Reggae singer's sauce is hot with Sainsbury's

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Levi Roots is the singer who slayed the dragons of BBC2's business show with a reggae tune.

He convinced the millionaire investors on Dragons' Den to back his plan to produce his Reggae Reggae sauce on an large scale.

Now Roots, from Brixton, is in talks with Sainsbury's about distributing the sauce, which claims to "put music in your food". He may also have a surprise hit song on his hands.

Roots and his family have been selling Jerk Chicken and ribs using his grandmother's secret recipe barbecue sauce for several years at Notting Hill Carnival. But they only started to sell the sauce itself at last year's event.

They sold more than 4,000 bottles, inspiring the singer to take his business scheme to the TV experts.

Roots, whose real first name is Keith, has performed with James Brown and Maxi Priest and was nominated in 1998 for a Mobo award as best reggae performer.

But he said the Dragons' Den panel "looked at me like I was a madman" when he turned up with his guitar. "I don't think anyone has sung reggae music to them before. I thought they were going to get up and start dancing."

Telecoms boss Peter Jones and Australian private investor Richard Farleigh agreed to pay £25,000 each for a 20 per cent share of the business. They are helping Roots draw up a business plan and he is seeking industrial kitchens.

Discussions about a nationwide launch with Sainsbury's could even be accompanied by a chart release of the Reggae Sauce song following thousands of enquiries from viewers after Wednesday's show.

Roots said: "I'm not in this to be the next Heinz ketchup. I just want to bring the sweet, sweet flavour of reggae music to the world."

 

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