What Happened To Bon Affair After Shark Tank?

When Jayla Siciliano appeared on Season 5, Episode 28 of "Shark Tank," she was on a mission to change the wine industry with low-calorie wine spritzers. Dubbing her company Bon Affair, Siciliano believed her product would be a hit with health-conscious wine drinkers.

Siciliano launched her line of wine spritzers as a result of some negative cocktail party experiences in which she would feel excessively groggy the day after an event. To remedy this, she began diluting her wine with sparkling water. She fell in love with the blend's taste, which inspired her to create an alternative wine spritzer that would be better for consumers and not leave them with a dreaded hangover (in fact, we ranked 11 cocktails for this same purpose).

The episode's panel of Sharks included Daymond John, Kevin O'Leary, Barbara Corcoran, Robert Herjavec, and Mark Cuban. O'Leary, in particular, is a wine lover and a sommelier for O'Leary Fine Wines, but surprisingly, he was not one of the Sharks who bit at the offer.

Siciliano entered the Tank asking the Sharks for $150,000 in exchange for 35% of Bon Affair. She confidently assumed the Sharks enjoyed drinking wine, and that they cared equally about their health. One glass of red wine can contain upwards of 125 calories, so Siciliano wanted to create a wine that fit health-conscious lifestyles. Her sparkling wine spritzer contained only 65 calories per glass, but it wasn't just the beverage's low calorie count that made it unique. Siciliano shared that her product contained no added sugars and instead boasted added electrolytes to ease hangover symptoms.

While Corcoran volunteered that she enjoyed wine spritzers, the other Sharks didn't enjoy the beverage. O'Leary shared that men drink a wine-spritzer equivalent known as rose wine with ice, but Siciliano specified that her target market was working women or busy moms who might like to indulge in a better-for-you glass of wine. Prior to Siciliano's appearance on the show, her product was sold at 10 Whole Foods locations throughout California and had sold $11,000 of product in approximately six weeks.

Unfortunately, most of the Sharks felt Siciliano's concept either required too much work or wasn't substantiated enough to take a bite. Ultimately, though, she did end up striking a deal with Cuban, who offered her exactly what she asked: $150,000 for 35% of the company.

Even if a deal is accepted on "Shark Tank," it can sometimes fall through after the show airs. Fortunately, Siciliano successfully left the show with her and Cuban's deal intact. Shortly after, Cuban helped grow her business to $500,000 in sales, though all of this money had to be reinvested into the company. While the sales numbers looked great on paper, unfortunately, the business was not profitable.

When Siciliano appeared on "Beyond the Tank" in 2018, she was gearing up to meet with a large winery that could help her with distribution. The problem? She'd need to devalue her other investors' shares to offer the winery equity. Cuban advised her to offer the distributor the equity on the condition that the new investors meet a sales requirement. Even though Siciliano was nervous, she and the winery eventually reached a deal.

To help with sales, Cuban suggested the company come up with a drinking container that could be used in the pool. Siciliano agreed, and the company eventually introduced an aluminum drinking container to its product line.

Siciliano ultimately left Bon Affair in 2016 to pursue other business ventures. In 2019, the company's blog shared that its wine was only available for purchase in Texas, Florida, Maryland, New Hampshire, Arizona, Minnesota, California, South Dakota, and Arkansas. As of 2023, the company was still in business, raking in about $5 million per year. At the time, customers could still find Bon Affair products in some Total Wine locations and use the site's pickup location finder to see if the brand was available near them. Bon Affair's sparkling wine came in two flavors, Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc.

Even by that time, however, Siciliano had transitioned from "Shark Tank" inventor to real estate maven. As she wrote on Instagram in April 2023, "My career has zig-zagged from corporate to entrepreneur on 'Shark Tank' to becoming a mom then back to corporate."

Siciliano and her husband began investing in vacation rentals before eventually starting their own vacation management company, Atlas Vacation Properties in 2020. Before launching the rental business, Siciliano worked as the vice president of sales and marketing at Seymour Duncan. Atlas Vacation Properties allows her to spend more time with family while also allowing her space for creative endeavors.

Jayla Siciliano left Bon Affair in 2016 to pursue other business ventures, and sadly, it appears the company she started is no longer in operation. The Bon Affair website now goes by the name Best Wine and features articles about wine-related topics like food pairings and the characteristics of different vino varieties. There's no information on Bon Affair wine and where it can be procured, and the company's products aren't available on the Total Wine website, nor does the brand appear in a search of our local Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores. Similarly, the company's Instagram page hasn't been updated since 2017.

It's not clear who took over Bon Affair or where the business went wrong after Siciliano moved on. According to a blurb about the business (per Siciliano's LinkedIn profile), the entrepreneur wrote that she was "About seven years ahead of the market" for healthier alcohol options (like White Claw, which arguably kicked off the hard cider trend), and that this market has subsequently grown to become "a multi-billion dollar category in the alcohol industry." Based on these factors, it's possible the Bon Affair wine was a good product that was simply ahead of its time.

Jayla Siciliano is an excellent example of the entrepreneurial spirit, as her business ventures didn't end with Bon Affair. While Siciliano is no longer in the beverage industry, she is still serving as the CEO of Atlas Vacation Properties. According to the website, the business helps with short-term vacation rentals for property owners primarily in Santa Barbara, California and Stowe, Vermont.

Siciliano is also invested in helping other business owners achieve their goals, which she accomplishes through her Seed Money Podcast. The podcast features advice for businesses just starting out and offers resources like how-to guides, tutorials, and workshops on how to handle the common obstacles that come with entrepreneurship. The hosts of "Shark Tank" have loved and hated many beverages over the years (including Copa di Vino and Cougar Energy), and while Bon Affair did have the makings of an excellent product, it just didn't have the necessary staying power. However, Siciliano's experiences after "Shark Tank" show that you can't keep a good entrepreneur down, even in the face of challenges.