They were savaged in Dragon’s Den and ridiculed for trying to run a business from the most remote north-westerly village on mainland Britain.
But now two Scottish entrepreneurs are making the dragons eat their words – or rather drink them.
It’s chocs away for Paul Maden and James Findlay, who are on course to become millionaires by launching a hot-chocolate drink the dragons rejected.
They have already landed major export orders from Japan, Portugal, Singapore and Norway – and are in “encouraging” talks with supermarkets and coffee- shop chains.
The pair said they expect to be turning over £5 million in less than five years when they launch Cocoa Mountain The Best Hot Chocolate in January from a brand-new purpose- built factory.
Mr Findlay and Mr Maden did not manage to secure the £80,000 investment for a 15% stake on Dragons Den when they appeared on the show in August 2015, with the Dragons describing Durness in Sutherland – where Cocoa Mountain is based – as a “diabolical” place to do business.
However, after Mr Findlay and Mr Maden appeared on the show, they were approached by more than 80 potential investors.
“It got to the stage where I based myself down at Heathrow for three days interviewing them, one by one,” said Mr Maden.
“One guy wanted to give us £100,000-a-year just to use the Cocoa Mountain name.
“But in the end, we decided to do things ourselves – none of the investors were going to share our passion for the product or add value to it.”
So the pair – who had started their business with just truffles, beloved by celebrities – have raised £130,000 to launch the hot chocolate from a new factory in Perth and are already tasting sweet success.
“The dragons were right about one thing – the location of the factory.
“We needed to be more central, including having access to a pool of staff,” said Mr Maden.
“In Durness, there are only a few hundred people.
“It’s nice we have proved Dragon’s Den wrong .
“I struck on the recipe 12 years ago – it has just taken all this time to commercialise it.
“It’s been a struggle. But we hope to be millionaires from it.
“I’m going to send the dragons a tin to show them they got it wrong.
“We will continue to keep our outlets at Durness and Dornoch – our home will always be in the Highlands.”
Their hot chocolate has proved a hit with fans said to include ex England cricketer Ian Botham, former Rangers boss Ally McCoist and actress Juliet Stevenson.
Cocoa Mountain was set up by the two Scottish university graduates after they bought an old sergeant’s mess in part of an old RAF Cold War camp that had not been occupied for 12 years.
They then spent the next 18 months doing it up before receiving a £300-a-month grant from Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise.
Mr Maden experimented with around 100 truffles recipes before settling on the company’s current range of 25.
The chocolatiers plan to recruit six staff in Perth initially, rising to more than 30.
Turnover is expected to be around £200,000 next year, rising to £1.5m by year three and £5m by the fifth year.
