They Buy You – Not the Product!


EPN Special: Episode 2

Levi Roots; musician, chef and “Dragon slayer”. In January 2007 Levi was invited on to the BBC show Dragons’ Den where he famously sang about the virtues of his Reggae Reggae Sauce and became, without doubt, the most famous participant on the show. Two of the entrepreneurs, Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh, invested in the project and a rollercoaster journey began.

The Reggae Reggae Sauce story began in Jamaica in the early 70’s. Levi’s Grandmother, Miriam Small taught him the magic of cooking.

When Levi moved to England to join his family he yearned for the music and sunshine of Jamaica. Cooking helped restore the Caribbean flavour that was missing from his life! Levi never stopped making his grandmother’s jerk chicken sauce, perfecting and refining the recipe to create the taste sensation that we now recognize as Reggae Reggae Sauce.

For many years Levi and his family made the sauce to sell at the Notting Hill Carnival. Levi made the sauce in his own kitchen but had so many requests for his secret recipe that he was unable to keep up with demand. He decided to try and get an investment on BBC show Dragons’ Den to launch the sauce commercially.

After the show, Sainsbury’s agreed an exclusive distribution deal and within 6 weeks the sauce was on shelf and the demand was incredible. The sauce sold as soon as it was available and for a few weeks Reggae Reggae was out selling the brand leader. Now, the sauce is stocked by all major retailers and extended to a range of new flavours and products.

Levi’s success has meant that he has become a spokesperson for both Caribbean cuisine as well as more generally for entrepreneurship amongst the black community. He has visited hundreds of schools to encourage young children to adopt a positive approach and to show that you can succeed from humble beginnings.

[audio:https://epodcastnetwork.com/audio/EPNSpecial_2.mp3|titles=EPN Special – Episode 2|artists=Levi Roots – EPodcastNetwork.com]


1 Free Audio Book - Audible.com

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Scroll to Top