A packaging company in Wiltshire has been supporting a fresh chocolate business with a surge in orders since its appearance on BBC series Dragons' Den .
Birmingham entrepreneurs Steve Russell and Giles Atwell recently won the backing from Dragons Steven Bartlett and Peter Jones after receiving offers from all five members of the famous panel.
The pair’s eponymous company Russell and Atwell produces five varieties of chocolate which must be kept chilled, as they have much shorter life-span than the “long life” chocolate products found on supermarket shelves.
The duo eventually secured £90,000 in funding from Mr Jones and Mr Bartlett, in exchange for 20% of their business.
Cricklade-based GWP Packaging said it has been supplying branded packaging for Russell and Atwell since the company began selling its products online in 2020.
Jay Daggar, sales manager at GWP Packaging, said “We have been involved with Russell and Atwell since they launched their online shop, and they have been a great business to work with.
“We are pleased to be supporting them with the surge in demand after their impressive pitch, as well as a number of new projects they have in the pipeline.”
Mr Russell and Mr Atwell, who have experience within the chocolate industry including working with giants Cadbury and Mars, said they had been “blown away” by the response they had since appearing on the programme, which saw them sell out all of their products.
In a post on the company's LinkedIn profile, Mr Atwell said it had sold two years of turnover in two hours, and had sent out 4,500 orders after the episode aired last week.
Mr Russell said: “GWP have been excellent in supporting us since our launch, and we would like to say a huge thank you to them and the handful of partners that have helped us over the past 18 months.
“We are both incredibly grateful and excited that more people will be able to discover what chocolate should really taste like!”
GWP, which originally traded as the Great Western Packaging Company, has five divisions which provide industrial packaging to more than 500 clients across sectors from aerospace to retail.
The firm employs around 100 people and turns over sales of around £14m per year. Last year the group was acquired by Macfarlane Packaging, with founder David Pedley stepping down as chief executive after 30 years.
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