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Tuesday , September 29 2026

Shrewsbury soup-maker sees business soar after Dragons’ Den meeting

A soup-maker has said she has seen a massive surge in demand since appearing on tv series Dragons’ Den.

Bella Acland, from Shropshire, won the backing of guest dragon Susie Ma and £40,000 on the BBC show, which aired on Thursday. She said the firm had been “prepared for a spike [in sales], but nothing like this”.

Since filming the episode, Soul Kitchen has seen sales grow by 920%, with almost 500,000 soups sold and has been able to expand into more than 100 independent stockists.

She said the show had been an “amazing platform” and with more product ranges now planned, she added the investment was “going to unlock that next stage of growth”.

Acland said the idea for her high-end packet soups came to her while she was studying zoology at Sheffield University in 2019.

She set up her business at the Battlefield Enterprise Park in Shrewsbury in 2024, aiming to “reinvent the instant soup category with premium, plant-powered products made from real vegetables and nothing artificial”.

But she said she realised she needed help to expand further, so she applied to appear on Dragons’ Den and was invited into the studio in 2025.


BBC News

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