Will Little of coffee had the investors fighting to be a part of his business on a recent edition of the show, which is ironic given that he admits he didn’t even want to go on the programme.
Speaking exclusively to Will explained: “The decision to apply was not strategic. The decision to apply was literally just based on (the fact) we got an email from the . One of the girls in marketing said ‘hey, this would be good brand exposure’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I don’t want to do it’.
Eventually persuaded it would be good exposure Will went ahead and applied but acknowledges it was an unusual move for a company as established as they are.
Little’s, which prides itself on bringing the coffee shop experience to people at home with their Nespresso compatible coffee capsules and instant, ground and flavoured coffee, was established 30 years ago by Will’s parents. They are already in supermarkets and Will admits they want to become people’s go to coffee brand when they are shopping.
“It’s an unconventional kind of move I guess, for a business of our position. I don’t think it was a very calculated decision. I think in the back of my mind, I thought it’s a business, and we’ve got to point where we’ve got the business to a certain level, and it is growing, but it’s not growing super fast.
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Steven Bartlett invested in Will Little’s coffee business on Dragons’ Den (Image: BBC)
“I felt that being on TV and with 4 million people getting the opportunity to hear me talk about the brand and maybe have the Dragons’ interact with it can be a bad thing.
Yes, we are a bit more established than a lot of the businesses that go on, and we’re definitely a lot older than a lot of the business to go on, but we’re still facing that same challenge of needing to get the brand out to more consumers, and the show provides that. And obviously, with the support of the Dragon as well, that helps,” he said.
Any doubts Will had about appearing on the show were assuaged when the Dragons’ loved his product with Peter Jones telling him: “That’s the best tasting coffee I’ve ever experienced…this brand could be the biggest brand in coffee in the world, globally.” However despite that high praise and an offer from Peter and all of the other dragons, bar Touker Suleyman, in the end Will, who was looking for £80,000 for 2% of the company, opted to go with Steven Bartlett.
Steven had made an impassioned plea to Will before he made a decision telling him: “There’s never been, in the Den’s history, a product that is more well suited to me than this”.
Will agreed even though the entrepreneur was looking for a huge 7.5% of the company, which Will negotiated down to 5%. “All of them have their merits. And you know, Peter Jones another day (I would have said) yes, you know, Reggae, Reggae sauce and all that.
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Will Little was approached by the BBC to go on Dragons’ Den (Image: BBC)
“But I think for us, like what Steven’s done with some of the other brands he’s invested in is pretty cool. And I think for us, yes, Stephen was the one. In terms of which dragon can drive the most opportunity and growth for our business. I think Steve is absolutely the right fit for us,” he said.
While viewers only got to see the tense pitch on February 6 it was filmed several months ago and Will is still very happy with his decision.
“Steven’s texting me. I got his number. He’s very hands on. He’s very involved. He’s a very busy man, so don’t get a huge amount of his time, but I do actually have communication with him. I can get hold of him if I need to.
“He has got a team in London with who are sick. They’re, you know, super, super talented people that are just almost an extension of our team. I think that reinforces the fact that we’ve made the right decision there. Because they really feel like they’re part of the team and really want to help solve our problems and help us grow,” Will said.