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?

ohsoyum.co.uk - makes it sound like a vegetarian/vegan shop with the word soy in the middle.

Oh so yum is a convenience store in South Africa

OH SO YUM
goo.gl/maps/o7JBfvtsw45ChRp17

Thanks for telling me the result before I'd managed to see it

I go to lots of food fairs. Those prices sound fine to me and not that unusual. So many handmade and quality things are undervalued by too many people. You can't compare it to a shop bought cake loaded with palm oil and cheap ingredients. It's a special treat.

@Outoutoutshout

Thanks for telling me the result before I'd managed to see it

If you have not seen it and don't want to know about it then maybe it is best not to go on the Internet before watching it and it's probably even more sensible to not click on a thread which specifically highlights that it is about the apprentice.

@Outoutoutshout

Thanks for telling me the result before I'd managed to see it

The clue is in the title…

As a regular orderer of sweet treat deliveries I think the prices are ok considering the portion sizes which look huge!

The packaging looks like the budget version of Doughtnut Time which has a huge following (where I live anyway) but worst of all the products are so boring and uninspired [yawn]
Considering the level of nationwide dessert deliveries out there I don't see how they can survive

Harpreet also seems to have a terrible management style and doesn't seem to have a creative bone in her body

I suspect its not scaled up either at the moment so there isn't the chance to make lots of them for cheaper, plus they're trying their luck at selling off the back of the exposure on telly. Personally I find mail order stuff like this just never tastes as good, I would pop into her cafe though if I am ever nearby.

I'm so happy I would never ever buy anything like this! I don't have to lose any sleep over it.

The people who will have more money than sense - I cannot even give them a thought.

And for just £3.50 extra, you can add on a sheet of stickers of Harpreet

@CandlesAtDinner

Why not make the treats yourself?

Eh?

I'm sure her "Dessert Parlour" will be a success as people love going out for coffee and cake but if you go on Etsy there's dozens of people making brownies at home and shipping them in a pretty box for much less money.

The same way most people would just buy PJs from Matalan or Asda, only rich people buy matching sets for all the family and the dog from an online boutique for hundreds of pounds.

Neither of these businesses are sustainable as we're are all facing poverty due to rising fuel and heating bills.

Great entertainment but stupid, pointless programme past it's best.

@knittingaddict

I go to lots of food fairs. Those prices sound fine to me and not that unusual. So many handmade and quality things are undervalued by too many people. You can't compare it to a shop bought cake loaded with palm oil and cheap ingredients. It's a special treat.

what makes you think it is a quality product. Nothing about Harpreet shouts quality... she seems more of the standard apprentice inmate who thinks that high profit margins are all that matter.

Agree the prices are stupid. But the lass making the pyjamas was going to charge £35 a pair minimum!

I am shocked Alan Sugar picked the one he did, as she was already in business wih her sister. Wonder if her sister has relinquished her share of the business yet???

at a time when lots of people are trying to cut down on sugar

And THAT is precisely why he's fighting back so fiercely

I know that, in Apprentice Land (and most of big business), all they care about is the Benjamins and keeping customers just about satisfied enough that they don't bother complaining; but I actually think that it weakens the inherent value of a luxury brand to have hundreds of branches across the country - especially if, as Harpreet hopes, you end up offering it out as a franchise.

If you're Argos selling basic toasters for £5, by all means have a store on every high street, stack 'em high and see 'em flooding out the door; but how can you trade on a sense of exclusivity and 'specialness' when you're everywhere?

Bettys Tearooms have been going for over a century, but they still only have six outlets - granted they're all in one (historically, now divided) county, but people seek them out specially and happily pay a premium price when there for a real sense of occasion, which I'm really not certain would still be the case if they were as ubiquitous as Tesco cafes.

I'm also amazed that nobody pointed out the (non-pyjama-wearing) elephant in the room with the pyjamas advert: they were trying to sell matching nightwear for the whole family including the dog - but they only had a man and woman and stuffed toy dog wearing them in the ad - no children or actual dog. If you can't even make your weak gimmick work (or bother to actually portray it) in your advert, how are potential customers meant to be inspired to pay a lot of money to recreate it in real life?

I agree with PP: how maddening to think that any of the non-finalist contestants could have a knockout, surefire, multi-billion business plan, but their lack of ability/luck in the earlier rounds could mean that we would never hear of it. You could have a bumbling nerd who struggles to present well, but has firm ideas for the next Amazon or eBay.

Or does Alan hear the business plans at the start? And, if so, would that not seriously influence his firing decisions throughout and thus potentially make a mockery of the first twelve programmes?

I thought it was about apprenticeships. It's just been careers week and I'm a teacher. I'm not sure avoiding the internet until I've had time to watch the final is possible in my job . It's customary to put a spoiler alert for things like this.

I couldn't see any links to the product on this thread. I assumed a quality product at those prices, but maybe not. A link would be useful as I've never watched the apprentice and haven't a clue what the brownies are like.

Some of these comments lack any awareness of what it costs to run a business but I'm not surprised because small businesses are constantly being told they are overpriced. With ingredients and utility bills getting more expensive, staff costs, rent, business rates, insurance, marketing, packaging and so on, it'd be difficult to sell brownies for less and still make any profit. Lots of Facebook home bakers do offer big celebration cakes for £25 but they're not paying themselves even minimum wage for that. A friend runs a baking business and her prices are high but she does use the best ingredients from ethical small suppliers so you can't compare her cakes to £2 boxes of cupcakes from a huge supermarket that makes them at a scale in a factory.

what did happen to the "elephant in the room" sister?
the interview episode it was a big concern
final episode - not a whisper

A case of anything to avoid the dog pyjamas?
I also love the "ask the industry expert" concept
"so, Mr Cyberjammies, what do you think of a new competitor that's had a shedload of free TV publicity & quarter if a million chacked at it?"

"Oooh, crowded market, I wouldn't if I were you"

The sister was never a concern; she was just brought up to create tension.

They should have resolved it better, though. From a narrative perspective, it's been left hanging.

I live in the town the winner is from and we do have quite a few coffee and dessert places, some independent and some chains. They are mainly run by the Asian community and I think were largely designed as a place where young people who couldn’t/didn’t want to go to pubs could hang out. Of course everyone is welcome and we do sometimes take the dc as a treat, I have never heard of this one though and I don’t understand why it’s any more special or different to any of the others.
I genuinely hope she succeeds but I really don’t get her USP other than exposure on TV and I doubt that will be enough long term.

The problem with brownies and similar products is that, to make any money at the small to medium scale, you have to charge a lot compared to supermarket prices. The cost of delivery is also disproportionately high.

It's not a product that's of interest to me, because brownies are one of the lowest effort, lowest skill bakes possible and you can get equivalent results to the postal services for under a fiver at home.

I've tested this. I made brownies using Aldi 30 p chocolate bars and the cheapest flour, butter and sugar they had and they were actually nicer and more chocolatey than one of the postal services that is regularly raved about on here.

I wouldn't buy her brownies if they were 1p. She seemed rude and full of herself. I really wanted Aaron or Akshay to win, they at least seemed like nice people.

Oh and for anyone concerned about her sister she’s still a major shareholder