Series 16 of Dragons Den saw the “Dragons” live up to their title, with some of the harshest rejections of pitches fans have seen in years!<\/p>\n
Robel Iyassu, the founder of Boun Beans and Blue Mountain Coffee, was, unfortunately, one of those savagely rejected.<\/p>\n
Here’s what you need to know about his time in the den, and whether his business has taken off.<\/p>\n
Robel asked for a large \u00a375,000 investment with just a 7.5% stake in Boun Beans.<\/p>\n
His roasted coffee is manually ground and made from luxury Grade 1 coffee beans; he claimed that no one else is doing this in the UK.<\/p>\n
But Robel mainly wanted to expand his brand by opening a coffee shop in central London, an idea the Dragons thought was too ambitious.<\/p>\n
The coffee was a hit with Peter Jones, who said he had “not drunk coffee as good as this before”.<\/p>\n
But the taste was not enough to win any of the investors over.<\/p>\n
None of the dragons decided to help Robel, and he left the Den with his dreams of expanding his business still but a dream.<\/p>\n
Yes, you can!<\/p>\n
Despite being turned away by the Dragons, Robel’s Boun Beans has taken off.<\/p>\n
In his pitch, he priced his 100g packets of coffee at \u00a319 – a real luxury product.<\/p>\n
Fortunately for coffee lovers out there, the prices have been changed since his appearance on Dragons’ Den and you can now get 200g of Blue Mountain Coffee for just \u00a38.49 and\u00a0<\/em>free delivery!<\/p>\n