Gorilla Cheese gets Dragons' Den deal

On Thursday nights episode of Dragons Den, one of the dragons bought what Hamiltons Gorilla Cheese was selling.

On the latest episode of one of the CBCs flagship shows, restaurateur Vikram Vij said hed invest $150,000 in one of the citys most well known food trucks for a six per cent royalty. You can watch the whole episode in the CBC video player here.

Though owner Graeme Smith says hes ecstatic about the news, in a blog post after the show aired, he warned fans and grilled cheese aficionados alike that though a deal was agreed upon during the show, the two sides are still quite a ways apart.

We are still in due-diligence phase with our funding. Its going quite late, and its a fact that more than 80 per cent of the deals on Dragons Den do not make it past due-diligence, Smith wrote. There is a great possibility that we may not get the funding.

I have spoken to Vikram since, and he has readied me to expect that it may not come through, as he has his own people to answer to, and they may not necessarily like our past numbers. It doesnt matter how awesome a company is, or how good their grilled cheese is, or how many followers they have on Facebook and Twitter.

Company faced 'hardships in the past'

Smith says he has learned the hard way that investors and their accountants are bound by numbers and a businesses history, and Gorilla Cheese has had hardships in the past.

Gorilla Cheese made $375,000 in sales in 2012, but after paying for staff, supplies and expenses, the company only profited $575.

Smith also said the dissolution of the business founding partnership with Scott and Susan Austin forced him to downsize. The pair left to start their own business, Roux Commercial Kitchen and Food Truck Commissary on Burlington Street.

But even with the hard business reality staring him in the face, Smith says lots of good has come out of the show, regardless of what happens.

He couldnt even remember most of what happened during the episode, save for the drive home. From that point, I only remember driving Gord home, and screaming VIKRAAAAM!!! repeatedly at the top of my lungs while honking the horn in dead traffic on the Gardiner Expressway, he wrote.

Opening storefront location

Smith also had more good news in the post, saying that Gorilla Cheese is opening a storefront location at the former Poco Loco building at 131 Ottawa St. N.

The new Ottawa Street location will take Gorilla Cheese to the next level, and is what I intended Gorilla Cheese to be since I first came up with the idea almost 20 years ago, he said. Our menu for both the truck and the take-out will be greatly expanded with the possibilities that a bigger kitchen can provide.

Smith and his former partners launched the company after he was laid off from U.S. Steel back in 2011. The company offers a variety of Grilled Cheese options and has become a staple at local festivals.

Smith was also an advocate encouraging Hamilton to change its food truck bylaws.