REGGAE REGGAE SAUCE

The Bannatyne verdict: ‘Levi, there is no business in this so I am going to let you know where I am. I’m not going to invest, so I wish you the best of luck but I am out.’

ENTREPRENEUR – LEVI ROOTS

THE PITCH – Rastafarian Mr Roots wandered into the Den singing a song he had written about his homemade j erk sauce. When he had finished, he asked for a £50,000 investment for 20 per cent of his business. Despite realising mid- pitch that he had completely misread an order for his sauce, vastly overstating its value, he succeeded in charming most of the dragons. Not Bannatyne. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT – Dragons Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh saw business potential where Bannatyne did not and the dreadlocked Mr Roots went on to become the biggest success story in the history of the show. Within four weeks of his television appearance Reggae Reggae Sauce was on supermarket shelves all over the UK. Soon the product range increased to eight sauces, there was a spin-off Caribbean cookery book and Mr Roots was given his own BBC TV series. He is now reckoned to be worth around £35million.