Cox Green twins secure major investment on hit BBC show Dragons' Den
A £90,000 investment from business guru Peter Jones has been secured by a pair of Cox Green twins following their appearance on the hit BBC show, Dragons’ Den.
Luke and Owen Buckmaster pitched their growing business, Doughboys Pizza, at the start of Thursday night’s episode during a primetime slot on BBC One.
The 24-year-old non-identical twins asked the panel of business experts to part with a £90,000 investment in exchange for 10 per cent of their company.
The duo launched Doughboys Pizza in 2020 with the aim of supplying handmade frozen Italian pizzas to hospitality businesses across the UK.
The company, which has now sold more than two million pizza bases, impressed Marlow-based Dragon Peter Jones who said he wanted to work with the brothers due to their local connection.
Luke told the Advertiser: “We’re really chuffed with the outcome. A lot of viewers don’t know this but you actually film for much, much longer than what they show.
“There was probably about three-and-a-half hours worth of footage that we filmed but they cut it right down to be a maximum of 15 minutes.
“We spent about two-and-half hours in front of the Dragons pitching and being grilled.
“It was unexpected. You go in there and hope for the best but you really don’t know.”
Luke and Owen’s pitch left Jones, Deborah Meaden and Sara Davies vying to invest in the business.
But co-founder Luke said the brothers had always been set on securing the backing of the Marlow entrepreneur.
“We didn’t go into Dragons’ Den for the money. It was about trying to hopefully win a dragon to help us navigate the business as we continue to grow,” Luke said.
“We’re growing rapidly and we know without the right people around us and expertise.
“We went in there wanting Peter but we didn’t want to say and jinx our luck. When Peter did offer, we were over the moon.”
The triumph on Dragons’ Den was vindication for the path they have chosen so far with both brothers deciding to leave school at 16 to pursue a life in business.
Luke said: “We didn’t get any exceptional grades when we were at school. We were probably very, very average or even below average academically.
“But we’ve always had really good business initiative and I think it does show if you have good initiative and are willing to put the time and effort in, you can make anything a success.”
Following on from their appearance on the hit BBC show, Doughboys Pizza, now based in Reading, has launched a range of DIY pizza kits for home delivery.
The kits feature the company’s hand-stretched sourdough pizza bases and aim to give people the chance to rustle up restaurant quality pizzas in their own homes.
Visit https://doughboys-pizza.co.uk/ for further details.
