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Original poster

To think James Middleton's marshmallows are doomed?

214 replies

NightWanderer · 17/01/2017 06:39

A friend (cough, cough) was reading in the Daily Mail that James Middleton is still trying to save his marshmallow business. If anyone doesn't know, they print out Instagram pictures onto marshmallows and sell them for 15 pounds for a box of 9.

They're marshmallows, sugar and gelatin. Who in their right mind would pay 15 pounds for 9 of them, even if they do have a photo on them?

I don't know why I'm so interested by the way. There is just something so WTF about the whole thing.

Apparently he already lost 1 million pounds through them. Does no one sit him down and say dude, it just isn't a good idea?

Here the DM link
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4126498/Dragons-Den-pal-turns-Middleton-s-marshmallow-firm-around.html

OP posts:
jasonapple · 17/01/2017 08:06

If they'd been £5 a box they may have done really well.
£15 a box is bonkers.

contractor6 · 17/01/2017 08:06

Clarys, maybe you confused him with Gerard butler, now he is cute with a beard.
As for marshmallows, surely the only way to eat them is toasted, maybe they's make good break up giftsHmm

QueenMortificado · 17/01/2017 08:09

The most annoying things about the adverts is that they pronounce it marshmEllow. It's marshmAllow dammit. It has an A not an E.

Nickname1980 · 17/01/2017 08:09

Oh I've just realised I was given some once by some business! Can't remember which one so they obviously didn't stick.

Maybe he was trying to go down that route? Get businesses to buy them and send them out?

(They were t tasty but I ate a couple anyway!)

Nickname1980 · 17/01/2017 08:10

*weren't

Original poster
NightWanderer · 17/01/2017 08:12

There's nothing wrong with the product idea in theory, but it's the price. Marshmallows are a cheap product, they're not something people will spend so much money on. Would you really pay 15 pounds for 9 marshmallows for a kids birthday party? Shock

The article said they were a million in debt, then he took out another business loan for half a million, plus 100,000 pounds from Pippa's rich fiancé. Now they're trying again with a new CEO.

OP posts:
GinIsIn · 17/01/2017 08:15

Come on - if the Middletons had a connection Rasputin, Mama Middleton would have sung it from the rooftops by now.... Grin

It's a terrible business idea - largely because the product has such an insane mark up that nobody in their right mind would buy them, and as a one-off product you are unlikely to get repeat custom of any sort.

Marshmallows are incredibly cheap to make. With the printing and postage, you could charge half the current price and still be making a healthy profit!

Original poster
NightWanderer · 17/01/2017 08:16

Here's a link to Rob Kardashian's socks. I hope it works. Would people really pay 60 dollars for a set of 4 pairs of socks with things like MILF written on them? Confused

OP posts:
Original poster
NightWanderer · 17/01/2017 08:16

www.shoparthurgeorge.com/products/mommy-daddy-gift-set

OP posts:
RachelRagged · 17/01/2017 08:17

Using his name and privilege to flog OTT things to those who would buy them. Same with the Kardashian lot of media whores.

ClaryIsTheBest · 17/01/2017 08:18

I'd rather have the marshmallows than the socks.

TheSecretMrsFairbrother · 17/01/2017 08:19

I make my own marshmallows and they cost a lot less than £15!

I've always thought he looks a bit shifty too. Maybe it's the beard.

ShatnersWig · 17/01/2017 08:20

I am astonished that a reputable source of finance would have given him the second business loan for half a million based on the debt. Anyone with half a brain can see this will never ever work. He saw supermarkets able to print photos onto cakes and thought "I know....." But the cake is far better value because of size, number of people who could eat the cake.

I have to say I would question the intelligence of someone who would send them to me. And I love marshmallows. I would absolutely think they were a fool who could throw money away.

FrancisCrawford · 17/01/2017 08:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CaoNiMa · 17/01/2017 08:23

I think his target market was rah people who want something to giggle over at their parties. Perhaps he's exhausted that particular seam of interest. To be fair, it's the sort of stuff you see in the classifieds at the back of Vogue/Tatler - rah projects that never quite got off the ground. Jewelry with gems "sourced" in Ibiza - that sort of shite.

TiggyCBE · 17/01/2017 08:32

Yup. Shit idea done badly.

Bodicea · 17/01/2017 08:34

I just googled them. They do personalised choc too which looks marginally more palatable. The personalised gift wrap looks fun. But the fact it's been bank rolled by mum and dad/ famous connections puts me off spending my hard earned cash.

Wallywobbles · 17/01/2017 08:36

Maybe the project would work better as a voodoo doll replacement. Burn your ex and eat him.

LadyOrangutan · 17/01/2017 08:36

I've bought the Boomf marshamllows and I would again.
They're cheaper than sending flowers to someone to let them know that you're thinking of them and I really like being able to customise them with photos and the pics that Boomf had on file.

In fact, thanks for the thread & the reminder, I'm going to send them to a friend now to cheer her up.

Liiinoo · 17/01/2017 08:42

I looked into them once for DDs Christmas stockings but the price soon changed my mind. I agree with the PP that said he had the price point wrong. For a silly, joke gift like this it needs to be under a tenner. If he had pitched it at £7.95 say, he would probably be onto something. Then I could see them being bought for hen nights, Secret Santas etc.

peeinthepotty · 17/01/2017 08:44

Boomf is doomf

catinbooots · 17/01/2017 08:46

The exploding confetti thing advertised on FB has about a million comments from people saying it didn't work when they received it. So it's basically a box with a few scraps of paper in

ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe · 17/01/2017 08:48

I'm thinking Rasputin Marshmallow Ltd.

I'll make them fluffy and will hire beardy models to deliver.

Where's my million?

BootCampSucker · 17/01/2017 08:50

I would be relieved if it didn't work. It looked quite terrifying on the video I saw!

noblegiraffe · 17/01/2017 08:51

Do adults buy and eat marshmallows except maybe in hot chocolate? It seems an odd choice of confection. I've sent cookies and muffins through the internet (www.sugarpoke.com) so I'd be a target market, but marshmallows?

The exploding cards look fun though. Except I looked at the youtube advert and one of the suggested videos on the right was someone getting one with the wrong person's face on.