Business Owners Mike & Gloria De Los Santos Featured In New Discovery Channel Series
Los Angeles – Mike and Gloria De Los Santos, owners of Durham, NC-based Mike D’s BBQ, will tell you that launching a viable business is a high-stakes gamble, where fear, doubt, and uncertainty can hinder your chance for success. In an all-new Discovery Channel series, I QUIT, Mike and Gloria, along with entrepreneurs from five other businesses, risk it all when they give up their steady 9-to-5 jobs to follow their passions in a life-changing journey that begins with the words I QUIT. The original series, a new format from Shopify Studios and Wheelhouse Entertainment’s Spoke Studios, premieres Tuesday, August 18 at 10:00 PM ET/PT on Discovery Channel.
Parents Mike and Gloria are building a BBQ sauce business with Mike having ‘quit’ his job. Mike D’s BBQ is an award-winning line of signature BBQ sauces and all-purpose dry rubs. The business is the result of a long process of Mike refining his sauces and rubs to meet his desired flavor and then share it with the world. In 2009, a spicy version of the sauce was entered into a competition for amateur sauce makers in North Carolina. The spicy BBQ sauce came in 3rd place overall and 2nd in its division. Since that time, friends and family encouraged Mike to take his product from the backyard to the masses.
The business was launched in 2014. Mike and Gloria met their sales goal that year and have seen strong steady growth ever since. In 2015, they introduced their Sweet & Spicy rub and in 2016 had their biggest growth year to date (120%). They plan to open a retail location in Durham in 2020.
Over the course of one year, I QUIT follows six sets of hopeful entrepreneurs as they leave their steady incomes and retirement plans behind, going all-in on their dreams of launching their own businesses. Along the way, they will be mentored by three successful business leaders who have each built empires of their own – Harley Finkelstein, COO of Shopify, the global commerce platform powering more than 1 million businesses around the world; Debbie Sterling, CEO of the award-winning children’s multimedia company, GoldieBlox; and Tricia Clarke-Stone, entrepreneur, author, innovative marketer, and co-founder/CEO of the award-winning creative and tech agency, WP Narrative_.
From newlyweds Matteo and Julie trying to launch a “versatile attire” company to parents Mike and Gloria building a BBQ sauce business and best friends Ashanti, Jasmine, and Tyshemia looking to disrupt the wine industry, I QUIT follows a cast of everyday people who take the leap of a lifetime.
Best friends and dads from Utah, Marcus and Chris, have 10 kids between them and put everything on the line to launch an outdoor cooler company, relying heavily on their families and each other as they face crippling market issues from the get-go. New Jersey couple Alex and Sibrena grapple with financial security after buying a semi-pro soccer team. A daughter of a Brazilian immigrant, Jen takes the chance her father never had – leaving her executive position on Wall Street to start a full-time business with her husband Jesse, making a beloved Brazilian truffle, ‘brigadeiros.’
With the business owners on I QUIT also self-documenting, viewers will experience the high intensity, pressing deadlines, and extreme decision-making that rule in these daunting endeavors where there are no safety nets. And all the while, what the entrepreneurs don’t know is that at the end of the year, the most promising business will receive $100,000 to fuel their growth. Can the new business owners turn up the heat, or will they go broke?
I QUIT premieres Tuesday, August 18, at 10:00 PM ET/PT and the subsequent weeks will be premiering at 9:00 PM ET/PT on Discovery Channel. In addition to watching the show on Discovery, viewers can stream I QUIT by downloading the Discovery GO app.
Viewers can join the conversation on social media by using the hashtag #IQuit and follow Discovery on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for the latest updates.
I QUIT is an original format created by Shopify Studios and Wheelhouse Entertainment’s Spoke Studios. It is produced for Discovery in the U.S. by Shopify Studios, Spoke Studios, and ITV America.
About Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is dedicated to creating the highest quality non-fiction content that informs and entertains its consumers about the world in all its wonder, diversity, and amazement. The network, which is distributed to 88.3 million U.S. homes, can be seen in 224 countries and territories, offering a signature mix of compelling, high-end production values and vivid cinematography across genres including, science and technology, exploration, adventure, history and in-depth, behind-the-scenes glimpses at the people, places, and organizations that shape and share our world. For more information, please visit www.discovery.com.