To think James Middleton's marshmallows are doomed?

[NightWanderer]

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

[noblegiraffe]

When Kate becomes Queen, will Pippa and James be made Earls or whatever like used to happen in the Tudor times?

[Manumission]

I think marrying a bloke with a well-funded family trust accounts for the expensive public schools Bill TBF.

I think there's a difference too between people who are passionate about what they do and become very successful as a result and people who are very focussed on making enough cash to buy themselves and the next generation entry into a different strata of society.

[BillSykesDog]

Ah Manumission, wasn't aware of the trust fund.

noble, there have been rumblings that Michael Middleton might be made an Earl. Which would make James a Viscount and Pippa a lady. And if he married Donna eventually she would be Countess Donna. And could wear a coronet a coronations.

[MrsPeelyWally]

I mistook him for Carl Philip of Sweden

I think James Middleton is a dead ringer for the last Tzar and Prince Michael of Kent. I supposed when he calls it a day with his business he could hire himself out as a look alike for them.

[MrsPeelyWally]

But the fact it's been bank rolled by mum and dad/ famous connections puts me off spending my hard earned cash

I doubt very much they'll have backed him without some kind of repayment plan in place.

We backed one of our sons as we'd rather he was in debt to us than the bank but it has to be repaid even if its out of his inheritance one day as its not fair on the other children otherwise.

[LaLaLolly]

I can't link on the android app, but just wanted to say I'd pay good money for the bunny marshmallows that look like a North Korean dictator when you squash them.

[kierenthecommunity]

As an aside I'm sure Donna Air was been 37 since about 2013

When I used to watch Byker Grove as a 19 year old student I'm sure she was about 16 in it so only about 3-4 years younger, yet I'm 45 now

[FlyingElbows]

Donald Trump president of the United States of America, Donna Air distant royalty. Do you think the Queen weeps silently into a corgi of an evening?

[SapphireSeptember]

Flying I know I would if I had a corgi, I just have to make do with my teddy bear.

[GinIsIn]

I just worked out the dates - byker grove aired from 1989 and her character was a teenager so she must be at least 40.....

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

Personally I am about a million times readier to deal with Donna Air being royal than I am with Donald being President.

[Dahlietta]

Have you nothing else to worry about?
When people come onto clearly lighthearted threads and make comments like this, I always wonder whether they discuss nothing in real life apart from global warming and the crisis in the Middle East. Perhaps they do.

[catinbooots]

sallysparrow I would pay the big bucks for marshmallows that sang and/or played a little tune

[cathf]

Some of the posts on here show that people who haven't the first idea of how business works really should not comment.
If you are manufacturing marshmallows, it us not simply a case of adding the cost of ingredients and calling anything over their cost a 'rip off'.
The selling price will have to cover ingredients, VAT, packaging, postage, insurance, staff costs, rent, business rates, stationery, travelling, electricity, gas ... Need I go on?
And no, I don't manufacture marshmallows!

[Julju]

I always thought this was the stupidest business idea ever - figures there's a rich person sinking money into it not knowing when to walk away.

[Disabrie22]

Someone bought me some and I thought exactly the same - nice thought but that was £15 you paid for marsh mellows

[BillSykesDog]

No way is Donna Air 37. She was several years older than me, not a year younger. She reckons she started in Byker Grove at ten, but she was definitely a teenager.

[Manumission]

But cath it's not just about manufacturing cost. It's also about the market research and the correct price point. If you can't sell it at a price sufficient numbers of people will happily pay for it and make a profit, it's a non-runner.

As he slowly seems to be finding out. He strikes me as a bit of an 'ideas man'.

[choccyp1g]

cathf If you are manufacturing marshmallows, it us not simply a case of adding the cost of ingredients and calling anything over their cost a 'rip off'.
The selling price will have to cover ingredients, VAT, packaging, postage, insurance, staff costs, rent, business rates, stationery, travelling, electricity, gas ... Need I go on?

Poundworld has to pay all those costs too, and yet they can sell an enormous pack for far less than £15

[EmeraldScorn]

I bought 4 boxes of these for Christmas 2015 as token gifts for friends because I was too lazy to think of anything better and I had a 25% discount code. Then I bought the ones on pretty coloured sticks a few months later as an extra gift to go with a bigger gift for another friend because she likes things like this....

I'm pretty annoyed to realise that James Middleton owns the business, obviously I should research better before purchasing from any company in future.

[cathf]

Choccy, that's because they will be mass produced on an industrial scale, packed into cheap bags and sold in store in huge amounts.
Not made to order using quality ingredients (I assume), printed with a bespoke picture, packed into an expensive box and posted out in an individual parcel.
All of this additional work costs staff time as well as the cost of eg postage.
I don't like marshmallows and have never seen this guy's products, but I do feel some of the silly comments on here need pulling up on!
Ask any owner of an artisan food business and they will very probably tell you that the cost if the ingredients is the absolute least of the price of the finished product, and that's before you start bespoke printing etc

[Manumission]

Artisan food business? Please!

That's exactly the issue. Marshmallow is marshmallow is marshmallow. Nothing you can do it is going to improve the basic quality or represent enough added value to justify that price point.