To think that the apprentice business will fail because these prices are ridiculous?!

[Flossie87]

I was having a look at apprentice winner Harpreet's new website - ohsoyum.co.uk - this morning and oh my I am shocked!

• £16 for a box of 6 brownies or £30 for 12
• £19.50 for 4 cookie cups or £38 for 8

Surely these prices cannot be right? I know these fancy dessert/treat places are normally more expensive but surely these prices are too high?

AIBU? Would you spend the money on these treats?

I agree I had a look too and was quite shocked at the prices. I guess I’m not her target audience

I use these for brownies about £20 for 12.

www.gowercottagebrownies.co.uk/brownies/flavoured-brownies.html

@Xyzzzzz

I agree I had a look too and was quite shocked at the prices. I guess I’m not her target audience

I can't actually work out who her target audience are.

Her branding screams cheap pop up shop, targetting teens / younger audience

Her pricing on the other hand is more in line with a luxury product.

I'm really not sure who she is trying to sell to.

Oh god that website is horrendous: at the prices in your OP I was expecting to see something fancy, not all that purple. And random products like 1kg of knock-off Haribo loose in a box for £12?! Looks like the kind of snack boxes flogged on Facebook Marketplace.

[quote CottonSock]I use these for brownies about £20 for 12.

www.gowercottagebrownies.co.uk/brownies/flavoured-brownies.html[/quote]
Gower Cottage Brownies are the ones that Fortnum & Mason sell. They are bloody lovely!

Looks like the kind of snack boxes flogged on Facebook Marketplace.

I was going to type similar but actually those selling on Facebook locally to me are actually much better value and much better presented so she isn't even in the same league as those.

Her prices are absolutely astronomical, the packaging is dire and to be honest I'd be surprised if the business lasted until next Christmas.

These sorts of companies will probably be the first to go bust in the cost of living crisis. Luxuries that people will cut back on - they will probably go and buy a pack from M&S instead.

The prices are in line with others I know of. I presumed the market was already crowded but maybe not.

Konditor are £15 for 4, £35 - £40 for 12 brownies.
I'm not their target market, as allergies and I'm not paying that much for cake itis.

But did send overpriced pork pies to my dad during lockdown.

Agree these businesses can't all survive while everyone is cutting back. And their prices will no doubt need to go up as fuel skyrockets.

@raspberryjamchicken

These sorts of companies will probably be the first to go bust in the cost of living crisis. Luxuries that people will cut back on - they will probably go and buy a pack from M&S instead.

In the last recession people spent more on smaller luxuries eg eating out, because they were cutting back on more expensive luxuries eg holidays.

I think the people who pay £20 to send a box of brownies probably tend to be the most insulated in a recession.

@jungledoc

I think the people who pay £20 to send a box of brownies probably tend to be the most insulated in a recession.

I could afford it, but wouldn't spend it if somewhere else does the same thing for £10 less.

I honestly don't know what he was thinking. How is a little cake shop an investable business? What is he going to do with that?

I don't think he cares- I don't think he's expecting to make any money from it. He just wants something that's not going to cause any problems. I'm sure his motivation for appearing on the show is all to do with his public profile and nothing to do with investment- after all, if you actually wanted to find businesses to invest in, you wouldn't do it on a gameshow!

What is it with these overpriced doughnuts etc? My eyes popped out when I started seeing Wenzel’s advertising 6 doughnuts for about £20.

Seemed to have started when Krispy Kreme thought it was acceptable to sell 12 ring doughnuts for £12 when you get a supermarket pack for about £2.

Lots of places near me sell similar stuff at this sort of price. We occassionally get them from a dessert place for a treat but it's not a regular purchase

I imagine Suralan gets paid well for each series of the apprentice and like a pp said if he was serious about investing, there would be better places to look. Britney seemed very good until it came to her "business plan" but the ones with decent businesses might have been crap at the tasks each week...

Presumably he gets more than £250k per series to make it worth his while. I know £250k isn't a lot of money to him but I don't think people get that rich by throwing money away.

My friends are £20 for 6 so it sounds about right. Although they are big!

It's also up against Waitrose double chocolate brownies £2.50 for 4.

Order with your shopping, take the supermarket packaging off and pretend they came from somewhere poncy - the taste will make the lie believable

One of the main firms in this market - Bad Brownie - is £15 for 12 with three different flavours in the box and offer a range that deals with allergies etc.

I never warmed to Harpreet - she was so rude to everyone she worked with and the finger clicking was awful. She also seemed pretty happy to throw her sister under a bus to get the investment.

Do they not have access to the internet on The Apprentice? I did a quick search (must have been before Harpreet's website went live) and there are already two online cake-delivery businesses with the same not-especially-original name. Granted, they're in different countries, but the internet is global - I can't imagine the confusion is helpful to any of these companies.

I too would like to know what's happened to Harpreet's sister. On Dragons' Den, they've picked up this scenario before and been turned off the idea of investing, when they discover that the proposer only part-owns/controls 'their own' business and there could be conflict with a third party in the mix.

I wonder if the sister was more of a sleeping partner - in which case she might have been quite happy to sell out her share and let Harpreet get on with it.

I bought 3 brownies for £6 from a local company today. I think it's £10 for 6.

I wouldn't have thought that businesses selling sweet treats are very popular, at a time when lots of people are trying to cut down on sugar (or maybe it's just me).

In some ways we need to cut back on these things to get prices to lower back down again

Not happening. The price of ingredients is only going one way, same with labour and fuel to bake them. All cutting back will achieve is more businesses like this going to the wall.