$1Mfor 10%
Protein Candy
Valued at $10M
The pitch
Lisa Ahier from Tofino, BC, pitched Sobo in Season 15, Episode 4, asking the Dragons for $300K for 49% of the company.
- Asked for$300K for 49%
- Valuation$612Kimplied by the ask
- OutcomeDealwith Arlene Dickinson
- Final deal$340K for 10%valued at $3.4M
Offers in the Den
| Dragon | Offer | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Michele Romanow | No offer, said this is not her area of expertise | Out |
| Lane Merrifield | No offer, felt too much work remains before the product is market ready | Out |
| Jim Treliving | No offer, said the price was too high for just the soup line | Out |
| Vincenzo Guzzo | $300,000 for 50% of Lisa Ahier's entire business excluding the restaurant | Declined |
| Arlene Dickinson | $340,000 for 10% of everything except the restaurant | Accepted |
Lisa Ahier, chef and owner of Sobo Restaurant in Tofino, BC, pitched a wild smoked salmon chowder to go, asking for $300,000 for 49% of her new frozen chowder business. She has run Sobo for 18 years, starting as a food truck in 2003, and the restaurant now does $1.7 million in sales over 9.5 months, with the chowder representing about 10% of that, or roughly $170,000 a year. She currently sells 17 frozen items from her restaurant's display case but has not yet built packaging, branding, or a copacker relationship, and has produced one cookbook with a second underway.
Michele Romanow, Lane Merrifield, Jim Treliving and Vincenzo Guzzo initially raised concerns about the narrow scope of the ask, the amount of work still needed, and the high valuation for a single soup product. Vincenzo Guzzo offered $300,000 for 50% of everything but the restaurant, while Arlene Dickinson offered $340,000 for 10% of the whole business excluding the restaurant. Lisa Ahier accepted Arlene Dickinson's offer.
Pitch details from CBC’s Dragons’ Den pitch page.
Sobo today
- StatusStatus unknownLast checked September 2026
We haven’t confirmed whether Sobo is still operating.