After having his pitch cancelled twice due to COVID restrictions it was third time lucky for Manchester rum entrepreneur Thomas Hurst the man behind Rockstar Spirits.
Rockstar Spirits Ltd was launched in November 2018 by Tom Hurst, 45, who waved goodbye to a 20-year corporate career in the drinks industry to realise his dream of launching his own very own spiced rum brand.
Hurst asked was asking for £25k in return for a 2% stake in his spirits business but ended up with four offers and going with a duo of Dragons consisting of Tej Lalvani and Touker Suleyman both giving £12,500 for 4% each after turning down an offer of double the funding of £50k for 10% from Theo Paphitis.
Hurst was overjoyed with the outcome – “My main goal was that they would like the products so once they all said they loved them I really relaxed and then when the offers started flying in I was on cloud nine. The best moment was getting told I was an excellent entrepreneur which is quite something from the Dragons. I think I will get a tshirt printed up with this on it to wear around the office.”
“It was fantastic experience to take part in the show and a great rite of passage for any entrepreneur to test their mettle against some of the best business brains in the UK.” said Hurst
Hurst was helped in the den by Manchester barman Xavier Lequitte from Revolucion de Cuba in Manchester who created a cocktail for the pitch called the Dragons Daiquiri.
The cocktail will be going on to the menu across all the Rev de Cuba sites in the UK later this month.
If you would like to make one for yourself the recipe is:
25ml Two Sallows Citrus
12.5ml Pineapple Grenade
25ml Gomme sugar syrup
25ml Fresh Lime juice
25ml Fresh Pineapple juice
Shake all the ingredients over ice strain and serve
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