A food startup, described as ‘the bath bomb for your saucepan’, registered six months’ sales in just two hours after their appearance on Dragons’ Den.
Tina Faghihi-Hallam and her husband Olly Hallam founded Flavour Bombs in February 2024 with just £300 and are on a mission to change the face of home cooking.
On Thursday, millions of viewers saw the couple receive offers from three Dragons – Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman and guest Dragon Gary Neville.
Immediately after the show was screened Flavour Bombs saw:
- £52k sales in just two hours – the equivalent of half of all sales in 2024;
- 3,000 per cent surge in website traffic; and
- Thousands of new social media followers.
Despite zero marketing spend, Flavour Bombs surpassed £100,000 in revenue in its first year and is now targeting sales of more than £100m.
Faghihi-Hallam comes from a tech background, which included four-and-a-half years at PatSnap, while her husband is a film-maker.
On the show, they eventually accepted a £50k offer from the longest-serving Dragon, Peter Jones, for 25 per cent of the business.
Since the show was filmed in May 2025, the couple have expanded their operational space from 400 sq ft to 1,800 sq ft in Hemel Hempstead, hired their first two members of staff, secured their first order from Selfridges and plan to launch in Ocado.
Crucially, they have also secured SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval) accreditation for smaller UK food producers.
Faghihi-Hallam said: “Any big retailer or supermarket require you to have a SALSA or BRC accreditation, which holds you to a certain standard in order to be able to produce for them.”
The couple, who met online, initially grew their community on TikTok and now have more than 30,000 followers.
90 per cent of the eCommerce retailer’s sales come online and are they’re now set to triple turnover to between £300k-£350k in 2025/26.
Recalling their appearance in the Den, Faghihi-Hallam said she came face-to-face with one of her heroes when she realised Gary Neville was a guest Dragon.
‘I love Gary Neville’
“I love Gary Neville,” she told BusinessCloud. “I grew up watching him. I think my brother Sam’s first words were ‘Man Utd’.
“For my brother’s 30th birthday I got him a vintage Man Utd football shirt with Gary Neville’s name on!”
The ex-footballer was one of the three Dragons to make an offer.
“We had absolutely no idea how the Dragons were going to react,” said Faghihi-Hallam. “When we got three offers, we were completely ecstatic, especially when Gary made an offer so quickly. It was emotional, overwhelming and incredibly validating.
Tina Faghihi-Hallam and her husband Olly Hallam, co-founders of Flavour Bombs
“We’ve got massive ambitions to go nationwide and global.
Peter (Jones) has taken brands like Levi Roots from kitchen tables to supermarket shelves, and he understands buyers and scale better than anyone.
“We wanted a Dragon who could bring expertise, contacts and real strategic support – not just the investment.
“We reached six figures with basically no budget, no team and no safety net.
“Everything we made went straight back into the business. It’s been intense, but it’s proven the demand is there.”
Although there’s no indication the investment won’t be forthcoming, Faghihi-Hallam said their priority was on growing the business ahead of last week’s TV appearance rather than chase the funding.
Prices start from £7.50 for two Flavour Bombs and the CEO said they were now processing more than 5,000 orders following their TV appearance.