Simmer down! Dragons’ Den sparks a food fight

THERE was a bunfight in Britain’s start-up scene last week with a ready meal firm claiming another business was trying to piggyback off its appearance on BBC 1’s Dragons’ Den.

Hilary Kennedy, founder of vegan meal kit maker Planthood, took to LinkedIn to accuse rival Simmer of using footage from her pitch in the Den last year.

Simmer, she said, had nicked it to advertise its own food on social media.

‘It hurts to see another business steal and profit off that hard work and sacrifice,’ Kennedy wrote, adding that she was ‘shocked’ by the ads.

Simmer founder Simmy Dhillon issued a mea culpa on Friday, admitting ‘mistakes were made’, but said the ads were intended to be ‘harmless fun’ and were quickly removed once the issue came to light.

But in a pointed barb to his critics, Dhillon wrote: ‘If I have an issue with a fellow business-owner, I don’t drag their name through the mud.’

Time for everyone to simmer down?

DISPUTES over development are a national pastime in the UK, or so it seems for AIM-listed property group Sutton Harbour. Last week it updated the market on a lengthy row with Plymouth council over its ownership of the city’s derelict airport.

The council previously said Sutton breached leasing arrangements for the 113-acre site, threatening to take over the land. But on Wednesday Sutton, which plans to build houses there, demanded the council withdraw its notices.

It is probably hoping to resolve the dispute soon and revive its share price, which has slumped by over 30 per cent so far this year. One to watch.