Product Update

Is Worthenshaw's Still in Business? (2026 Update)

Is Worthenshaw's from Dragons’ Den still around in 2026? The deal it made, the dragons who invested, and where to buy Worthenshaw's today.

Dragons' Den IndexUpdated 12 February 20266 min read

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Worthenshaw's was one of the earlier Dragons' Den food pitches to genuinely take off after its television appearance, but the brand you would find on shelves today does not carry that name any more. The story is more interesting than a straightforward yes or no.

The Short Answer

Worthenshaw's, the dairy free frozen dessert brand that pitched in the Den, is not trading under that name today. In 2012, founder Kirsty Henshaw rebranded the business to Kirsty's, shifting the product line from frozen desserts to chilled, gluten free and dairy free ready meals. So the original product and brand name are gone, but the underlying company is not just still trading, it has grown considerably under its new identity.

If you are specifically hunting for a dairy free ice cream called Worthenshaw's, you will not find it on shelves any more. If you are asking whether the business behind it survived, the answer is a clear yes, just wearing a different name.

The Pitch

Worthenshaw's appeared in series 8, episode 1, pitching a dairy free frozen dessert positioned as a healthier alternative to traditional ice cream. Founder Kirsty Henshaw, a single mother at the time, built the product around the idea of an indulgent treat that avoided the usual dairy and refined sugar found in mainstream ice cream.

The pitch asked for £65,000 in exchange for 30 percent of the company.

Frozen desserts are a difficult category for a small brand to break into, since supermarket freezer space is limited and dominated by a small number of major manufacturers, which made getting retail listings one of the central challenges facing Henshaw's business even with two Dragons behind her.

The Deal

Peter Jones and Duncan Bannatyne jointly agreed to invest the full £65,000 for the 30 percent stake, splitting the investment between them. Two Dragons backing a single food pitch together was a strong signal of confidence in both the founder and the product.

The deal gave Henshaw both capital and access to two Dragons with deep retail and consumer goods experience, which mattered for a founder trying to get a frozen product into major supermarket freezer aisles.

The Rebrand That Followed

In July 2012, not long after the Dragons' Den investment, Henshaw rebranded the business from Worthenshaw's to Kirsty's and moved the product line away from frozen desserts into chilled, allergen free ready meals. It was a significant pivot, changing both the brand name and the category the company competed in.

The move paid off. Kirsty's gluten free, dairy free ready meals went on to be stocked in Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Ocado and Asda, among the UK's largest grocery retailers. Henshaw later acquired her own manufacturing factory, which became operational in 2020, and the business has been reported at a retail sales value north of £15 million.

Moving from a frozen treat to chilled ready meals was not a small adjustment. It meant a different manufacturing process, a different retail category, and a different customer occasion, from an occasional indulgence to a regular weeknight meal, which is a considerably bigger and more repeatable buying habit to tap into.

Where Things Stand Now

To recap: Worthenshaw's pitched in series 8 asking for £65,000 for 30 percent, and Peter Jones and Duncan Bannatyne backed the ask jointly.

The Worthenshaw's brand itself was retired in 2012 when the company rebranded to Kirsty's and pivoted from frozen dairy free desserts to chilled ready meals, a pivot that has since grown into a multimillion pound business stocked in major UK supermarkets.

So the honest answer to whether Worthenshaw's is still in business is that the name is gone, but the company and its founder are still very much trading, just under a different label and in a different aisle.

It is one of the clearer examples in the Dragons' Den archive of a founder using the Den's investment and exposure as a launchpad for a pivot rather than sticking rigidly to the original pitch, and it is hard to argue with the result given the scale Kirsty's has since reached.

Where to buy Worthenshaw's

Still selling as of 12 February 2026. Check today's price and availability.

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See the full Worthenshaw's deal breakdown and term sheet →