Dragons Turn Down Chiswick Food Market Hopeful

No interest in Richard Johnson's street food idea

Richard said afterwards he got a 'proper grilling' from the panel. Picture: BBC

February 12, 2023

The man hoping to start a monthly street food market in the centre of Chiswick has failed to impress the panel on Dragons’ Den.

Award-winning food journalist Richard Johnson was asking for £60,000 for 9% of his business, Street Food Ventures. His company organises awards for street food businesses in the UK and Europe with expansion into America planned.

Many of the award-winning food stalls are likely to be participating in another of Richard’s projects, the street food market in his hometown, which he has applied to hold on the fourth Sunday of every month. There would be over sixty stalls set up along the High Road up to Old Market Place in front of the police station.

In the show that was first broadcast by the BBC on Thursday 9 February, Richard began his pitch by saying that during his time as the restaurant critic for the Independent, it wasn’t always Michelin starred eateries where he got the best culinary experiences. Often it was street food, be it a falafel shack in a hole in the wall in Jerusalem or a perfectly prepared cheeseburger from a van in the Carpetland car park in Peckham.

He said he was bringing to the Dragons “the most exciting food movement since organic” namely Street Food which he said he literally wrote the book on.

He told them, “We don’t want starter, main course, dessert anymore, we want flirty, low commitment dining.”

Richard brought along two winners from the Street Food Awards, a national competition he has been running since 2010. The Dragons sampled the wares of Pellizco and Ginger’s Comfort Emporium and were duly impressed.

The street food vendors with Richard were a hit with the Dragons. Picture: BBC

The Chiswick-based entrepreneur received a tough grilling from Peter Jones who pressed him on the detailed numbers for revenue and turnover for the business which left Richard stumped. Steven Bartlett was more upbeat about the proposition saying he got the concept because his companies had run events businesses which operated on a similar model.

Perhaps he was too honest with his replies as Deborah Meaden picked up on a potential problem with his pitch. She said, “In answer to Steven’s question ‘what are your blind spots’ you have, alarmingly, just named the two revenue drivers. You said, ‘I’m blind about sponsorship and I’m blind about franchising’. So, who in your organisation actually drives the revenue?”

Sara Davies added, “What I just don’t understand is, how the business becomes a money-making proposition and I think you obviously don’t know that and the philosophy of ‘well I’ll just build the business and then just hopefully I’ll monetise it’, that is not how you can incentivise an investor to come on board.”

Even though Deborah Meaden recalled that she had seen Richard before on his show ‘Kill It, Cook It, Eat It” and it had been instrumental in her switching to plant-based food, she wasn’t persuaded by his business plan.

Touker Suleyman had little to say during the discussions only concluding that he didn’t believe Richard’s idea was an investible business. He did however polish off all the food that was prepared for him by the vendors, something that his fellow Dragons said was a first.

However, with all the other Dragons out, it was Peter Jones who delivered the most devastating verdict saying, “I think this is awful. I’m not going to pussy-foot around because I think you are somebody that can take constructive feedback and go do something about it.”

He added, “I’ve looked at your book by the way, which I think is superb but, from a business perspective, you’ve not got a clue.”

Richard told us afterwards, “I got a proper grilling in the Den. Peter Jones really didn’t get the business (a street food competition that I run all over the U.K. and in 16 countries in Europe, that I’m launching this Autumn in the USA) and I didn’t come away with any investment. But there were SO many positives and I’ve been inundated with offers of new collaborative ventures. There are plenty of stories about ‘the ones that got away’. Hopefully I’m the next Trunki or Tangle Teezer.”

Richard now faces another decision from a different committee with the borough Licensing Panel set to decide on his bid to set up the Chiswick market. He has partnered with Blue Collar which already hosts food markets across the Home Counties and a range of cuisines would be available at the event.

The last date for representations on the application is this Monday (13 February) and they can be made by emailing licensing@hounslow.gov.uk. Details of how make a representation are on the council’s web site.