Cornish bakery, Rowe’s, has won a lucrative contract to supply Sainsbury’s stores nationwide with the first ever commercial product to be made with Reggae Reggae Sauce, the hot sauce made popular by its creator, Levi Root’s appearance on BBC’s Dragon’s Den.
The Reggae Reggae Chicken Pasty recently launched at over 300 Sainsbury’s stores on their food to go counters and is served as a hot snack to shoppers, blending the popular sauce with Rowe’s traditional chicken pasty recipe. By signing the agreement with Levi Roots’ and his Reggae Reggae Sauce, Rowe’s is currently the sole manufacturer of bakery products containing the sauce and hopes to be able to expand its range on the back of the Chicken Pasty’s success.
Reggae Reggae Sauce was first bought to the nation’s attention in 2007 when its flamboyant creator, Levi Roots, entered the Dragon’s Den strumming his guitar and drawing bemused looks from the panel. Dragon Peter Jones eventually decided to invest in the product however, and the sauce and its creator are now household names.
The idea of using Reggae Reggae Sauce in a pasty was borne out of experiments by Rowe’s new product development manager, Nick Brown’s, kitchen at home, but it was only after further development in-house at its dedicated new product development suite that the bakery approached Levi Roots with the concept.
“Rowe’s is always looking for innovative ways to expand its range and the creativity of our NPD team has been vital in securing this contract,” said Paul Pearce, Director of Marketing. “We were the first company to approach Levi and his team about using the sauce in something like a pasty and he was understandably intrigued by the idea of blending something so traditionally Cornish with the flavours of the Caribbean. We were confident that the product we’d developed would speak for itself and it did, quickly securing a national listing in Sainsbury’s.
“Rowe’s currently supplies Cornish products to many of the major multiples both regionally and nationally, but to be able to work alongside a brand like Levi Roots on a national scale and to be involved with the likes of Peter Jones, is an exciting milestone in continuing to get more of our products to a national audience.”
