| It's a perfect feel good success story in a bottle. Levi | | | | It was the right choice; within a few weeks of |
| Roots, a Reggae musician who reached mediocre | | | | appearing on the show, a deal had been struck with |
| success with various bands in the 1980s, is now a | | | | Sainsbury's, and the sauce went on sale in 600 stores |
| millionaire; not so much on account of his singing | | | | nationwide, and soon became Sainsbury's fastest |
| (though it did play a part) but due to an old Jamaican | | | | selling product, overtaking established brands. |
| jerk sauce family recipe. | | | | One of the investing dragons claimed that Levi was a |
| The story begins with Levi Roots (real name Keith | | | | "publicist's dream"; he had the looks and the voice to |
| Tanyue) who had been making a spicy Jamaican jerk | | | | stand out and sell the sauce, and sell it he did. Reggae |
| sauce from a secret recipe that had been passed | | | | Reggae sauce gained a huge cult following, not so |
| down to him from his grandmother. Since 1991, Levi | | | | much for its taste, but for the love of Levi. The |
| and his family had been making small batches of the | | | | charismatic Rasta man had slayed the dragons, and in |
| sauce (named Reggae Reggae Sauce) in his home | | | | doing so won the hearts and taste buds of the nation. |
| kitchen and using it as an ingredient in their Notting Hill | | | | Building on the success of Reggae Reggae Sauce, |
| Carnival food stall dishes. This led to Levi eventually | | | | Levi went on to launch two other varieties of sauce, |
| bottling the sauce and selling it as a stand alone | | | | and there is also talk of further products such as |
| product at the carnival, However despite the | | | | Reggae Reggae sauce crisps and pizzas; needless to |
| reasonable success of the sauce at the carnival, | | | | day, Levi has done well financialyl and is rumoured to |
| financially Levi was still hard up. | | | | now be a millionaire. |
| It wasn't until a talent scout spotted Levi at a food | | | | Levi's story of saucy success it just one example of |
| trade show and invited him to appear on the BBC2's | | | | the growing sector of entrepreneurs who have |
| Dragon's Den - that things took a turn for the better. | | | | successfully pursued their dreams of starting their own |
| Levi's musical performance impressed two of the | | | | business. Most start small, working from home before |
| Dragons enough for them to offer him the required | | | | outgrowing their bedroom offices and moving into a |
| £50,000 for a 40% stake in the business. It was | | | | more professional work space. It's possible to find a |
| twice the amount of equity that Levi had wanted to | | | | serviced office in London, or indeed in most large cities, |
| give up, but he accepted their offer, knowing that the | | | | which provide an ideal base for the budding |
| publicity from the show and the business connections | | | | entrepreneurs to build from, as their businesses grow. |
| of the Dragons would be an invaluable asset. | | | | |