As someone who enjoys cooking, this week's episode of Dragons' Den was certainly a culinary delight, with a whole mix of intellectual property (IP) ingredients in the pot. This week Peter Jones, Steven Bartlett, Deborah Meaden and Touker Suleyman were joined by guest Dragon, Susie Ma.
From Cumbria with amore
First into the Den was husband and wife team, Imogen and Matt, co-founders of ‘Northern Pasta Co’, a business making pasta from regeneratively grown British spelt. The pair make the pasta themselves using traditional methods in Cumbria. They were looking for a £50k investment in return for 5% of their business.
Deborah kicked off the questioning, and it wasn't long before the brand of the business was discussed, asking "why Northern Pasta Co?".
A 'brand' is how a business sets itself apart from others, with its name, logo and even values, giving customers a way to recognise it. After doing a quick search on the trade marks register, I could see that their business has registered a trade mark for Northern Pasta Co.
A registered trade mark protects the brand of a business by giving exclusive rights to use your brand within the area (class) in which you've registered it, stopping other competitors from using it for that purpose.
Both Peter and Deborah made an offer and after some negotiating, Imogen and Matt walked away with an investment from both Dragons, who each gave £25k for a 5% stake in the business.
A soup-er pitch
Bella Acland, founder of 'Soul Kitchen', pitched her healthy instant powdered soup brand to the Dragons. Inspired by her time in university relying on convenience foods, Bella set out to create something that wasn’t only convenient but comforting and nutritious.
Bella was asking the Dragons for £40k in return for 10% of the business.
It was clear that Bella had big aspirations for the business and had many ideas for future flavours and recipes. It got me thinking, how would she protect those flavours and ideas from being copied? The answer, trade secrets.
Trade secrets are not registered and they can help businesses protect recipes and processes so long as they are kept confidential.
If you do need to discuss or share your idea with someone else, you could consider a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). An NDA is a legal contract that sets out how confidential information is shared.
A single serving
While impressed with Bella and her pitch, the Dragons were not convinced it was an opportunity for them to invest in. After four "I'm outs", things were not looking great. Then Susie Ma stepped in, offering all the money in return for 15%. The offer was enthusiastically accepted by Bella.
This week’s episode had plenty of IP to think about. If you have an idea for a business, our free get IP rights step by step guidance can help you get started.
Disclaimer:
The purpose of the IPO's Dragons' Den IP blog is to help identify the IP in entrepreneurs’ pitches and highlight how IP works, or could work, in the real-life examples featured. IPO’s authorship of this blog does not constitute its endorsement or sponsorship of any products, individuals or businesses referenced within it.
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