Lisa and Gary Horvath in 2011.
A “million” is a familiar number to the folks at Real Antique Wood ever since its award-winning black walnut live-edge floor (Irvington, N.J.) received millions of views on the internet.
But soon they will be associated with a larger number, because owners Gary and Lisa Horvath and Real Antique Wood staff will appear on CNBC’s Billion Dollar Buyer.
“At this stage in the game, it’s just so funny how life hands you things,” says Lisa Horvath. “I’m excited for the whole thing, no matter the outcome.”
The show can be a boon for small businesses. Each episode features small businesses that compete for the opportunity to partner with Landry’s Inc., a hospitality juggernaut helmed by show host Tilman Fertitta. Fertitta helps the contestants improve their businesses and ultimately decides whether their products—hot sauce, linens and outdoor patio furniture were pitched in the first season—will appear in his company’s properties, such as Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, McCormick & Schmick’s and the Golden Nugget Casino.
Real Antique Wood will appear on CNBC's Billion Dollar Buyer in December or January.
Horvath says she can’t say what product Real Antique Wood pitched to Fertitta or if Fertitta selected the company as a supplier, but it’s safe to assume it’s a reclaimed wood product and that the Horvaths have a fighting chance.
The Horvaths’ path to stardom began with a simple request for information. They saw reclaimed wood used in Landry’s properties during the show’s first season and were curious to learn more about the material, so an employee contacted Landry’s interior design team. Although this was a fact-finding mission only, not a ploy way to get the show’s attention, eventually a Real Antique Wood brochure made its way into Fertitta’s hands, and he wanted to speak with the Horvaths.
“100,000 signatures later, and we got to be on the show,” Horvath says.
The show was a lot of work, she says. Unlike the pitch-centric reality TV show Shark Tank, contestants on Billion Dollar Buyer are asked to implement business advice from Fertitta before he determines if he’ll partner with them. For Real Antique Wood, that meant creating a retail catalog with the price of all its products, as well as inventorying its entire storage yard, which included around 300,000 board feet of wood, Horvath says.
Real Antique Wood's award-winning black walnut floor.
The show filmed for two days at the company’s location and two days in Houston, where Landry’s Inc. is based. The Horvaths had been filmed before for an episode of Cousins on Call and a number of local news spots, so they were comfortable in front of the Billion Dollar Buyer’s cameras, Horvath says.
The show is currently slated to air Dec. 27, but may be pushed into January. Wood Floor Business will report the show time once it is finalized.
Wood Floor Business spent a day with Gary and Lisa Horvath in 2011. Read the “A Day in the Life” feature here.
