TMU grad slays on Dragons’ Den

In an episode of CBC’s Dragons’ Den that aired on November 16, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) alumna Shela Kwong could finally reveal the exciting news she had been sitting on for six months: the meal kit company she co-founded had garnered a $500,000 offer.

The master’s of health science ’13 graduate from TMU’s School of Nutrition first began to develop the concept for SPATULA with her husband, Ian Weng, in 2020. The pair were in Fontainebleau, France, where Weng was working on his MBA at Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires. It was the height of the pandemic lockdowns, and in the small town where they were living, many restaurants were shuttered and access to fresh food became limited. They found themselves needing to rely on frozen food. “We quickly learned that in France, there was a company called Picard where it just sold high-quality, purely frozen food. Why can we not do it in North America?” she said.

Working with Kwong’s childhood friend, Wallace Wong, the team developed SPATULA Foods: flash-frozen, chef-prepared meals (external link, opens in new window)  that only require a pan and a spatula to produce a gourmet meal in 10 minutes. The company has a unique business model for its online subscription service: many of its menu items are created and developed by notable Toronto restaurateurs who are also active content developers, providing cross-platform opportunities for the brand. SPATULA leverages each of the co-founder’s individual skill sets. Weng is the former head of strategy for Uber Eats Canada and Wong is a Michelin-trained chef with more than 1.8 million followers on TikTok. Kwong is a registered dietician and has worked in marketing for some of North America’s biggest food companies like Sysco and Kellanova, formerly known as Kellogg’s.

When it came time to present their pitch in the Dragons’ Den, the SPATULA team’s presentation had an interactive element which was highly persuasive to the Dragons. To demonstrate just how quickly someone can prepare a SPATULA meal, the trio invited Dragons Arlene Dickinson and Manjit Minhas in a cook-off against Wong — who happens to be a Guinness World Record holder for most slices of cucumbers sliced in 30 seconds, while blindfolded. Dickinson and Minhas would prepare risotto and beef bourguignon from SPATULA’s line, while Wong would prepare risotto from scratch. In minutes, the Dragons’ meals were ready for plating, while Wong was still cooking. Said Kwong, “We really wanted [them] to experience how frozen can be good and that it truly lives up to the 10-minute promise.”

The SPATULA team recorded their episode in May 2023, hoping to secure the interest of one Dragon in their company. Instead, they received offers from all five Dragons — including Dragon Wes Hall, a TMU honorary doctor of laws ’21. 

“I’m personally a really emotional person. And so I really tried to hold it together and not cry,” said Kwong. “It was like, okay here’s the first and second dragon to do an offer, but … by the fifth offer, we were just at a loss for words.”

Kwong credits her time at TMU studying nutrition communications with helping her develop the skills to embark on her entrepreneurial journey. “Being able to dissect nutrition information and make it transferable to the general population in all types of media … All that, I think, stems from having a really solid foundation in my education,” she said.

For TMU alumni who aspire to launch their own businesses, Kwong has some advice. “Nourish your network. And so don’t just reach out to someone when you need something, and make sure that once a year or twice a year you check in with someone.” She noted, “I think that can go a long way because you never know where an idea will spark and what kind of help you’ll need down the road.”