From Roots to Riches

Reggae musician, food entrepreneur, and family man. The country’s favourite Rastafarian spoke to NOSH to tell us about his climb from roots to riches in the world of food.

You might think most self-made millionaires would have a certain arrogance about them, or an overly suave image that says, ‘yes I was born with a broom up my arse.’ But with Levi Roots, he’s as honest as his food.

Born Keith Valentine Graham, raised in the suburbs of Jamaica, Levi’s love of food started from an early age, “It all began with my Grandmother, being the youngest of six I spent the most time with her, she instilled in me everything she knew about food and about the things we grew in our garden, that was my first love of food.”

But food was not his only passion. Music has always been an integral part of Caribbean culture and so his love for food became intertwined with a love for music too, something Levi has held dear to his heart throughout his career. In his eyes you can’t have one without the other;

“I always look at cooking as if I’m making music. I always try to mix the two together, I’ve always done that. In music it’s always enjoying putting all the instruments together until you get one finished product, and that’s what I love about food. For me it’s my passion and my job in one.”

After moving to London at the age of 11, the difference in culture became apparent to Levi very quickly. “When I arrived I was a bit shocked. I had only met one white person in my life, and I couldn’t read or write.”

He started pursuing his music career and joined the ‘Coxsone Sound System’ as a teenager, travelling dance halls with his records. “I played in front of 50,000 people with James Brown.”

However, the long arm of the law was never far away from this young rebel, and at the age of 15 he was sent to Pentonville prison for six months, charged with assault on a police officer. A few years later he was arrested again for the possession of drugs. “Lying on my prison bed I did my thinking. I left behind Keith Graham, and I became Levi Roots. I decided to do good.”

In 1998 he was nominated Best Reggae Singer at the MOBO Awards, things were looking up. But then in the early 00’s Levi found himself needing to find a new venture,

“Reggae was getting a bad reputation because of the lyrical content from some of the artists and I suffered because of it, and didn’t get the gigs so 2004- 06 were terrible years musically for me. So I decided I need to get out of my comfort zone, before then I never though I’d do anything but music, I had to add another string to the guitar.”

Having had a string of successful years with his Jamaican Jerk sauce at the Notting Hill festival, his success prompted Levi to appear on the BBC’s Dragon Den series in 2006. His Jamaican charms won over the hearts of millions of people nationwide including two of the Dragons who granted him a £50,000 investment. He explained how he came up with the name for his sauce, “Music was always there, so I had to call it Reggae-Reggae Sauce because I’d been in music for thirty years. I think it would have been silly of me not to put those 30 years experience in to my new found product.”

Levi never went in to the Den with presumptions of an investment, just a whim of hope that someone would see the passion he had for food, “I was broke! Flat broke! I just wanted the best for my kids. I always want them to have the best.”

Right from the days of making his famous sauce in the kitchen of his Brixton flat, where his seven children acted as a production line to meet the demand at the Notting Hill festival, his family have been fundamental to his business’ success. He explained how they are still the driving force behind the business,

“My two eldest kids are running the ‘Rastaurant,’ my eldest daughter is the accountant for the business and the rest, because they are so musical, they take care of all things musical for Levi roots.”

But it is still unquestionable that without the investment of both Peter Jones and Richard Farleigh in the Den, Reggae-Reggae sauce would not be here as it is today.

Before entering the Den, Levi knew that the Dragons were notorious for taking a bigger percentage of a business than the budding entrepreneurs offered. He wanted to ensure that he left no stone unturned and so got himself a decent lawyer who made a very clever suggestion,

“I had what you call a pre-emption deal in the contract, I don’t think the dragons had heard of it before then, my lawyer had recommended it. It meant that when the Dragons were ready to sell they had to offer it to me first.” And that’s exactly what happened. After 18 months, Richard Farleigh wanted out, he knew the shares were worth a lot and so Levi thanked him dearly and bought back the 20%.

It was Peter Jones who took Levi and his company and turned it into a national success. “Peter I think adds enormous value, he didn’t invest in Reggae-Reggae sauce, he invested in Levi Roots.”

Peter saw it was going to be about the man himself and not just the sauce. Levi’s Reggae-Reggae sauce is now just one sauce in a skew of 15, and it’s clear that the business partnership between him and Peter is as solid as ever,

“You always need someone who knows more than you, I will never want to buy Peter out. He is now my mentor, one of my greatest influences and we get on fantastically well.”

While his business is booming, Levi is also a keen motivational speaker and tours the country with his guitar spreading the word about Caribbean cuisine and trying to inspire young entrepreneurs to follow in his footsteps.

“I’m the only speaker on the circuit who does my speeches ion the way I do, I always use songs, always appear with my guitar. I even went to number 10 last year and spoke to Mr Brown and took my guitar! It never goes; the two are always married together.”

His patriotic nature for his home country is far more important to him than money and he wants people to embrace the culture that he loves so much. He wants to promote Caribbean food in a way that makes people appreciate its rich culture and eliminate the stigma that Caribbean food is too spicy or too sweet. He also has quite a moral message for the UK,

“In Jamaica, your neighbours with everyone, but in this country you can live next door to someone and no know their name. Family and getting together is something I grew up with, people would bring things over and it would be a sort of food community. I would love to spread that getting together feeling vibe in the UK.”

Levi is now moving from strength to strength and now, five years on from his debut in the Den, he has completed his business plan for the UK and is now looking to expand to the USA and Europe.

“We’ve just signed a massive deal in a 50 billion pound market which is soft drinks. So next march we are launching  the Levi Roots range of soft drinks and that’s gonna be massive. It’s going to be big flavours, so like ginger beer, pineapple crush and mango and all those fantastic flavours the Caribbean have to offer. The future is looking fantastic.”

Look out for Levi’s new television series early next year and his new book too. To put music in your food, check out his website, www.reggae-reggae.co.uk.

If people aren’t familiar with Caribbean food, start with the fruits. There’s an abundance of fruit from the Caribbean, and people over here just eat fruit, as a fruit, but in the Caribbean we’ll use things like mango, bananas and papaya in the cooking itself. So try a recipe with some of these fruits where you’re already familiar with the flavours and the taste and then you move on to using old spices etc.

Fave meal?

Acian soul fish. It’s the Jamaica national dish and I’m very patriotic when it comes to Jamaica. I want people to know what Jamaica is about, it’s what the queen has when she visits. The national fruit, its just wonderful.