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Penticton  

An offer from the Dragons

Friends and fans of People’s Crafthouse Soda Company packed into Burger 55 in Penticton on Wednesday night to watch the local business succeed on the CBC’s Dragons’ Den.

After keeping the results secret since the episode taped 10 months ago, People’s Soda founder Jason Cox was finally able to talk freely about the experience that saw him walk out of the Den with an offer from Manjit Minhas, a Canadian craft brewery magnate.

“So that was amazing,” Cox said to cheers at Burger 55 after the episode, going onto to talk about what happened behind the scenes and what has taken place since filming.

Cox went into the Den asking for $60,000 in exchange for 30 per cent of his company and ended up accepting a counteroffer from Minhas for 35 per cent.

Since then they have “spent 10 months in due diligence, so we are not yet signed, but we are very close, but in the meantime we moved ahead with the business anyways,” Cox said.

Cox said he went into the Dragons’ Den looking for less of an investor and more of a partner, so he wasn’t too concerned about the cash.

“To be honest, if Manjit can take this product way further than I ever could, and I can have a piece, more than what I could do myself… well come visit me in Naramata and we will have a drink,” he said laughing.

The episode showed an exchange between Cox and former Penticton resident and Boston Pizza owner Jim Treliving where the Dragon told Cox, “if you can make it in a small town, in Penticton, you can make it anywhere,” a moment that made the restaurant erupt.

But Cox said that exchange was 10 minutes long before it was edited for broadcast. The pair talked about when Treliving came to town for a Chamber of Commerce event and ate lunch with Cox.

“He said, ‘why didn’t you bring up your sodas’, and I said ‘I thought I would come to your house’... so there was a lot of good stuff that didn’t make the show unfortunately.”

On the show, Minhas voiced interest in adding spirits to People’s Soda for a hard craft soda, something that has Cox excited.

The company has humble roots; Cox created a custom root beer for Burger 55 that eventually became so popular it spawned its own company.

Looking forward, the People’s Crafthouse Soda Company is opening a “fizzery” on Winnipeg Ave. next month, complete with a tasting room and food service by a local BBQ house.



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