Ed’s comments:

For those thinking of going on Dragons’ Den – only ask for £50k. Most Dragons’ will just say yes to £50k as it’s neither here nor there to them. So why I asked for £180k for this fantastic rotisserie barbecue when we didn’t even really need any money I will never know! £50k for the publicity …. and/or the money and/or the help of a Dragon is great value for money!

James Caan asked how much the BarbeSkew cost and thought £299 was rather expensive. I understand James’ point of view where he can see the value in the personnel arena where large sums of money are exchanged for hiring candidates whereas perhaps he does not understand the leisure and outdoor sector where barbecues can sell for as much as £2300. The £299 BarbeSkew is our best selling model and has sold over 3000 units worldwide.

The BBC’s rather odd editing made it look like Peter Jones summed up for the Dragons’, but after one and a half hours in front of the Dragons’, the main contender and the person who summed up was Theo.

The editing made it look like Theo made his decision based on the lack of a patent whereas he made his decision based on the price – we proactively took his advice and introduced the £149 BarbeSkew II. Overall his pricing advice was flawed because the larger £299 BarbeSkew sells almost 4 four times as many as the smaller BarbeSkew II. It seems that when people are looking to invest in a barbecue for their back garden, the majority of them are looking for a large party machine that will impress their guests!

In terms of the lack of a patent, I worked diligently with the British Library Business and Intellectual Property experts and I made a very definite decision to be first to market rather than rely on an obscure patent.

Two years on and BarbeSkew is the market leader for rotisserie barbecues. BarbeSkew is the number one rotisserie barbecue manufacturer in the world – similar to Coca Cola – we are the original and the best. Why would anyone want to compromise and buy a plain old ordinary barbecue when you can buy a BarbeSkew?

Poor old Theo, especially from the fact he originated from Cyprus where every single barbecue is a rotisserie barbecue. Theo must have taken a leave from his senses that day. Oh well, his loss. With a quarter of a million pounds turnover in 2009, it’s looking like BarbeSkew is another one of those runaway successes that the Dragons’ missed.

The following year the BarbeSkew and Ed appeared on ‘Dragon’s Den On Tour‘