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ROOTS MAN: Levi Roots and Brenda Evans with her daughter at Caribbean Scene Restaurant

Reggae Reggae Sauce is a hit for Levi Roots

Since signing an exclusive contract with one of the leading supermarket outlets in the UK, Keith Graham who secured a £50,000 deal and a 40 percent equity, on the BBC reality programme, The Dragon’s Den, says his product has been sold out across the country.

The entrepreneur better known as Levi Roots, a renowned reggae artist, told The Voice that following the reality programme on February 7, two weeks later he was approached by Sainsbury’s where he signed an exclusive six-month deal.

However, since that time a number of companies have been requesting to have his Reggae Reggae Sauce, which Levi created from Jamaican herbs and spices, on their shelves.

He said that since he began distributing to Sainsbury’s the supermarket giant have reported that they have sold more than 250,000 bottles of the sauce at its outlets, with the product being sold out.

“I am now producing 150,000 bottles each week to keep up with the demand,” he said.

The chef, singer and song writer is also being hounded by others for his product which originates from his grandmother Miriam Small’s kitchen in Clarendon, Jamaica.

He told The Voice: “She (grandmother) taught me how to cook the sauce which is so nice I have labelled it with reggae twice; so from my grandmother’s kitchen I have to give the world a taste.”

He intends to expand production and his business enterprise.

After the exclusive six months contract with Sainsbury’s, he will be looking at Waitrose, Tesco and other companies that have been in pursuit of the sauce.

Levi said two of the five millionaires on the reality programme, Briton Peter Jones and Australian Richard Farleigh both offered to fund the project.

He said he has been blending the sauce for more than 16 years in the UK, at the Notting Hill Carnival and in his local community, having gotten permission from the food standard authorities to produce the sauce in his kitchen.

Despite his Sainsbury’s contract, Levi has not forgotten those who supported him initially and is still providing the sauce through record shops, as he said the sauce is an aspect where reggae music is being blended with food.

He described the sauce as a mildly-hot jerk barbeque with portions of pimento, thyme, peppers and other spices that are used in kitchens in Jamaica.

He added that the sauce is unique in that it is not like tomato sauce or pepper sauce, but a blend that has retained the tomato and the peppers in a sauce with other ingredients.

His aim is to get the sauce into hotel dining rooms across Africa, the Caribbean and Europe.

With a song called, The Proper Thing, produced alongside the sauce, Levi said the progress of his business has been fantastic.

“My hope is to make the community aware that there is good news in the black community, not just the killing and gun violence; as well as to show that the black community possesses business people who can be successful.”

The official launch of the sauce is scheduled to take place at Brixton Town Hall on April 20.

Published: 28 March 2007
Issue: 1262

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