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Who are Luke & Owen Buckmaster and when did the twin brothers pitch Doughboys Pizza in the Dragons’ Den?
Even the pandemic couldn't stop these two from soaring
EDUCATION isn't for everyone, and no one gets that better than Luke and Owen Buckmaster.
The twins are now pitching their million-pound pizza business on BBC’s Dragons’ Den. Here’s what we know about them.
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Who are Luke & Owen Buckmaster?
Luke and Owen Buckmaster from Reading, kicked off Doughboys Pizza in early 2020 when they were only 19 years old.
Their goal? To fill the gap in the hospitality industry for top-notch, handmade Italian pizzas.
They teamed up with a family-run pizza producer in Italy and brought their delicious, handmade creations to the UK.
Interestingly, the duo knew at just 16 that school wasn't for them, so they made the bold decision to dive straight into the working world instead.
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Luke told The Sun in 2023: “We both really hated school.
"More so myself, I found it quite constricting and I was never a natural academic so as soon as I got the chance to leave school I did.”
After finishing their GCSEs and leaving school, both twins decided to take on apprenticeships.
Luke said: “I went work in a kitchen to start earning money while studying part-time, Owen did an apprenticeship with a construction company product in management administration.”
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While both twins enjoyed earning money, they soon realised that their roles didn’t offer much room for growth.
“We were both working long days and hours, seeing what we liked and didn’t like," he added.
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"But eventually, we realised while working for a management company that we working much harder than our employers.”
“We asked; what is the point of spending all your time and effort fulfilling someone else's dream and not getting anything out of it?”
After a trip abroad, Luke and Owen got the idea to start a business in the hospitality industry, selling premade pizza bases.
They both saved up £10,000 each to get the business off the ground.
Luke said: “As we both didn't have many financial commitments aside from helping our mum with her mortgage, our money was our own.
"We were both pretty savvy with our money and where our peers were going out or planning holidays we were saving up.
“We understood this was a huge risk, we had only been saving for about three or four years at this point but we were confident in the business idea.”
What started as a small idea that we didn’t initially take too seriously, has grown into something far bigger than we imagined.
Luke Buckmaster
Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the business has really taken off, bringing in nearly £4million in sales and supplying thousands of venues across the UK.
The entrepreneurial brothers have also expanded, launching a frozen retail range on Ocado and a direct-to-consumer DIY pizza kit range, letting customers enjoy the pizza-making fun at home.
Doughboys Pizza has won six industry awards in recent years and even made it to the finals of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards in 2021.
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Their pizzas can be found in all sorts of venues, including Arsenal Football Stadium.
When was Doughboys on Dragons’ Den?
They’re about to pitch their pizza business to the Dragons on the BBC show, with their episode set to air later this month.
The pitch to celebrity Dragons Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Steven Bartlett, Touker Suleyman, and Sara Davies was filmed on June 3, 2024.
Ahead of the show, Luke said: "We wanted to bring genuine Italian pizzas, as you’d expect to be served in a pizzeria, to the UK but in a ready-made format.
"What started as a small idea that we didn’t initially take too seriously, has grown into something far bigger than we imagined."
Owen added: "We’ve sacrificed a lot to build Doughboys, and Dragons’ Den is a chance to share our story and inspire others, no matter their age or experience."
The 22nd season of the reality show kicked off on BBC2 on January 9, 2025.
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Fans stated they were "switching off" due to the cringe sob story the show was becoming.
In a past episode, a teary-eyed Joe Wicks, the fitness coach and guest investor, seemed really moved by one of the contestants who broke down.
He shared that he had sold his house to fund his own business, which clearly struck a chord with him.
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After the episode, some viewers took a subtle jab at Joe Wicks, with one person posting on X: "There is literally zero need for celebrity guest dragons."
The brothers will appear on Dragons’ Den on Thursday, January 16, 2025, at 8pm.
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