Contract caterer The Crown Group has unveiled plans to launch its very own version of the hit BBC series Dragons’ Den.

In a bid to capitalise on the popularity of television programmes such as Alan Sugar’s The Apprentice and Raymond Blanc’s The Restaurant, the company is launching the Crown Young Hospitality Entrepreneur Scheme.

Crown is inviting candidates to pitch their projects and is offering credit and funding to the two most innovative concepts, as judged by chief executive Charles Beer and chairman Russell Morgan.

Beer said: “We hope to make enterprise accessible and unearth new talent. We want to foster people's creativity and imagination.

“This new initiative really gives us the opportunity to support ideas that under normal circumstances would get off the ground but in today’s turbulent times are not even seeing the light of day.  We can help turn ideas into reality.”

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 By Daniel Thomas

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