Guest Dragon Susie Ma joins Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman, Deborah Meaden & Steven Bartlett as they put more business hopefuls to the test
Series 23 of Dragons’ Den continues tonight with episode 12.
The episode will see the return of guest judge Susie Ma alongside regular Dragons Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman, Deborah Meaden and Steven Bartlett.
The pitches in this episode include a husband-and-wife team serving up their spelt pasta business; a family-run inflatable pub venture; a clever plant sensor that delivers live updates to your phone; and a vegetable-packed instant soup brand.
Northern Pasta Co
The first business founders to pitch in the Den tonight are husband-and-wife team Imogen Royall and Matt Kenyon – serving up their spelt pasta business.
Made from regeneratively grown British spelt and crafted using traditional slow bronze extrusion at the brand’s HQ in Lancashire, Northern Pasta Co. is pioneering a new, better way to eat pasta – one rooted in British farming, craft and flavour.
The Air of the Dog
Second up is the entrepreneur behind a Gravesend-based inflatable pub company.
Rich Martin launched The Air of the Dog during Covid – so his dad could enjoy a beer during lockdown – and saw the pop-up offer really take off.
He now has 13 themed pubs.
SmartyPlants
Third in the Den is SmartyPlants founder Ben Beavers.
His smart plant sensor delivers live updates to your phone.
“We know plants can be hard to keep alive,” its website states. “We nearly gave up and bought fake ones.”
Soul Kitchen
The final pitch tonight will be Bella Acland, who has a vision to reinvent the instant soup category with premium, plant-powered products made from real vegetables and nothing artificial.
A lifelong food enthusiast, Bella grew up cooking with her parents before gaining experience in professional kitchens, sparking her passion for creating better convenience food.
An entrepreneurship grant from Santander Universities gave Bella the confidence to turn her healthy eating idea into a business. She began developing recipes in her university kitchen, teaching herself product development and the fundamentals of building a food brand.
Launched in March 2024, Soul Kitchen offers the UK’s only premium instant soup range made with real vegetable powders, herbs, spices and superfoods instead of artificial flavours or excess salt and sugar.