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Bear Minimum

Status: active as of 2026-09-09

Also known as: Bear Minimum Outdoors, Bear Bowl, Bear Minimum LLC

Bear Minimum is still selling its Bear Bowl fold-flat camping pot through Bear Minimum Outdoors. The current store lists a Baby Bear product and a two-pack, while the company’s older story and FAQ preserve the three-size product history and safety limitations. A federal patent application names Bear Minimum LLC as assignee but is listed as abandoned; the on-air Jamie Siminoff deal is reported contemporaneously as accepted, yet a later follow-up could not verify that it closed.

Shark Tank appearance

Dated timeline

DateEventEvidence
2016-08-16 A federal patent application lists Cory Santiago as inventor and Bear Minimum LLC as assignee for collapsible container systems; the application is now listed as abandoned. S-BEAR-PATENT
2018-09-20 The official company blog promoted the Bear Bowl's upcoming Shark Tank appearance. S-BEAR-BLOG
2018-10-08 A contemporaneous Spokane newspaper report said the Santiagos chose Jamie Siminoff's offer after receiving two offers. S-BEAR-NEWS
2026-09-09 The current Bear Minimum Outdoors store lists the Baby Bear product and a two-pack for sale; the company still presents the Bear Bowl as a fold-flat cook pot. S-BEAR-CURRENT, S-BEAR-FAQ

Legal and entity identity

Legal entities
Bear Minimum LLC
Aliases
Bear Minimum Outdoors, Bear Bowl, Bear Minimum LLC
Successor/acquirer
None verified

Washington

Bear Minimum LLC · unresolved

Limitation: The Washington business-search portal was identified, but an exact state record and current standing were not retrieved in this pass. The federal patent record supports the LLC name but is not a certificate of state standing.

Washington Corporations and Charities Filing System · accessed 2026-09-09

Notable findings and disputes

  1. strong corroboration Bear Minimum is operating as a current outdoor-cookware store under the Bear Minimum Outdoors brand. [ S-BEAR-CURRENT, S-BEAR-FAQ ]
  2. verified fact Cory Santiago is identified as the Bear Bowl inventor, and the federal patent record names Bear Minimum LLC as assignee; the application is listed as abandoned. [ S-BEAR-STORY, S-BEAR-PATENT ]
  3. credible report The televised Siminoff deal is recorded as an on-air agreement only: contemporaneous coverage says it was chosen, while later coverage could not verify that it closed. [ S-BEAR-NEWS, S-BEAR-FOOD ]
  4. verified fact The current store's continued operation does not prove that the Shark Tank investment closed. [ S-BEAR-CURRENT, S-BEAR-FOOD ]

What we could not verify

  • The bounded Wayback query was rate-limited in this pass, so no complete archived-page diff is claimed.
  • The Washington entity record and current state standing were not directly retrieved.
  • The post-show investment closing remains unresolved despite contemporaneous reporting that the offer was chosen.

Full research sources

  1. S-BEAR-CURRENT — Bear Minimum Outdoors — current store official company page accessed 2026-09-09

    Current product and sales evidence.

  2. S-BEAR-STORY — Bear Minimum — company story before Shark Tank dated official company page published 2018-10-07 accessed 2026-09-09

    Founder, product, production and pre-show history.

  3. S-BEAR-FAQ — Bear Minimum Outdoors FAQ official company page accessed 2026-09-09

    Current product sizes, materials and use limitations.

  4. S-BEAR-BLOG — On the Trail with the Bear Bowl cook pot dated official company blog published 2018-09-20 accessed 2026-09-09

    Pre-air announcement and dated company history.

  5. S-BEAR-PATENT — Collapsible container systems — US20190159625A1 federal patent record published 2019-05-30 accessed 2026-09-09

    Inventor and assignee trail; Google notes legal-status labels are not legal conclusions.

  6. S-BEAR-NEWS — Spokane-based Bear Bowls get funded on season premiere of Shark Tank contemporaneous local reporting published 2018-10-08 accessed 2026-09-09

    Reports the founders' stated choice of the Siminoff offer.

  7. S-BEAR-FOOD — Bear Minimum: Here's What Happened After Shark Tank secondary follow-up published 2023-08-10 accessed 2026-09-09

    Later follow-up says the investment closing was unclear.

  8. S-BEAR-REG — Washington Corporations and Charities Filing System state registry portal accessed 2026-09-09

    Exact Bear Minimum LLC record not retrieved in this pass.

  9. S-BEAR-VIDEO — Bear Minimum Shark Tank clip — Sony Pictures Television official video published 2018 accessed 2026-09-09

    SPTV corpus provenance for S10E1.

Status-Verification Sources

  1. Bear Minimum Outdoors — current store (bearminimum.org) 2026
    The current official store presents the Bear Bowl as a fold-flat cook pot and identifies Baby Bear as the only size currently available.
  2. Bear Minimum — company story before Shark Tank (bearminimum.org) 2018-10-07
    The official story identifies Cory Santiago as inventor, describes the fold-flat cookware, and says the family had produced more than 3,000 units before the 2018 appearance.
  3. Collapsible container systems — US20190159625A1 (patents.google.com) 2019-05-30
    The federal patent record lists Cory Santiago as inventor and Bear Minimum LLC as original and current assignee, while warning that its legal-status label is not a legal conclusion; the application is listed as abandoned.
  4. Spokane-based Bear Bowls get funded on season premiere of Shark Tank (spokesman.com) 2018-10-08
    The contemporaneous local report says Cory and Heidi Santiago chose Jamie Siminoff’s $100,000 for 25% offer after receiving two offers.
  5. Bear Minimum: Here's What Happened After Shark Tank (foodrepublic.com) 2023-08-10
    The later follow-up reports that Bear Minimum was still selling, but says it was unclear whether the Siminoff investment actually went ahead.
  6. Bear Minimum Shark Tank clip — Sony Pictures Television (youtube.com) 2018
    Official SPTV provenance for the Season 10, Episode 1 Bear Minimum pitch.