The original Dragon's Den pitch for Reggae Reggae Sauce offered 20% of the business for £50,000.
Levi Roots presented the sauce on the programme in 2007. The product was based on his jerk barbecue sauce and became closely associated with reggae music, Caribbean cooking, and Roots's performing persona. The pitch attracted investment from Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh, who together accepted the proposed equity share.
The television appearance gave the brand a major public boost. Reggae Reggae Sauce later expanded into a broader range of Caribbean-inspired food products, while Levi Roots became one of the most recognisable entrepreneurs to emerge from the programme.
The percentage is easy to confuse with later ownership arrangements or with the stakes requested in other pitches. The question concerns the offer stated during the televised pitch: £50,000 in exchange for one-fifth of the business. It is not asking for the investors' eventual overall ownership or the brand's later valuation.