More Than ‘Just A Splash’ Of Cash Needed For This Business With No Competitors | Dragons’ Den

The next entrepreneur vying to win an Investment in the den is Los Angeles-born Pierre Varma who's cooked Up a master plan by calling on a Master Chef finalist to help pitch her culinary Concept to the dragons Entering the den the Dragon's Den yeah Since lockdown people are scratch Cooking like crazy and the sort of Appetite for new ingredients has gone up Tremendously sauces sweet sauces though Because there's a cake Well I'm hungry so Smells good I feel like you're so Socially distant these days Ian are you Mad at me no no It's fair to say peer's path to Producing her product has had its fair Share of obstacles my biggest fear is a Novice entrepreneur you know I've made Some mistakes Hopefully they'll forgive them Hi dragons my name is Pia and I'm the Founder of Justice flash I'm looking for 75 000 pounds for 15 of my business Just as flash is a range of culinary Alcohol available in five flavors Port Marsala Sherry rum and Brandy all Available in these handy 100 ml spout Pouches I had the idea for just a splash Because I wanted to make a cranberry Sauce one Christmas and ended up Spending 15 pounds for a bottle of pork When I just needed a splash so instantly

I saw a gap in the market and we Launched officially in 2018 in ocado We're in over a hundred independent Stores Farm shops delis garden centers And we also have done a trial in Sainsbury's To show you how much flavor the product Can add to a dish I've got my friend Jan Florio here who's a Master Chef finalist He's cooked up some retro chicken Marsala and some pasta marsala so if You'd like to come up to try some of the Food How are we doing Chef I'm ready I'm not gonna need a babe peer of Armor's product is a range of alcohol Pouches for cooking thank you Finalist MasterChef I'm expecting a lot No pressure Yan that's pretty sad she's Looking for 75 000 pounds in return for 15 of her business thanks guys while the Rest of the Dragons Chow Down on their MasterChef marsalas tej Lao Vani wanted To find out if Pierre's idea has all the Ingredients for a tasty investment Beer it's an interesting product Actually and it's great to see Entrepreneurs coming in thinking about Ideas where you can have a niche and This seems to be a niche and no one else Is doing it you're the first is that Right yes well there's some miniature Bottles of wine on the market which is Why we're doing um wine concentrate

Sachets instead of bottles of wine so One of the hard sells on this is trying To educate customers to say it's an Alcohol for food how do you plan to do That because I see that as a challenge The biggest problem we have is where do You put the product it's a brand new Category so where do we place it within Store do we place it in alcohol do we Place it in ingredients Um I've come to kind of the realization That I I think it should be in in the Ingredients section because I think People do linger there and they look for New interesting ingredients whereas in The alcohol section consumers are much More likely to just go get their product And leave Um what's the cost per 100 Mil on this Compared to a bottle of alcohol so Um the cost per 100 ml so this is uh our Recommended retail price we really want It to be at a 199 retail price point Which is where we started out the answer To this is going to be a number not an Explanation of what you wanted it to be Right so the price per 100 ml of this Versus the same alcohol in a bottle so This is 299 as the retail price point And a bottle of Port would typically be About 14 or 15 pounds for 750 CL uh it's 22 pound 50 for this and 15 quid for Bullet pool yes Thank you for answering that theob my

Mental math is not the best it's great To have a dragon answer for you but what I'm more interested in is your Understanding yeah like for like like For Life yeah because I think there's Going to be a resistance to this because It's actually a very expensive way of Buying your alcohol to add your cooking Right The like the light cost of peers pouches Compared with bottles of booze isn't to Deborah Mead and taste Theo puffitis now Wanted to know about the sale so far of The entrepreneur's alcoholic Accoutrements Here so you launched in 2018 with a Cardo yes and what happened We did uh roughly around 33 000 in sales In ocado that's with very little Exposure not many people knowing that we Exist okay and then you said either Trial with Sainsbury's yes it was in I Believe uh 300 stores so uh we sold them About 15 000 pounds worth of stock when Was that that was the end of 2018 so Leading up to Christmas and I believe it Took about maybe a month and a half to Two months to sell through right so it Did reach the volumes that they would Have liked one per store per day or week No we had it on clip strips mixed Q so When our best seller sold out we Couldn't replenish it in time so that May have been the problem so there's

Just a one-off trial and there was no Repeat absolutely Right so you launched in 18 yeah what Was your turnover and figures during That year today from From 19 to OTS and 20 uh 74 000. okay and gross Margin we um we've lost 90 93 000 pounds If the pub I'm not buying it right it's Wasted shelf space right and that's how Retailers will look at it If your product is not selling at the Rate it should be selling you will be Delisted The numbers on the sales speak for Themselves Something is not right [Music] Poor sales so far for peers product is a Problem for Tuka Suleiman It's a blow for the entrepreneur but can Theoper fetus get her pitch back on Track So have you funded the business uh Mostly Um my family and also we have some Investors how much money's gone in uh so Um from my family we've put in 264 000. Right and then Um we've got 75 000 from investors Okay any loans bank loans we've got 20 000 pounds in an overdraft okay You can ask your question in a second I'm just on my final bit so no no is

That too soon Equity I was going to ask That question I'm trying to clarify for Goodness sake right the question that Was coming next that my friend obviously Was impatient about was how's that money Gone in the amount for my family is on The books as a loan however we could Just treat it as part of our equity Here I am staggered that you have Already spent 339 000 pounds and I bet You you'll burn through that and you Still won't be turning over a lot of Money and you'll still think to yourself There's another reason what you're doing So far is convincing yourself of a Reason why it hasn't worked because your Answer to every question is an excuse Now excuses can also be reasons that Didn't work so we got that bit wrong and This is why yeah But in this instance I don't think You're really recognizing what's going On here right what's your single biggest Retailer at the moment Al-Qaeda so You've sold in total 74 000 half of that Through ocado over a two-year period yes You don't have anybody competing against You no I'm going to say that again over two Years you sold 74 000 pounds yes you've Got nobody competing against you No That's all I'm gonna say Foreign

Sobering analysis of Piers pouches has Deglazed the dragon's view of her Product Is tejalalvani willing to infuse this Alcohol business idea with an investment Look To build a consumer brand at retail is Is expensive especially if we've got a Product that you've got to communicate The real advantage of the difference is I just think you're going to need a lot Of money going forward it's not going to Be enough And my concern is that you're lacking Business acumen So Sadly I can't be a part of this journey But Good luck I'm out thank you appreciate It concerned about mounting costs tej Lauvani passes on the pouches and he Becomes the first dragon out And it appears to kasuliman is also Unwilling to take out his checkbook I'm going to tell you exactly where I Stand I think you are Passionate about this brand But sometimes you've got to stop and Think right I wish you all the best and I really Respect your passion but I'm out Here my biggest worry for you Is that I'm not sure you're listening to The market and you have spent a small

Fortune I'm afraid as it stands there's no Signals given to me that this has got Anything like a sizable Market So I'm sorry I'm out Here I will always give credit for Somebody having to go But the hardest thing in the world is When you've had a go is to recognize When something's not working and cut Your losses I recognize that there are challenges With this brand Still greatly believe in it I do believe There's a market for it 100 percent Everyone I speak to has had an Experience where they have a bottle That's Gathering dust in a Cupboard Listen everything you've told me today And you've tried your best to put a Positive spin on but this is now going To stop Sometimes we just got a couple losses And learn from it and do something Really successful next time Fair enough and I appreciate it all Right Three more dragons decide not to Splash Their cash on Piers idea Sarah Davies is the entrepreneur's only Remaining hope for investment Has she heard anything to make her raise A glass to the alcoholic pouch Proposition

Pierre I love cooking I love eating You've got a fantastic Top Chef to cook Me a lovely miniature meal and it had Alcohol in honestly I was right there But what I did and I know it's not Drinking Masala right but I did I had a Little drink and I thought oh that's not Very strong and I had a look on the back And saw that it was 12 volume now what Is regular Masala uh regular Masala is Usually around 17 percent I just feel a bit let down Do you yeah This was another predicament for us Because obviously I wanted the price Point to be as low as possible for the Consumer full strength you might be Paying five quid for this pouch as Opposed to 299. Well I don't mind paying for the bottle Of Masala even if I don't use all of it If it makes my food taste great right Because it's the sort of food that I Prepare when I've got people coming Around so you want it to be awesome Absolutely and that is my problem with It I don't think my cooking would taste As awesome as what it would if I bought A proper bottle of masala And for that reason it tells me that the Product is not right and if the product Is not right I can't get behind it Right so I definitely won't be investing And I'm out

Thank you sir Thank you very much good luck for you Good luck PA oh thank you Sarah Davies Declines a deal meaning it's back to the Drawing board for Piers boozy business She leaves the den empty-handed of Course I'm disappointed but I'm going to Take everything the dragon say on board Because they're very successful business People I know a lot more than I do she's Gonna need another half a million pounds To really get it somewhere the product Isn't right I do believe there is a market for it But today gave me a lot to think about How and if to move forward

Your First Funnel Challenge
Quickly Launch Your Idea And Turn It Into A Business That You're Proud Of In Just 90 Minutes A Day!

(This Can Work Even If You Currently Have No Tech Skills, Don't Have A Product, Or Have No Idea What A Funnel Is Yet...!) 

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