which Cramsey detailed on Facebook: the year after "Shark Tank," Moink sold out of free-range chicken for its boxes. Rather than stock boxes with an inferior product, Cramsey elected to wait out more supplies, making some customers angry. 

Over a holiday weekend that same year, FedEx did not deliver some of the subscription boxes. Moink had to take a loss on those original boxes and redeliver. After moving to a new warehouse, many packing mistakes led to even more thawed-out boxes that required replacing. But Cramsey and the Moink team persevered and learned from their mistakes.

As of May 2025, Moink is still very much in the game. It offers weekly boxes of curated meat selections, which are still $159. Such a box might include various cuts of chicken, pork, beef, and sausage. There is also a curated box with no pork to suit certain dietary needs. You can swap items to suit your likes and dislikes. Moink also stocks gift boxes to suit family get-togethers, a special breakfast, or a selection of premium steak. 

Explaining the cost of the Moink boxes, which is definitely higher than much of its competition, Cramsey argues that the money goes towards paying farmers a fair price. It is also meant to support the husbandry of the livestock in a manner that both she and the consumer can feel good about. Accordingly, all Moink meat is free of antibiotics, growth hormones, GMO grains, nitrates, nitrites, and added sugars.

On its Linktree, Moink has rounded up an assortment of resources for "tender-hearted carnivores" like Cramsey. These include a tutorial on how to thaw frozen meat safely, delicious recipes for carne asada, salmon Benedict, and other delicacies, and even a plan for turning your Moink box into eight family meals. Don't get confused, however — though Moink delivers humanely raised, pastured chicken, that still doesn't mean that you should wash it in the sink before cooking.

Moink has been uncharacteristically quiet on social media since late fall 2023, despite its website still being active and consumers still able to place orders. This makes it tough to keep up with the latest news from the family farm. One can only assume that, due to the fact that orders are still being shipped, Moink is continuing along on its mission to deliver better, kinder meat ... just without any extra mooing or oinking on the social media side.

And, as for Cramsey? Well, it's a safe bet that she's still spitting tacks at doubters and fueling Moink's growth with the relentless power of belief in a good cause. "One day I'd like to take on Tyson," Cramsey told Forbes in 2019, brashly name-dropping one of America's largest meatpackers. "I'm cocky enough to say if you do the right thing, people will taste the difference." To that end, she has also said that she'd like to see Moink meats in big grocery stores one day. For now, however, Moink is sticking to supporting farmers by selling directly to consumers, one box at a time.