A PASTA prodigy has had the last laugh after the Dragons' Den millionaires turned down his Italian business idea – which is now worth a whopping £40million.
Alessandro Savelli poured his heart out in his pitch to secure a £75,000 investment in 2018, but his finances were blasted as "ridiculous".
But the businessman has revealed his joy at "massively proving the dragons wrong" after his meal-making business Pasta Evangelists took off – with sales tripling in just two years.
Speaking to The Sun Online, Alessandro, 41, said: "It feels to good to say, ‘you know what, you were 100 per cent wrong. Fact. It’s not an opinion'."
Alessandro and co-founder Finn Lagun entered the den in 2018 in the hope of securing £75,000 for 2.5 per cent of the business.
They wowed the dragons with their restaurant-quality dishes, available for home delivery, but were told their "ridiculous" proposition "makes no sense".
Business tycoon and former chairman of Millwall Football Club Theo Paphitis even described Alessandro as "delusional".
The pasta pair walked away empty-handed, but were soon inundated with interest from hungry viewers.
The business boomed in the years that followed, with sales rising more than 300 per cent in 2020, and even getting an endorsement from Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith.
And earlier this year it got the ultimate seal of approval when the world's largest pasta producer Barilla bought a majority stake for around £40million.
Alessandro said: "When you have a moment which crystallises the success of your business – in our case selling it – then the games are done, there's no ifs or buts or opinions.
"We sold our business to the biggest pasta company in the world. Fact."
He added: "I’m sure that when they saw we sold the business, they thought ‘ah, this guy made it and we missed out’. And they missed out massively.
"They could have invested at £3million, and we sold at £40million.
"Jenny Campbell called us ‘pasta de le disaster’ but she can definitely take that back now."
The Italian former banker said he understands the dragons are affluent people who have obviously made and lost a lot of money, but he was surprised none of them were even vaguely interested – especially considering where he is now.
'PROVEN SO WRONG'
He said: "The quality of their questions was very average, and the quality of their decision was obviously very average.
"The programme aired in August 2018 and two and a half years later we sold the business.
"It's not like it was 10 years later and we changed the business plan and country twice – we did exactly what we said we would do and it happened pretty quickly.
"All the dragons were a bit overly aggressive. They were a bit disrespectful, especially when they've been proven so, so wrong."
The Barilla deal will see Pasta Evangelists continue to operate as a stand-alone entity led by Alessandro, Finn and co-founder Chris Rennoldson, who remain shareholders in the company.
Alessandro, originally from Genoa, said: "I'm Italian, I grew up in Italy, so to sell your pasta brand to the number one pasta company in the world, well that's cool right?"
Pasta Evangelists now has more than 200 employees and has just opened a pasta bar in London's Harrods.
Products are also available to order online, as well as through Ocado, Amazon, and Marks & Spencer.
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