The pitch
What walked into the Den
Judith Fetzer brought COOK IT, a Quebec-rooted meal-kit service, to the English Den in season 18 after an earlier run on the French-language Quebec show.
On the CBC stage she wanted $350,000 for 10 percent, pricing the business at $3.5 million.
After the show
What happened next
That pitch turned into a partnership with Arlene Dickinson, per business-press coverage of the founder's story.
The chapter has since closed. The original web address now redirects permanently to Fresh Prep, the brand that acquired COOK IT in February 2024.
Our read
The Hub verdict
This is one of the more complete arcs in the batch. The ask was $350,000 for 10 percent, a $3.5 million valuation, and it turned into a partnership with Arlene Dickinson on the English-language show, following a prior appearance on the Quebec French version.
The after-story is unusually clean for a meal-kit brand: Fresh Prep acquired COOK IT in February 2024, so this is a company sold on rather than one that quietly folded. Meal kits consolidated hard once the pandemic surge faded, and being the brand that gets bought instead of the one that runs out of runway is the good end of that squeeze. Dickinson's food and marketing reach is exactly the sort of backing that makes a company acquirable, which is worth more to a founder than a headline valuation.
A Dragon partnership that ended in an acquisition, which is a rarer outcome than a simple yes.
Worth knowing: Treat this as an acquisition outcome rather than a live buy link; the founder's brand no longer trades under its own name.
