Diasporic Entrepreneurship in the Caribbean - Firm Profiles.pdf Vol 2 | Page 20

Agro-processing Firms

6. LEVI ROOTS
Company Background:
In January 2007, Levi Roots was invited on
to the BBC show Dragons’ Den where he
famously sang about his Reggae Reggae Sauce
and became the most famous participant on
the show.9 Two of the Dragons, Peter Jones
and Richard Farleigh, invested £50,000 in
the project in return for 40% of the company.
Mr. Levi Roots, who was born in Jamaica as
Keith Graham, left Jamaica at the age of 11.
He resided in Brixton, Britain for his entire
teenage and adult life. His passion has allowed
him to integrate his Jamaican and Rastarian
identity into his particular brand making it a
phenomenon sensation.
After the BBC show, Sainsbury’s agreed an
exclusive distribution deal and within 6 weeks,
the sauce was on UK shelves and the demand
was significant. The product sold as soon as
it was available and for a few weeks Reggae
Reggae Sauce was out selling competitors such
as Heinz. A follow-up episode of Dragons’
Den, aired on 18 July 2007, revealed that
Sainsbury’s had expected the sauce to sell
50,000 bottles in its first year. In fact, it sold
40,000-50,000 bottles per week.10 The sauce is
now stocked by all of the major retailers and
the Levi Roots brand has been extended across
a range of other products.
Levi tests every product and only recipes that
match his standards are approved, which are
then manufactured by A.B World Foods. The
famous green, yellow and red of the packaging
combined with the guitar arm and silhouette
of Levi himself, have become the mark of
Caribbean cuisine in the UK, and has become a
highly trusted and preferred brand.

9 Levi Roots Reggae Reggae Food Ltd. . “Levi Roots Company
Information.” . http://www.leviroots.com/company-info/ (accessed
April 6, 2014).
10 BBC. “Dragon’s Den Reggae Reggae Sauce.” . http://www.bbc.co.uk/
dragonsden/entrepreneurs/leviroots.shtml (accessed April 6, 2014).

Levi Roots is the most distributed brand
in Europe, according to Mr. Roots himself.
Levi Roots sauce are in such high demand
that restaurant chains such as Subway11,
JD Wetherspoon, Hungry Horse, Slug and
Lettuce and Scream Pub chain offer the sauce
on various menu items. In July 2009, Birds
Eye released chicken Chargrills in Reggae
Reggae Sauce. In September 2010, Morrisons
supermarket announced it would be carrying
a range of Levi Roots sandwiches.12
In April 2011, Domino’s Pizza in the UK
launched a limited edition “Reggae Reggae
Pizza”, a combination of toppings with the
Reggae Reggae sauce.13 In addition, in 2012 KFC
launched a Reggae Reggae box meal, which
depicts the success of the product in the UK
market specifically. Since 2007, the product
has experienced rapid booms and expanded
by controlling its intellectual property
components by utilizing its trademark and
licensing; the company has done an excellent
job in branding the product and finding new
markets. This is also matched