I was on Dragons’ Den – investor mocked my pitch & said I had no future… now I’m having the last laugh with £30m fortune
STONY faces greeted Levi Roots when he swaggered into the Dragons' Den singing about his beloved Reggae Reggae sauce that was “so nice he had to name it twice”.
It was a pitch like no other, and investor Duncan Bannatyne was quick to claim his Jamaican jerk sauce business had “no future”.
Now 16 years on, Levi, 64, is having the last laugh, having amassed a reported £30million fortune from supermarket, TV and book deals… and now a film.
His incredible life story is getting the Hollywood treatment from Nick Moorcroft and Meg Leonard, the writers behind the feelgood flick Fisherman’s Friends about .
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Levi reveals how he overcame rejection at every turn, having arrived in the UK illiterate and fallen into crime before turning his life around.
He tells us: “I couldn’t even say my own first name when I left Jamaica, so to come to the UK and now run a multimillion pound business is beyond belief.
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“No one believed in Reggae Reggae Sauce, I think I was the only one. They thought it sounded too Jamaican, too Rasta.
“Even before I went on Dragons’ Den, friends told me the name was 'too Caribbean', and that I shouldn’t have the Rastafari colours.
“But I decided it was easier to be me and not pretend to be what I'm not, like a mathematician or someone who can talk perfect Queen’s English.
“I went on as Levi Roots, the guy who cooks a bit, sings a bit and plays guitar a bit. Someone who is not good at anything except for being himself.”
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'I couldn't even pronounce my name'
The youngest of six children, Levi was born Keith Valentine Graham in Clarendon, Jamaica, and was raised by his grandmother.
He was just four years old when his parents moved to the UK as part of the Windrush generation - when Caribbean people migrated under the offer of job opportunities.
Levi tells us: “I was the last of the children to come over at 11 and was uneducated. My grandmother taught me all she could teach, which was food.
“I learned about naked sauces, scotch bonnet chillies, curried goat, rice and peas. I could cook all of these big meals by the age of 10.
“I’ve spent all of my life trying to recreate those recipes and flavours that I experienced as a child - that’s how I came up with the sauce, by thinking about how she would do it.”
When Levi moved to Brixton, south London, which had a large Caribbean community, it was a time of heightened racism and discrimination.
It was not an easy upbringing - his family were too poor to afford shoes, and Levi was unable to read or write.
He tells us: “As a teenager I couldn’t give my postcode while looking for work because if I said it was SW2 I would have no chance of getting a job. Instead, I spiralled into crime.”
At 15, Levi was imprisoned for six months for assaulting a police officer. It wasn't long before he was back behind bars for possessing drugs after his youth club was raided by police.
He served five of a seven year sentence, but it proved transformative, leading him to reinvent himself completely.
Levi says: “I went in as Keith Graham, an unfocused person with a name I couldn’t identify with because I didn’t look f*****g Scottish.
“I came out as Levi Roots, a different person who was focused and ready to conquer the world - the person who eventually went into the Dragons’ Den and slayed the Dragons.”
Levi Roots was a stage name he'd used while performing in a reggae band at 16 years old.
He explains: “I found 90 per cent of Jamaicans had Scottish names because of slavery. I wanted to name myself, I felt African and wanted to be a Rasta.
“In the Rastafari calendar the month of June - when I was born - represents the tribe of Levi, and I chose Roots because I wanted a strong name. It felt right.”
'Rejected Dragons' Den three times'
Levi kept himself clean and worked on recipes that eventually led to him launching Reggae Reggae Sauce in 2006.
But Brixton locals were unimpressed and insisted it wouldn’t sell - even at Notting Hill Carnival, which celebrates Caribbean culture, where he flogged 4,000 bottles.
“Caribbean people perhaps already knew about and how to make the sauce. I was asking the wrong people,” Levi says.
“One of my sons suggested I should take it any place that had a ‘shire’ at the end of it, where there was no dreadlocked Rasta man looking like me and no jerk sauce.
“So every weekend, we went to Buckinghamshire, Carmarthenshire, anywhere with a ‘shire’, to lovely Saturday markets and county fairs.
“I would get my guitar out and sing these silly songs written about food, what Grandma taught me and added in my family history. It became a great success.”
It was at one of these foodie events that Levi was approached by a BBC food researcher.
Having never heard of Dragons’ Den he rejected them three times before accepting a business card.
He ignored his family's warning that it was a bad idea and went on the show asking for a £50,000 investment in return for 20 per cent equity.
It didn’t land well with some of the business giants, including Theo Paphitis, Deborah Meaden and Duncan, who said his business had “no future”.
Levi was called out for incorrectly stating that he had an order for 2.5million litres of sauce, when he actually meant 2,500kg.
He recalls: “I was really upset about the way Duncan approached it.
"Then Theo had a little dig at my name and said I had lost credibility, which I thought was below the belt.
“But sometimes you need things to inspire you. I became determined to show that Scottish b*****d Duncan what I could do, and that he was wrong about me.”
Despite a rough ride, Levi walked out with the backing of two Dragons, Richard Farleigh and Peter Jones, who demanded 40 per cent of his company.
But even Peter, who proved to be his biggest backer, seemed dubious - admitting he liked “impossible challenges”.
Outsold Heinz
It was a life-changing moment for Levi, who tells us brokering a deal “wasn’t about the money” but landing “a mentor and friend” with influence to teach him.
He says: “I needed someone to open their book and make a few phone calls and that’s exactly what Peter did. He rang Justin King [then CEO of Sainbury's] to arrange a meeting.”
The subsequent deal, which landed Reggae Reggae Sauce in 600 stores nationwide, came after Levi boldly promised Peter that the condiment would “outsell Heinz”.
He adds: “Six weeks after uttering those words, I had a call with Justin, who pronounced it ‘Reggie Reggie Sauce’, to say I beat Heinz Ketchup. I nearly fell off my seat.”
When Levi’s pitch on Dragons’ Den aired in 2007, more than three million people tuned in and he became famous overnight.
Having fans was an alien concept to Levi, but it helped him build a vast business empire worth more than £30m, according to a Sunday Times Rich List.
Levi says: “I couldn’t believe it. I used to have people sleeping outside my bloody house, which was one of those weird things but there were many fantastic moments too.
“I still have pinch myself moments, like when I walk down the street and everyone - black, white, pink or brown - recognises me. They know Levi Roots and that makes me feel really special.”
The following year he published his first of six cookbooks and made a guest appearance on the programme Ready Steady Cook.
It led to Levi landing his own BBC culinary show, Caribbean Food Made Easy, as well as appearances on Celebrity Mastermind, Big Brother and Death In Paradise.
He says: “It was fantastic - especially having my own show - but back then I had never recorded while cooking, talking, singing and playing guitar.
“It was a mad thing, as soon as the camera was rolling and I was doing all of that. I don’t know where a lot of those things came from.
“Many people helped me along the way, like Ainsley Harriott, who coached me through the show.
"Then there was Harry Hill, who was so funny and helped me through my nerves on The Harry Hill Show, which was one of the best things to happen to me.”.
'I got my payback'
One of Levi’s proudest moments is reuniting with the business titans who turned him down at Peter Jones’ annual charity events.
He recalls: “I get my payback. Every year, the Dragons turn up and Peter and I rub it in the rest of their faces. ‘What? Say again, Duncan?’ Those little moments are times for me to smile because Duncan, Theo and Debra didn’t invest. There’s a lot of ribbing going on.”
Levi’s also a Prince’s Trust Ambassador and uses his teenage struggles to help others. Since 2013 he’s travelled between prisons, schools and universities as part of his in a bid to inspire wayward kids.
Levi says: “I mainly go to prisons because that’s where I started my change.
“After I spiralled and hit rock bottom, I had nowhere to go but up, even though many people thought I wouldn’t come back from it all.
“I try to inspire them and show that if I can do it then maybe there’s a chance for them as well.”
Levi’s story has plenty of matter for the yet untitled upcoming movie, which starts filming this month, and could hit cinemas in Christmas 2024.
When asked for the perfect person to play him, Levi modestly suggested an ‘unknown’ Jamaican actor, who "isn’t good at many things".
His first musical is set to debut at this year’s too, inspired by DJs Ram Jam and Fatboy Slim, aka David Rodigan and Norman Cook.
Titled Sound Clash, Levi explains it’s a “Romeo and Juliet” story, which he started writing in lockdown that’s set in a dystopian world of reggae and dancehall music.
He also has a range of drinks, muscle food, snacks, ice creams and pot noodles.
Levi believes his success is because of his one "superpower" - keeping focused.
He adds: “I thought I was rubbish at everything, the only thing I’m good at is being me, always singing my own songs and cooking my own recipes.
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“I’m not one of these chefs like Jamie Oliver who can do 1,000 meals in 1,000 different styles, I just do Levi Roots.”
Levi Roots’ musical Sound Clash opens at Edinburgh Fringe Festival between August 2 - 25. For more information visit: .