A descendant of Birmingham's legendary chocolatier Cadbury appeared on Dragons Den last night hoping to win an investment from some of the UK's top businessmen and women.
James Cadbury, the great-great-great-grandson of John Cadbury, was looking for an investment of £75,000 in return for a 5% equity share in his own chocolate business.
Inspired by the Cadbury founder, Love Cocoa was created with the purpose of making great tasting chocolate bars here in Great Britain, in a way that's loved by the planet, and its people.
The Cadbury family was famous for its philanthropy, creating the Bournville model village to house its workers near its factory, and following in this tradition, 10% of Love Cocoa’s profits go to charity, the products are fairly traded and made in Britain.
The Dragons were very impressed with the business and its history, although the potential legal battles given the iconic name were enough to put off three of the five from parting with their money.
Tej Lalvani and Peter Jones both offered up the full amount of money for 20% of the business, with Peter Jones launching quite a speech about taking on the current owners of Cadbury if they were to embark on a legal challenge.
In the end James opted to take Tej's offer and off he went with his head held high and an investment in his pocket.
Dragon's Den was filmed well over a year ago, so Birmingham Live caught up with James Cadbury to find out what happened next for him and his business.
It turns out that after lengthy discussions with Mr Lalvani following the show, Cadbury actually turned down the deal.
He said: "We felt the deal did not justify the true valuation of the business having raised money a year before at a lot higher valuation."
But it looks like it wasn't all bad news because he claims the business has tripled its revenue since the show first aired in December 2018 and will be doing £1m this year.
It is now exporting to over 10 countries and has its products listed in the likes of Harrods, Liberty, Debenhams, Harvey Nicholls, and Birmingham independent retailer Loki.
Love Cocoa is also planning to plant 500,000 trees in North Cameroon in 2020 in order to fight against climate change.
Brummies on TV
The world’s chocolate industry is driving deforestation on a devastating scale in West Africa and in response James has partnered with Trees for the Future to do his bit to reduce the rate.
You can catch the Dragons Den Christmas Special featuring James Cadbury on BBC iPlayer now.
