Not a bad bet: Snaffling Pig Co. gain Dragons' Den investment

Makers of flavoured pork crackling backed by entrepreneur and founder of Moonpig.com, Nick Jenkins

Last Sunday Snaffling Pig Co., a business which started with a bet and £500, upheld their mantra of taking pork crackling to places it’s never been before, by coming face-to-face with the Dragons in hit BBC TV show Dragons’ Den. Taking on the line-up of multi-millionaire investors, founders Andrew Allen and Nick Coleman, successfully pitched their growing pork crackling business, securing funding from one of the Dragons.

The old friends won over Nick Jenkins, best known for founding online greetings card retailer Moonpig.com, who proclaimed the product to be the “nicest pork crackling he’d ever tasted”, striking a deal that provided the porky venture with £70k investment. In return, Nick Jenkins negotiated a 20% share of the business, with the option for Snaffling Pig to buy back 10% of the Dragons’ holding at a later date. The investment will be used to support Snaffling Pig Co.’s UK growth. The company will continue to disrupt the snack market with their innovative pork crackling products, three of which have just been awarded Great Taste Stars.

Nick Coleman, Snaffling Pig’s CEO said of the deal: “Having Nick’s skills and passion on board is a huge boost for the team and will help us accelerate our plans to take this little piggy to market in ways he has never been before. The Den has proven to be a great springboard for food businesses in the past. Having spent the last two years building relationships with some amazing customers we’re beyond excited to see where the year ahead will take us. Though we won’t lie – straight after the pitch, it took us to the pub.”

Nick Jenkins was impressed by Snaffling Pig Co.’s initial pitch commenting: “The most exciting part of Dragons’ Den is finding businesses that have the perfect mix of team, product and market opportunity, and helping them achieve their potential.  Nick and Andy were able to demonstrate that Snaffling Pig ticked all of those boxes and as such I’m delighted with the investment.”

In an unusually positive but rollercoaster pitch, the business received some extremely positive feedback from the other Dragons including Deborah Meaden, who admitted that she’d be “taking the product home with her” and Sarah Willingham who offered to stock the product across her venues. After four dragons declared themselves out, it was Nick who quite literally put his money where his mouth was.

On the decision to enter the Den, Andrew Allen, Snaffling Pig’s CMO said: “It was a very much a considered decision to go on the show, as it’s the kind of environment where if you’ve got holes in your offering you’ll get found out – in front of an audience of millions to boot. But, as an FMCG business, a room full of Dragons is a piggin’ amazing place to be. We know we’re not everyone’s cup of tea and you 100% see that during our pitch, but that’s half the fun of the product – we love being someone’s occasional guilty pleasure.”

After Snaffling Pig hired Simon Deans from B P Collins’ corporate and commercial practice, a contract is now in place with Nick Jenkins, which secures Dragons' Den funding to grow the company.

Nick Coleman added:

“We first met Simon when he presented us with the New Business of the Year prize at the Bucks Business Awards and liked what we heard about the B P Collins approach to helping its clients. The advice we received was very pragmatic, on time and on budget and we look forward to working with the B P Collins team in future to build a long-term relationship.”