The pitch
What walked into the Den
Bannock Express is an Indigenous-owned Saskatoon business that grew from catering into a restaurant and a bannock mix product line.
Rachel Smith pitched in season 18, asking $80,000 for an 18 percent stake, a request that valued the business at about $444,000.
After the show
What happened next
Smith left with a deal she was thrilled about. MBC Radio reports she accepted Arlene Dickinson's offer of $80,000 for 20 percent, conditional on completing a five-month food expedition course, choosing it over a competing $80,000 for 50 percent bid from Vincenzo Guzzo.
The business has grown since.
Our read
The Hub verdict
This is a deal with a detail worth pausing on: Rachel Smith took Arlene Dickinson's $80,000 for 20 percent over a competing bid that wanted 50 percent for the same money, and Dickinson tied her offer to Smith completing a five-month food expedition course. Both offers priced the cash identically and valued the business completely differently, which is the whole lesson of the episode in one comparison.
The restaurant is the proof of the choice: an Indigenous-owned bannock kitchen running on 22nd Street in Saskatoon, with the brand's own site still sitting on a plain template behind it.
Dickinson's $80,000 beat a bid for half the company
Worth knowing: The deal is well documented in local reporting.
