East London based entrepreneurs Charlie Gilpin and Sam Moss of STOCKED (www.stockedfood.com) appeared on TV screens nationwide on Thursday, 8th February 2024, as they took on BBC One’s Dragons’ Den. The childhood friends from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, presented their nutritious, chef-cooked, award-winning meals, which are frozen into space saving, personally portioned Blocks, to the Dragons, ultimately gaining £50,000 investment from Steven Bartlett, for 6% of their business.
We greet Sam Moss and Charlie Gilpin in the Den, with the friends excited to take on the Dragons; “looking around and being in the Den feels pretty surreal,” says Moss, after having grown up watching the show. Moss introduces STOCKED, “We make revolutionary meals for modern lives, and we’re here today asking for £50,000 in return for 2% of the business. Gilpin adds: “Maybe you’re a busy parent on the school run after a long day of work, or you’re a Dragon at the top of your game listening to two mates pitch you your next investment, either way, we all have less and less time to shop for, and cook, the meals that we love.” Moss adds: “We’ve all opened up our freezers to see zip locked bags filled with god knows what, buried under a pile of freezer burnt fish fingers, wouldn’t it be great to fill it with useful food that you actually want to eat?” Gilpin continues, “We make high quality, chef cooked, award winning meals with a difference, they’re frozen into handy little blocks.” Moss adds: “These blocks can be transformed back into delicious dishes in under four minutes, with portion size controlled by you, every single time.” Gilpin sums up the confident pitch: “So an investment today will allow us to expand our growing website channel and to create a retail-specific product, we’d love you to join our frozen food revolution and get freezers around the country STOCKED.”
Dragons’ Den guest star, investor and founding partner of Skims and co-founder of Good American, Emma Grede, says: “That chilli’s pretty lovely, I’m not gunna lie”; mum of two, Dragon Sara Davies adds: “You described my life perfectly, I am that busy mam on the school run, and busy Dragon, and I have freeze burned fish fingers in my freezer; honestly, now you say it, it seems so obvious, that it would be such a great idea from a portion control perspective and you just look at one and think, why has no one ever through about it before?” Gilpin agrees: “There’s the portion control element, but you there’s also being able to choose how you serve it every time, you get so much more value out of a chilli con carne if you can put it with rice one day, or just put it on top of nachos when you’ve got people coming round, so that versatility is also really key to the blocks.”
The Dragons call the pairs valuation of £2.5million, “really punchy”, and go on to interrogate the figures, with heavy investment into the brand, kitchen and a third of revenue going on digital marketing affecting profits, the Dragons begin to become more sceptical about investing. However, Bartlett is known for his expertise in disruptive, digital-first brands; the challenge at hand is to build a chunky digital following and subscription base, that will create a compelling, and recognised, brand to go into retail, he says: “Dragons invest in a business where there is a tall mountain to climb and there is a lot of risk, but the question becomes for a Dragon, is the height of the mountain…does it match the aptitude of the climbers? And quite honestly, I think it does. The valuation is crazy, but I’m the fair Dragon, so I understand that valuations are what they are. There’s a lot of ways I can help.” Bartlett goes on to offer Moss and Gilpin all of the money, for 6% of STOCKED. After chatting at the wall, Moss and Gilpin try to drop the investment to 5% of the business, ultimately agreeing to Barlett’s offer.
Gilpin says of the Dragons’ Den experience: “It was a surreal and amazing experience having grown up watching the show,” Moss adds: “We couldn’t have picked a better Dragon to work with, Steven has an incredible, strong background in nutrition and marketing so we can’t wait to start working together, the partnership will allow us to develop a retail product to bring our mission to a whole new audience.”
Watch the whole episode now (or view STOCKED from 16:50) on BBC iPlayer now: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001w39p/dragons-den-series-21-
