Jaydon Manders, 23, and his brother Brendon, 31, from the West Midlands, built their food business Lumberjaxe from just £100 each in their mum's kitchen. Their seasonings and sauces are now stocked by major retailers including Asda, Aldi, Selfridges and Ocado. Yet when they secured a deal to supply 80,000 units of sauce across 1,050 Aldi stores, high-street banks turned them down for the working capital they needed.
From McDonald's to Dragons' Den
Jaydon once lived off £180 a week working at McDonald's, while also helping his single mum pay household bills. The brothers were inspired by family gatherings around their grandad's brick BBQ when they started Lumberjaxe. By 2023, demand had grown so much that they moved production from their mum's kitchen to a warehouse.
In June 2024, the pair were filmed for an episode of Dragons' Den, broadcast in February 2025. Good American co-founder Emma Grede invested £90,000 in Lumberjaxe for a 20% equity stake.
Banks refused to fund Aldi order
After securing the Aldi deal, the brothers faced a cash-flow crisis. As a young company, they struggled to find working capital to manufacture products before receiving payment, after being turned down by several high-street banks.
"The Aldi opportunity was a massive moment for us, but it also showed us just how difficult it can be to finance growth when you're a small business," Jaydon said. "Aldi wanted to stock our products, which was obviously fantastic, but we needed significant working capital to actually fulfill the order. We approached the banks but couldn't get the funding we needed through traditional lending."
"That was incredibly frustrating because we had a genuine opportunity sitting in front of us. We weren't asking for money to fund some idea that might work one day - we had a major supermarket wanting to put our products on its shelves. In the end, we had to look elsewhere for finance."
Alternative lenders step in
Eventually, they secured a £100,000 funding facility through alternative lenders BCRS Business Loans and the Community Investment Enterprise Fund. While this allowed them to access money more quickly, it also meant paying higher interest.
Jaydon said: "I think there needs to be more recognition that young entrepreneurs, particularly those who haven't come from wealthy backgrounds, may not have the assets or financial history that traditional lenders want to see. That doesn't necessarily mean they don't have a viable business."
Young people in economic limbo
The brothers' journey comes against a bleak backdrop for Britain's youth. In June, a report commissioned by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions found that one in eight young people aged 16 to 24 is considered NEET (not in education, employment or training), with six out of ten having never had a job.
Nearly 30 per cent of NEETs leave school with good exam results, while over 21 per cent hold Level 3 qualifications or degrees. Faced with a shrinking graduate job market and the erosion of traditional entry-level roles, millions of young people are finding themselves stuck in economic limbo.
"I think it's incredibly difficult for young people at the moment," said Jaydon. "The cost of living is high, and there's a lot of pressure to have your whole life figured out very early. I'd hate for anyone who is currently not in education or employment to think that means they've failed or that they've missed their chance. I've been in positions where I didn't know where I was going either."
"When I was earning £180 a week at McDonald's, money was definitely tight. I was working hard but I wanted to do my bit and take some of that pressure off my mum."
"Those jobs taught me a lot about work ethic and dealing with pressure. I don't look down on those jobs at all - they were part of the journey. The important thing for me was that I didn't let my circumstances define where I was going to end up."
"My advice would be not to think that the job you're doing today has to be the job you're doing forever. If you're working in a low-paid job, use it as a stepping stone rather than seeing it as your destination."
"Learn skills, meet people, take opportunities when they come along and don't be embarrassed about starting small. Lumberjaxe literally started with £100 each, and in our mum's kitchen. We had no idea where it would end up. You don't need to have everything figured out at 18, 21 or even 30. Just keep moving."
