Levi Roots, a reggae singer from Jamaica, has a big smile on his face these days. In case you missed it, Levi recently appeared on the famous reality show for people with business ideas, Dragon's Den. The participants have to persuade the team of business experts that their ideas are excellent and hope that two or more of the team will decide to invest money in their business idea.
Levi did just that!
The singer, who has been a successful music artist for several years, also sells something he calls "Reggae, reggae sauce". It is made using special secret ingredients from his grandmother and is a hot Jamaican sauce that is eaten with meat. Until now it has only been possible to buy the sauce from Levi's website or once a year at the famous Notting Hill carnival. But now, thanks to the TV program, that is all going to change!
Levi presented his business idea to a team and started with a catchy reggae song about the sauce to make the experts sit up and listen. He certainly got their attention! Levi then described his plans for the sauce. This part of his presentation did not go so well. He made mistakes with his figures, saying that he already had an order for the sauce of 2 and a half million bottles when in fact he meant 2 and a half thousand! However, the team were still interested and amazingly, two of the team offered to give $50,000 to the plan in exchange for 40% of the company. Mr. Roots was ecstatic.
Levi is even happier today. It seems that two of the biggest supermarket chains in Australia are interested in having the sauce on their shelves. In addition to this, Levi is recording the "Reggae, reggae sauce" song and we will soon be able to buy or download this. "It's all about putting music into food", says Levi with a big, big smile on his face! It seems likely that music and food will make him a very rich man indeed!