@James Cricket was genuine comp. Perhaps sounded unintentionally patronizing.

@@tobyhart8515 Don't worry he's just like that with everyone in this section.

he’s a former barrister! Not surprising he was so good

Negotiations are all about position. He isn't desperate for an investment and can therefore meet the Dragons on a level playing field. Unfortunately, a lot of the entrepreneurs who come in are so desperate for investment that they really have no position to negotiate.

@@tobyhart8515 that’s because he was a barrister lol

He was a barrister. He was already successful before he walked into the den

This episode is ancient

Same here

I 100% agree

It's called a private education.

That’s why U ain’t sitting where they are

Never trust anyone who's dazed!!

He's definitely highly employable.

Abspack fellow says hi

Hate to say it but I dont think they liked the 'packaging' (colour). Because they gave him absolutely no complements on his pitching, defending of product, good conduct, great product. In fact they waited till he was gone before they said how good the product is! I have seen them give compliments for much much less. Guess they just only compliment those they can racially relate to...

@@CPTZK11 Sure James Caan didnt like his color.... or Theo Paphitis. pull the other leg. its more likely something we did not see, that was cut in editing. This is a prime example of what is wrong with todays society, it is all too common to just jump to the race card.

@@murigrim you’re so naive

@@CPTZK11 we saw 10 mins of a pitch that could be up to an hour or longer. It purely came down to the fact that they were too expensive to be able to compete which they all said. Look at the last 10 seconds of the video. They all absolutely loved the product but didn't think it was a viable business opportunity

@@CPTZK11 so you're just going to ignore that there are scores of videos of white investors getting no compliments about their pitch from the dragons? The dragons don't generally spend a lot of time giving them praise on their ability to pitch. They did the same thing with this they do with every other one. Which is dig into the financials and determine if it's a business worth investing in and whether the valuation is appropriate. In this case it wasn't. Not everything is about race, trying to make every single thing in this world about race and shoehorning it into everything is part of the problem.

I was also impressed by his good manners, he came across very well.

All of you are wrong he simply doesn't care about people except their money. He has bad reviews, a typical one reads like this: "DO NOT use this company, extremely poor customer service. And products take months to arrive or never do. Chased up after we ordered months back and they said they did not have our order but they would get it out in 5 days they have been telling us this for weeks now. We are now asking for a refund. This was for our wedding so very disappointing. Avoid, avoid avoid!!!"

A barrister? doing good things???

@@7-up813 review where, yelp? Hus company is still going strong

You really shouldn't say whether they do or dont get invested it's soooo annoying. spoil alert!

good

These are a rage in Middle East countries too and price is not much different to plastic or foam picnic plates. I believe Dragons could have made it work if they had got involved but maybe they didn't want that much effort.

it will have a limited market but it wont make it big scale, i think he just bought some plates from india and try to sell to dragons, its not that easy.

What is the cost in India??

@@robertj5208 I'm guessing about 50 bucks for 10 pieces maybe. So like 0.50 pounds.

Well yeah, problem is when you go to buy single use plates you just grsb whichever one is cheap

So true

I understand why he went to the dragons den but he would have been better for him to go look for investors who arent as big and are better listeners

Yes but he did slip in, very quietly, that in order to get the price lower than the alternative products, down to 5-6p each, he'd need to be ordering around 50 MILLION units.

Hi Adam. Good point. As with many things, the more you buy, the cheaper it gets. We wanted to be able to bring the price of our products down for our customers and we were sure we could do that if we could buy more, hence approaching the Den.

@@DaviesD85 he was trying to justify the cost by saying if they could supply the same volume as competitors, they could sell to supermarkets at around the same price per unit. it's a valid point. duncan says it at the end, catch 22, and he immediately responds with exactly.

I thought the same and for old people's home it would be perfect and for people with disabilities, especially school kids who still till this day use plastic plates in school to serve school dinners. So much potential

if he targeted that in his pitch, it would've been much attractive investment. the way he marketed was for small consumers and catering service which seems like a small market. Difentely i could see it almost in every bar and shops around the beaches and such.

Lets do it :)

I'm in

I think if they really wanted to they would of tried getting the government or local council to trial this for all take-away's in a area.

Did you guys not listen loool it cost too much ffs you have to sell 50-60mullion just to make a profit

@@charliejackson7982 people in the uk spend almost 30 million pounds per year on fastfood... just saying...

U look nice 😍

@@thealien_ali3382 Meh

@@acommonman7950 Name checks out.

@Bobbie Lea, *Damn, you sure are a lil’ CUTIE 😍! May I PLEASE make direct payments towards your college tuition/student loans (Soon-To-Be Dr.) 😩?*

@@glowblank17 you’re down bad af 😭

tell me i thought his name was duncan valentine until now ...

barrister

Hello fellow bean 🤙🏻

Only a boss move until you read the letter?

He’s a good friend of mine. Great guy in person too!

@@The_man-from-uncle Im sure he is.

He's got courtesy but he's also a bit aggressive and doesn't seem to listen to people who point out issues. I do like his product though. Dragon's Den Canada had the same product.

@Omolaja itura 5:53, 6:11, 6:25 A thousandaire telling millionaires (some close to being billionaires) that they are wrong from a financial and/or marketing perspective is a sign of either arrogance or ignorance. Granted one millionaire is obviously not going to have all the knowledge in the world which is why there are 5 of them, and he was defensive with pretty much all of them. He was trying to defend his business against what he perceived as attacks and criticism when really they were just trying to get a feel for the strengths and weaknesses of the business. If I was in his position I would have come in and started the pitch with something like "I feel the business can succeed because it is on trend and there are few or no similar products on the market. The only obstacle I see is the volume. If we can overcome that then the price will decrease drastically and at that point we would not only match the big plastic players but also have an advantage over them." That would open up both a high growth rate and multiple buy-out options. Being upfront with problems establishes a sense of trust and helps assure people that there won't be hidden problems down the line. If somebody is strong then even attacking their vital points can't take them down. If somebody is weak then they will try to defend themselves.

@Omolaja itura Wrong, I've watched the entire series 7 times. What do you mean that you don't say that the niche is empty? Number one that's a good thing, and number two that's an obvious fact. No, fads stop after months or a couple years. Trends last for decades. Plus you can't regulate plate material, and if you could that would only benefit this product. Because this one is more ecologically sound than the plastic type. I don't think you understand what you're talking about. It would appear that you didn't read the part where I said the price goes down with higher volume either. I clearly said that was the one problem he needed to overcome and that he should be more upfront about it. That is how a person is respectful, not by arguing points but by admitting the areas where they need the dragons to help. They are obviously there for something other than cash and it's a good idea to let the investors know what it is.

@Omolaja itura Not overall. I said he's A BIT aggressive and didn't listen very well. And he showed a couple signs of arrogance. He's not Hitler.

Haha so true

g-g-g-GILF.....in some of the episodes

This aired over ten years ago, this channel tends to do that and female hair trends change more than male

Good thing we have Peter next to her to gauge the transitions 🤣

😂😂😂 fr tho

Thank you very much very kind of you.

@Lady Spencer Yes I agree that a lot of the 'natural' products being peddled aren't natural at all and she rightly points that out. But her virtue signalling BS has been shown to be shallow on numerous occasions now. There simply isn't a way to create these products cheaply or with a long shelf life so it's her hypocrisy and fake credentials that I'm getting at. It was no coincidence that the camera zoomed in on her as the guy was setting out his business.

Yep it's all empty PR, marketing and virtue signaling

@@HHHKingofKings58 Exactly!

Literally everyone who spouts this eco-nonsense IS sitting in a privileged position! A bunch of middle class lefties in their extortionate London apartments, driving fuel guzzling supercars whilst tweeting sneering nonsense from their gold-plated iphone 5000's about the "common people destroying the environment".

@I Love You Us lot? Thanks for agreeing that she is virtue signalling.

Also im in catering and can say these are very popular here in Australia

I see them at every conference I go to. They also forks and spoons out of the same material(s). I say materials as some are bamboo as well.

Which countries have done that?

@@user-yp3oj5se1i Single use plastic products were banned in India. The country where he is sourcing his raw materials from. 1.4 billion population.

there are much cheaper paper plates anyway...I would never buy a plastic plate. I am not "eco friendly" but it makes no sense to buy plastic plates.

I agree that they've existed. That's the bigger problem. He doesn't control the actual product; he's only an importer. Anyone can buy these from the manufacturers in Asia.

This was filmed very long ago

His valuation was too high. None of them could see taking a minority stake that would be sufficient to return their money. Like james said, if he'd come in lower, he might have got a deal

If you actually listened then he had to get up to volumes of 40 or 50 million before he could get the price down to be competitive. It was purely down to the fact that they couldn't be produced cheaply enough for the business to be profitable. Not all good inventions are money making inventions

This is a good point. Something like this would have huge potential I feel in that space!

The problem is to order in bulk, you have to sell in bulk. Getting big catering companies to use his product will be difficult even if his pricing is more competitive, even worse for retail. No investor would want to take on the risk of putting in the time and money to set up a more efficient production line just to be sitting on millions of unit of product with nowhere to send it.

It’s all about the money

Ah, just realised they were quoting Theo right at the end to make the heading. But yeah, why say it if you’re not going to invest?

Its like james said, if he came asking for 50k they would have fought over it but 120k is too much ask,

Dude why rob my comment

@@drnureini7538 they should have paired up £60k each

That's why you aren't an investor. He's not selling *himself* to the populace but a product and the product has issues as stated in the video.

@@HostileAtHeart Who says hes not an investor lol.

He’s actually a friend of mine. His business is doing very well. Obviously everyone servicing the hospitality industry took a hit but since then he’s bounced back excellently.

@@The_man-from-uncle Are you really? Oh that would be so good. He deserved an investment.

Because it wasn't a good enough business opportunity.

-£36,050.00 net worth in 2022. This post didn't age well

Its not

@@winzyl9546 yes it is go to 3:31 and you can see the pack is wrapped in plastic

@@Goaway587 I see

They are doing well!

Yep. Oven roasted fish. Yum yum.

Happy birthday lad

@@morespeedmorepeace Thank you😄

Happy birthday bro

Happy Birthday.

Happy birthday! 🎉

So would i. He had already come a long way. Trials in sainsbury's, pre-orders from kingfishers etc. Its the perfect replacement for plastic and enamel plates. Whats the actual name of the product?

... you mumbled to yourself as your greasy, worn out, workers fingers fumbled about, searching for the scraps in the packet. Big red letters crinkled acorss the bag exclaimed "GRAB BAG", your tired shoulders rolled forward, bulbous and strong yet fragile, hopelessly clad in a soft, thin fabric, for now with purpose you feel belief, this feeling seldom comes but when it does you are clasping your phone in one and a Wotsit in the other.

They can’t just invest in everything that you would call ‘useful’ or ‘eco friendly’, they have to make back their money too. They said they loved the idea, but might lose too much money if they invested because the business was unstable. I don’t see what’s so hard to understand 🙄

Obviously they want money. These products will only work if governments start banning disposable plastics. And they won't be doing that anytime soon. Plastic masks are in lol

i don’t know when this was aired, but these plates are everywhere in India. The price is nowhere near to what this guy sells, it’s really cheap here, albeit a bit costlier than their thermocol counterparts

He could have brought the price down if they invested

Why Australia would be cheaper?

@@user-yt198 Would possibly cost less to transport their goods over from India.

Starting the business in India would be even cheaper.

Definitely. I'm sure he has gone on to do good things💯🥰

Great presentation. He even avoided the subject of child labour.

Thank you

wow I'm currently eating an indian meal. From a plate ironically

@@Professor-Scientist Another fun fact about Indian meals : We traditionally eat our meals on Banana leaves , though we have adapted plates now , we still eat on banana leaves during festivals and marriages and any such occasion. The food tastes different ( more tastier ) while eating from a banana leaf . ( I don't know why that is so , is it a psychological phenomenon or it is a property of banana leaf . )

@@Hari2897 more medicinal values, dats y Indians eat their food served in banana leaves

@@rajachowdary1649 I won't be surprised to see someone asking for investment for banana leaves next 😂

@@Hari2897 That's interesting, thanks.

Its interesting as i can 100% say these are very popular here in Australia.

Thank you. Very kind of you to say so.

To be fair, most people want enough money it could be used on a car brand new straight from the agency just cause they demand it on this show, they don't even know their figures.

Your 'English' is better than mine ! I didn't think I have ever used the word 'exuberant' before.. or maybe even 'counterpart'. : )

@@sergeantcrow Thankyou. Maybe because it's our secondary language due to which we have to study it thoroughly rather than using it commonly. Even I stutter and stumble in my Native Hindi sometimes. It's common :D

@@lankasur7942 You live in an amazing place with amazing people.. I hope all Ok there for you..

@@sergeantcrow I hope the same for you too. 😁

@@lankasur7942 Thanks !

Possible clue....👨🏿

@@re7416 *You're trying to use logic.*

@@haza123b4 Your handle says it all | I won't be rising to ur bait | Enjoy ur life 👋🏽

It’s a little like trying to make yogurt and realising that in order to make yogurt, you have to have yogurt in the ingredients!

A voice like velvet.