When Sepp Amsler pitched his chip business earlier this season, he had the Dragons drooling over the tasty snack. His healthy kettle-cooked chips come in a wide variety of unique flavours, and his business plan made the dragons hungry for more. In the end, Jim and Robert took a bite out of Sepp’s business, striking up a deal for $350,000 for 50% equity.

After his pitch aired, Sepp says he watched the e-mails roll in across the country. “It was exciting to see the e-mails coming in across the different time zones. It started with an email from Labrador, all the way to Victoria BC, imagine that.” And although his deal didn’t work out with the dragons, Sepp is happy with the results of the show. Now, Hardbite is selling out at retail stores, they have a co-packing agreement with an Ontario firm, and the requests for his chips are pouring in from health food stores all over Canada.

And Sepp is getting all kinds of media exposure from his appearance in the Den. Hardbite appeared in The National Post, was written up in 4 local magazines, and Sepp has participated in 5 radio shows. “When we do in-store product demos, every 7th person says ‘Wow, I saw this on Dragons’ Den!’” he says.

Here's a clip from Sepp on the news last year just after he got his order from Costco:

Posted on Nov 15, 2008 11:00:00 AM