Dragons’ Den winners aim to be ‘the Chinese Levi Roots’

After winning a £50,000 investment on BBC TV’s Dragons’ Den, entrepreneurial sisters Lisa and Helen…

After winning a £50,000 investment on BBC TV’s Dragons’ Den, entrepreneurial sisters Lisa and Helen Tse have ambitions to make their Chinese sauces as big as Levi Roots’ Reggae Reggae brand.

Lisa Tse told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “Reggae Reggae is a great case study. If we could emulate that kind of success, we’d be blown away.”

Their gluten-free sauces contain no monosodium glutamate and come in three flavours: barbecue, sweet chilli and sweet and sour.

Tse said: “Levi only has one sauce but we’ve gotthree – that’s what makes us stand out.”

The twins developed the sauces for customers at their Manchester-based Chinese restaurant Sweet Mandarin who suffered from celiac disease.

They proved so popular the sisters recognised a business opportunity and appeared on the BBC2 show Dragons’ Den to pitch for funds to help bring them to market.

They won the support of dragons Duncan Bannatyne and Hilary Devey.

‘Threat’ to Peter Jones

Tse said: “Peter Jones didn’t want to invest in us because he felt we were a threat to his current portfolio, which includes the Levi Roots brand. That’s a real compliment to our product.”

The sisters plan to use the expertise of the dragons to take the product to market and create jobs in the local area.

"Hilary Devey has a strong logistics background, which is great for getting to the consumer. And Duncan Bannatyne is so knowledgeable about the retail market, which is fantastic guidance for us,” said Tse.

The show was filmed in early 2012 so, since winning the support of their two new mentors, the sisters have already launched the product, had meetings with various retail outlets – including the multiples.

Since the show aired last weekend (September 23) the phones haven’t stopped ringing.

“It’s very exciting,” said Tse. “You get fantastic exposure from appearing on a TV show.”

Creating jobs

The Tse sisters have big plans for expansion, once they have finished dealing with the attention generated by the TV show.

Getting the product’s licensing right will be key to long-term growth.

Tse said: “With the Levi Roots deal, they licensed the brand, which enabled him to take his product to different categories. We’ve been looking at doing this as well.”

The product is currently in the table sauce category but further expansion would be achieved by moving into cooking sauce and, eventually, dried goods.

“We will probably invest in a factory with warehouse and distribution links," she said. "We’ve created three jobs already and we’d like to create many more jobs in Manchester for the local people.”