I'm back on the hunt for
the UK's next top food and drink entrepreneur.
Woo!
Eight weeks ago, I sent 12 food and drink entrepreneurs
on an assault course of challenges.
It's on fire!
Pushing them hard so I could see what they're made of.
You've had enough explaining. You're wasting time.
Can we move on?
I'm now down to my final three contenders.
Sam... I own Hot N Juicy Shrimp LDN.
We make amazing seafood boils, mouthwatering, full of flavour.
..Amy...
I am the owner and founder of Blondie Bakery.
They're genuinely the best thing I've ever tasted.
I've never met anybody that says that they don't like them.
..and Andy.
I'm the founder of a CBD olive oil.
In five years, you'll see Drops of Heal in the major retailers
alongside working with the biggest restaurants in the UK.
This programme contains some strong language.
This week I decide which one I'm going to invest £150,000
of my own cash into.
I'm about to invest in one of you.
You're not being BLEEP honest with me.
No other business in the UK does what we do.
It's not supposed to be healthy.
I'm not trying to fool you. That's not my intention.
Who will be my future food star?
I've invited my three finalists to meet me here in Glasgow.
It holds a very special place in my heart.
It's where I was born and where I started my career,
but not as a chef, but as a footballer.
This place really changed my life and, for either Amy, Andy or Sam,
it'll do exactly the same.
So I've asked them to meet me here, at the legendary Ibrox Stadium,
home to the club where I started my football career, Rangers.
Kind of like the beginning of his journey. End of ours! End of ours!
THEY LAUGH
And the crowd went wild!
Yeah!
Something so beautiful about a football stadium.
Oh, look, look, look, look, look. See that? Blondie Bakery.
No! Oh, wow!
Shut up!
To give these three hopefuls a taste of what's at stake...
Andy, there's yours! That's crazy.
..I've arranged for their products to be screened
on the stadium's billboards.
That's so mad to see it on a big screen.
Big and bold.
Oh, God.
This is everything.
I haven't seen my son for eight weeks,
the business is shut, and I'm stood here as one of three people
that are going to win his investment after beating off
nine other competitors, so...bring it on.
I'm pumped. I'm there.
I'm ready to go but I'm feeling the pressure at the same time.
People that come from where I come from don't really get
this opportunity, so I can't go home saying that
I haven't won this thing.
I'm just going to bite down and go for it.
I've worked really bloody hard over the past seven weeks.
I've given it my everything.
I've even, like, surpassed my expectations of myself.
So, I've got serious fight in me.
So, yeah, let's go!
Here we go.
Good morning. Morning. Morning. How are we? Good, thank you.
Good to see you guys.
We good? Yes. Yes?
Well, first of all, congratulations.
All three of you should be extremely proud.
I am.
Well, it is the final week.
Listen carefully.
In a couple of days from now, one of you will be receiving
£150,000 investment from me.
The start of a brand-new chapter in your lives.
This is big.
Understood? Yes. Understood. Absolutely.
Now, eight weeks ago, I met you for the first time.
I've since then put you through hell,
tested your character, pushed you to the extreme.
Because I wanted to discover what you're made of.
But now I want to delve into your businesses.
I want to know if you can go global.
And your final challenge is going to test this,
because I want all three of you to create a limited edition
of your amazing products,
celebrating the place we're standing in right now - Scotland.
So, today, I want you to devise a new product, with branding.
And tomorrow, you'll create a stunning social media promo,
and then you'll present them at a launch event here in Glasgow.
Understood? Yeah.
Good. Very good luck.
Off you go.
Oh, my God.
This needs to be...
SHE WHISTLES
..like, up there.
But my head's just, like...
Gordon's stress-testing us now.
Am I nervous? Absolutely.
I'm, you know, it's the biggest moment of my life.
So, I'm just going to tackle it as best I can.
I'm going to brainstorm the hell out of this to produce something
crazy, creative, outside the box, just to show Gordon
that my brand is versatile.
I'm sending my finalists out across the city
to research their new products.
But with such a mammoth task ahead, they'll need help.
SCREAMS
Oh, my God. Good to see you!
I'm teaming them up with their former rivals.
I'm so glad you're here.
I'm so glad to be here.
I'm looking to invest my £150,000 in someone I can collaborate with.
Hello.
What are you doing here?!
So, I'll be paying close attention
to how the finalists work with their team-mates.
THEY BOTH LAUGH
Oh, my God!
Oh, my God. Hebe!
Sam with Hebe.
Oh, my God, I'm so excited.
I'm making a blend with my olive oil - it's going to be the natural
and then we'll put something Scottish in it.
Andy with Rachel.
And you know my products. You know CBD as well.
So, I was literally just thinking, what would Kier say
about this challenge?
And Amy with Kier.
So, what I've got to do is create a limited edition
Scottish blondie. OK.
Easy, easy. Yeah.
So, a blondie is very similar to a brownie.
However, I don't use cocoa powder and I use a lot of white chocolate
in the bases.
I do them in various different shapes, different concepts -
cakes, stacks, pies.
Looks amazing. Fantastic...
It sort of came round by an accident.
I was on maternity leave and I started making them and
people started inviting me places so that I would bring them.
So...I started charging.
And then it just went...
Every event that I go to, I make 500, 600 blondies
and I'm selling out in 45 minutes.
And then I'm stood there for another five hours trying to explain
why I didn't bake more.
Amy works very hard.
She will be on the go from eight on the morning and it could be ten,
11, 12 at night.
I've known times when she's been up decorating blondies at 5:00
in the morning. Yeah.
So, at the moment, the business is ran from home.
Every order goes out that front door.
Every bit of stock comes in the front door.
I need to get out the house. I canna make any more!
I need bigger mixers. I need bigger ovens.
I need staff.
I need racking, I need storage.
And I'm going postal.
As soon as I get all this space, I'm going postal.
This business is bigger than this house,
and this business is bigger than Teesside.
So, what sort of sweet treats are we going for in Scotland?
Essential to any new product relaunch is market research.
Yeah, the caramel cake and custard. That was old-school cake.
So, you know how, like, the caramel slice?
What was the best? The shortbread, or...?
Yeah, like shortbread.
That was shortbread.
Amy has a huge amount of work to do!
I was thinking, "Oh, you know, maybe we'll just set up some things,
"like, introduce the brand," but, no, not completely reinvent
a new product in one day.
Hello, ladies. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?
Hello. How are you? We're fine, thank you. Hello.
Across the city, in Glasgow Botanic Gardens,
Andy and Rachel are putting in the legwork.
I have a CBD olive oil company.
Are you familiar with CBD? Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah?
I've seen it in Holland & Barrett.
We're actually big fans of CBD.
Yeah? Yeah, CBD, I love it, yeah.
I'm loving this. I'm loving this.
I have a CBD-infused olive oil.
We have four different flavours and our whole mission
is to really change the way people see CBD.
My original dream was to be a rugby player, but I had a bad knee injury,
so, I suffered a lot of pain, sleep issues, anxiety and depression.
So, was looking for a natural remedy which kind of helped me find CBD.
My girlfriend is my business partner.
You want me to change it?
No-one has tapped into CBD food the way we're tapping into it.
And Andy is incredibly hardworking.
You know, I think a lot of what motivates him
is what he wants to do for his mum and his sister.
And I think that really pushes him forward and drives him.
How's that?
Andy isn't a second place kind of guy.
He wants to go all the way.
The ultimate aim is to be the leader in the market
when it comes to CBD food.
So, the connections that Gordon has, you know, the platform that Gordon
has, by having someone like him married with our brand
and our sort of innovative style and our youth,
I feel like we can just take on the world.
What's the typical thing you think of in Scottish taste?
There's a lot of wild garlic growing around this area, locally.
Heather would be one. Heather?
Also sea kelp. Sea kelp.
Well, it's not fried, deep-fried Mars bars!
Can I get a lobster, please?
Across town, Sam and Hebe are checking out the local seafood.
And then I need the langoustines.
Of course, the razor clams and the triple XL badboy prawns.
I want to keep this sauce
as southern America meets Scottish as possible.
So, like, imported stuff is a no-no. Yeah, yeah.
My business is Hot N Juicy Shrimp LDN.
We are the leading seafood boil takeaway in the UK
and we're about to take the world by storm.
During lockdown, people really wanted to recreate
our seafood boils from home.
So, we came up with the idea to package our sauce.
And now every time we put a release on the site, it sells out.
We have a cult following.
There's no surprise to me that Sam has gotten this far,
because that's just, that's just who she is.
You know, she's someone who's tenacious, a non-quitter.
World domination!
THEY CHEER
This is actually a gap in the market that Gordon should take.
We've done the groundwork, we've done the pop-ups,
and now we're ready to just shoot to the stars.
What is a traditional Scottish flavour?
Whisky is actually...a really big flavour for us.
So then, maybe whisky and haggis.
Yeah, actually, yeah. Infused into that.
That could actually work.
That just screams Scotland to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I can't lie, I miss touching shellfish and they have
so much fresh seafood here.
I just cannot wait to put all these flavours into a pot
and just make some amazing Cajun-Scottish goodness.
Bye. Thank you.
Armed with the findings from their market research, the finalists
now need to create their Scottish-inspired limited editions.
With very little time to achieve this, and with my investment
at stake, I provided some support for them all.
Hi. Hello.
Helping Amy is executive recipe developer Rich Harris.
What I suggest you do is write your recipe down,
think of it as a base and then inclusions.
This looks amazing.
Assisting Andy...
So, this is where we're going to win this challenge. Absolutely.
..flavour innovator Craig Porter of Start-Up Drinks Lab.
The best thing to do to start
is identifying a few key flavours that you like. Yeah.
So, basically, I want to make a Scottish seafood sauce.
Have you got a product at the minute?
And working with Sam,
product development guru David Neville of Taste Creators.
You've got quite, quite a bit of sort of fat and salt in this.
It's packed, because it's packed full of, like, flavours.
You don't think maybe that could be a problem?
Erm...
The first thing the food expert said was the fat content
for the current sauce she has,
and when I saw that, I was a little bit surprised.
It just seems quite high.
This is like an addition to a meal, so it's not a whole meal.
OK. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah?
When we spoke to the market research people, they were talking about
nostalgic type of feelings and things like that.
And I thought, well, cranachan. What's cranachan?
So, cranachan is like a Scottish dessert.
Raspberry, cream... Yeah.
..oats and whisky. Whisky, yeah. Is that what it is? Yeah.
But instead of the cream, can we make, like, a marshmallow?
Yeah, you could do marshmallow.
I mean, you can have a play with it.
Amy's idea is really cool.
I hadn't even heard of her cran...
Cr... Cr...
Cranachan! Until today.
So, I normally do 125.
That could be delicious, if we get the recipe right.
Just as a tip with the freeze-dried raspberries - you want to make sure
that batter coats them quite well because they...
Will they burn? Yeah.
Sugar-wise, what's your kind of approach to sugar?
They're obviously quite sweet, so it's making sure you get
that balance as well.
So... Yeah. ..a bit of acidity coming through.
I think he's saying less sugar, maybe.
This is everyone's problem with me!
At the end of the day, it's a sweet treat.
It's not a health challenge.
It's just about making something delicious that's Scottish
and there's a boatload of sugar in it.
If you're confident with it, mate, don't listen to the noise.
Just...Just go with it. Yeah.
Gorse is a very interesting one if you've not came across it before.
Ooh. It's different.
Andy and Rachel are looking for the perfect Scottish spin
on his CBD olive oil.
Sugar kelp.
Ooh. I love, I love that.
We heard about thistle.
It's our national flower.
There's a lot of folklore about how the thistle is important to us.
So, the three that I'm set on and what I want to play with,
flavour profile-wise, is the sugar kelp, the heather flower
and, of course, the great Scottish thistle.
Right. You'll be Scottish by the end of this, for sure! Aye!
The key to a successful flavour combination lies in the blend.
So, this one is 60% of the sugar kelp, 20 of the heather,
20 of the thistle.
I need more of everything in that.
I've just got the oil. Yeah.
So, we've lowered the dosage of the sugar kelp.
It's now to 40% and then the other ingredients are in equal measures.
To me right now, they taste like
I'm trying different olive oils,
if you know what I mean. It's tricky.
The flavours you've chosen aren't big flavour punches, you know?
It's not like garlic or chilli where there's a very strong...
Yeah, or whisky or something.
I don't want it to be,
the story does a good job, the promo does a good job,
and then you taste it and it's like olive oil.
I'd like there to be a significant taste of something.
This smells amazing.
Working on her Cajun-Scottish sauce blend...
I'm going to put some whisky in as well.
She's going for it.
..is Sam.
50ml, Hebe. Are you pouring all of that in? Yeah.
Whack the heat up a bit now.
So, if I wanted to incorporate a haggis into the sauce,
what would be the best way?
Maybe crumble it in towards the end of the cook.
I'm going to add garlic puree.
It's definitely a limited edition. You can't play it safe.
OK, let's strain this off.
But one bad decision or overlooking something
can really have a negative impact.
Let's taste it and get it to your flavour that you want.
Tastes salty. Is it salty?
I don't know why it tastes salty.
I haven't put any salt in there.
Have you put stock cubes in? Yeah. Yeah.
All right. But the stock doesn't taste like that.
What about the butter? Is it salted butter?
The butter, it's unsalted.
What else did you put in? I just put the garlic and the butter.
Ooh, it is very salty.
With their limited edition products still in development,
the finalists now need to focus on their branding and packaging.
Hi, nice to meet you.
I've recruited some top designers to help them...
First question I would ask you is, how far away do you want to move
from your existing brand?
..from specialist agencies Brand F...
I'm going with the same bottle.
Yeah. But then this is like the Scottish version of it.
What's the brand all about?
..Made Brave...
Feeding people is like a love language to me,
so I'd really like for that love to come through. Yeah.
We need to think of a name.
..and Warriors Studio.
Cracking is like a word that we use here and it's like,
"Oh, that's cracking."
I like that. That sounds great.
Cracking Cranachan Blondie.
A wee Cracking Cranachan Blondie?
A wee Cracking Cranachan Blondie!
Let's talk about the packaging. Yeah, I want to go postal.
If that came through your postbox,
you'd be like, "What the hell's this?"
This feels like luxury, and there's four, so there's enough to share,
it's not a single piece. I like that, yeah.
Please, can I go for this one?
Typically, obviously, I have a lot of negative space in there,
but I like the idea of like one-line drawings.
Yeah, sea kelps... I love the look of... ..can be quite nice.
..something like that. Just subtle in the background... Mm-hm.
Definitely. ..could be quite nice. Serenity.
That's the word that I know we have to use on there -
"serenity of Scotland". Even that being
maybe just like a product name.
In Scotland, seafood is so important to the culture.
It's similar, I suppose, to southern America.
So it's kind of a mixture of the two cultures.
I feel like there's a shore-to-shore kind of storyline here.
I love that idea of shore-to-shore. Makes it sound very fresh.
Yeah. OK. So, like, in terms of your packaging... I do like this
because it's a bit different. Yeah. Happy? I like that.
Fully briefed, the designers were working overnight
to make the packaging...
..that the finalists must fill with their still-unfinished products.
Oh, it's not really drizzling, like.
You've got these gaps - it's just not fucking right.
So I definitely want more sugar kelp...
Still to decide on a unique Scottish flavour blend
for his CBD olive oil - Andy.
I think we need to think about the ones that are actually
going to work with a multitude of food. Mm.
What about the wild garlic?
Yeah, I'm conscious that I have got a garlic and I'm just wondering,
is that going to be considered too close to something I already do?
If you want, I can let you sniff some of it.
Yeah, I'd love to try it. Definitely.
I can already smell it as soon as you opened it, yeah.
You want to give it a sniff as well? Yeah, it's slightly different to
what I have, because that's kind of got something behind it.
It smells fruitier. There's like a fruit... Yeah, it's a little bit
more...onion-y. I think that, combined with the sea kelp...
To kind of round it off? ..might balance it right out.
Yeah, let's try it. Yeah, sure. Let's do it.
Yeah, it's hard, you know, because I have a garlic olive oil,
so I'm really worried that I would get judged on it
and then the idea was,
"Oh, well, you've just gone to something you already do."
That's coming through now, more. Yeah? I definitely can taste it now.
OK. You're happy with this? Yeah. That's the formulation now.
In my mind, I think it's good, you know? I'm sure it's good,
but it might not be.
Mate, my mind is fucking racing, you know what I mean?
So that's just... It's got garlic in there?
..stock and butter and garlic. Let me taste it.
It's the garlic. Maybe that... Is that garlic puree with salt?
Let's blend fresh garlic.
With day one coming to an end... Let's use 100ml of this.
We're going to run out of time.
..it's a race for Sam to get her Scottish-Cajun sauce finished.
I think I might put a little bit more haggis in this.
I don't get much whisky, no. So I'll do 5g of whisky here.
Sam, we need to get this recipe across for upscaling!
I'll have it ready in two seconds. Four more grams of haggis...
Don't go mad, yeah. Yeah, there's a couple more prawns here.
I want to try this.
Mmm. Mm-hm?
Mm-mm! Good? Yeah? Yeah. That's it.
Really hope Gordon likes it. I really hope he likes it.
There's so much riding on this.
Tomorrow is my last day and I just really want it to just go
perfect and right.
Oh, they look wonderful.
It's time for Amy to taste a Cranachan blondie.
It's not right...
It's not right. But, I mean, it tastes good.
The blondie's good. Yeah, I know, but it's the topping.
The oats needed to go on ten minutes into the baking.
It's like...the truth's in the bite,
and it just didn't bite well.
The oats are too crumbly, and I think it possibly needs a bit
more honey in to bind it.
With the recipe still unfinished, Amy must give the instructions
for it to be tweaked overnight.
Double the quantity of whisky.
I'm just feeling feel a bit anxious about the fact that
I now have no control, and seeing it for the first time tomorrow.
Two raspberries per square...
Could there be three? Could be three.
Up the freeze-dried to ten. Yeah.
It's a gamble, but I can win.
I can win.
If I keep saying it, I might fucking believe it.
When I saw the finalists yesterday, I asked them to create a
Scottish limited edition of their products
ahead of their big launch at today's event.
But first, they need to create a stunning promo, because in business,
you'll never take off unless you know how to promote yourself,
your product or your brand.
So, this is our space.
# Dun-dun-du-u-u-un! #
Overnight, their limited edition products have been mass produced.
Oh! That looks really cool. It does.
Oh, no, see - that looks so much better.
Mmm...
That is lovely. Yeah. I am absolutely over the moon with that.
You should be. It's significantly better.
Last night, I left and I was thinking,
this is just so...different.
But it tastes good, it looks good. That box is perfect for postals
so you can send a wee bit of Scotland anywhere.
Open it!
Oh, wow...
GASPS
Oh, my God! That looks lovely. They did a very good job.
I really like it. It's definitely looks premium to me.
And me. And limited edition. I'm so happy with how it looks.
Now you've got make a video. I know.
Mm... Oh, it's faint. It's really faint.
Cos on the screen, it was, like... It popped a lot. Yeah...
Hm... You're disappointed? A bit.
First seeing the bottle, it was slightly underwhelming.
I'd have liked the flavouring type to be a bit clearer, bolder.
You know, I'm stressed about it, I am.
It's green. I didn't want it green. I wanted it grey.
We'll make it work with the video. Yeah. Don't worry too much about it.
HE SIGHS
What can you do?
AMY: I want to start with the hero shot, and then,
"Wee Cracking Cranachan Blondies" in a Scottish accent.
The finalists have just 90 minutes to make their social media promos.
Three, two, one...
To help, I've given them some extras to work with.
So your whole job is basically to be struggling doing yoga.
THEY LAUGH
Hi, guys. We've got this limited edition Scot Seafood Sauce
from Hot N Juicy Shrimp LDN. OK, stop...
Just try and do it a bit faster.
When you say "limited edition sauce",
that's when you put it in the camera, yeah? OK.
And really, like, exaggerate it.
OK. Yeah.
With 50,000 followers, Sam is no stranger to social media.
So bring it more...
Like, there.
I take social media marketing very seriously.
OK, I see that.
So it does give me the edge on the other two.
Let's try it with someone else. You've got dirt in your fingers!
I'm taking on every role - director to video camerawoman,
to editor, so it is a little bit of pressure.
It's really, really good. Are you sure it's good?
Because you don't look like you're enjoying it.
Dip that sauce... OK, right. ..and love it.
My extras need to understand there's a lot riding on this.
Act like you've won the lottery - just for two seconds!
This is going to change my life, so we need to work accordingly.
It's a really, really good sauce,
so thank you very much, Hot N Juicy Shrimp LDN,
for the sauce! OK, let's try again.
Wee Cracking Cranachan Blondies.
Oh, that was good!
What I'm thinking is, I want, like, a bit of movement,
so I might go from blondie to mouth.
LAUGHTER
OVERLAPPING SPEECH
One, two, three.
The video is about getting the message across
that it's to enjoy with friends, nice product photos.
I would stop scrolling and look at that.
Don't worry about being dainty - smash it in your gob. Right...
While Amy and Kier crack on...
Hold it up a bit more, closer to me.
..Andy and Rachel are falling behind.
I just don't think we're getting, like, enough snappy shots.
I think that should be, like, one of the end shots, and there needs
to be, like, something in the middle.
All of you get up into this position. Yeah?
I knew this was going to be the tough part of the segment for me.
With social media, you know, I have a team,
we have a marketing strategy. We have someone who is far more
creative and proficient on social media than I am.
Left, fall down...
I know that's not where I excel.
You can speed that right up. Like, it doesn't...
All of these shots don't need to be as slow as you think.
Gordon always says you need to cut and edit where appropriate,
and I just want the best video possible for Andy,
so I'm happy to vocalise along the way, if need be.
That's it. We've committed, we've got to do it now. Edit it.
It usually takes me a couple of hours to do something like this.
Well, we've got less than that, Kier! Pull that to the fore...
Pull that to the front. I'm really proud of Amy.
Yesterday was really tough, but she's come back fighting today.
Just speed it up. Yeah.
To actually shoot, direct and edit a little promo like that,
it was a big task and I think she needs that confidence
going into this afternoon.
Can we just delete a lot of this shit? It's making me anxious. Yeah.
Hi, guys. We've got this limited edition Scot Seafood Sauce
from Hot N Juicy Shrimp LDN.
Sam knows what she wants,
so she really made sure she got exactly what she needed.
Argh! That needs to go. His hands are filthy.
It's really hard for me to imagine how Sam must be feeling.
There's so much pressure on this one challenge now.
Oh, mate, I'm not feeling confident about this, rewatching these shots.
The impostor syndrome is so real right now.
I'm feeling the pressure. Don't get me wrong, I felt it every week
and I just dealt with it. But, like, now it's different.
More of it needs to be speedy, like, speedy-stoppy, speedy-stoppy.
I'm going to stand up and be judged on the video that I made.
It's so bad, though. It's so bad.
HE SIGHS
That was stressful. Oh, yeah, give me THAT.
I just need to get the presentation ready now. Yeah, let's go.
It's not bad for an hour's work, is it? It's not. But do you know
what I forgot? What? I've got to fucking present it today.
Oh, yeah, there's always that!
I've chosen somewhere very close to my heart for the three finalists
to launch their brand. It's The Barras Market
in the East End of Glasgow, and I used to come here
as a kid with my family to share one portion of fish and chips.
Today, it's the arena in which my finalists will pitch
to win my £150,000 investment.
Oh, my, where is it?
Oh, my God. Look, it's over there. Sam, it looks amazing.
This is so cool. Here we go. Oh, wow. That looks so classy.
That is so beautiful.
Very soon, the space will be filled with invited guests...
Oh! My front door.
..who the finalists will get up close and personal with,
before getting onstage to officially launch their products.
A little bit of home.
That's the thing, it's... You're going to make ME cry. Jesus!
..where it started. Now you're here.
WHISPERED: You should be so proud. No, I am. Yeah.
What's that look like so far? Bit disjointed?
Just strap this... I don't even know how...it goes on.
Ooh! Oh, that can't be right.
Can you slip your arms through the front?
And then one goes like that?
That's better.
SHE LAUGHS
There we go.
Amy. Hi. How are you? How are you? Good morning, are you good? I am.
Packaging looks great. Thank you.
Take me through yesterday - how was it?
So what we did was incorporate a cranachan into the blondie,
so we packed it full of ruby chocolate, whisky,
Scottish honey. I've done a little marshmallow drizzle
and fresh raspberries. Right. The whole Amy going on there. Yeah.
Does it need the marshmallow? Yeah. It does? It does. OK.
Big presentation. Yes. Room's going to be packed.
Imagine you're having a chat, but project it and don't rush it.
Absolutely. Yeah? Don't waffle.
I'll try not to. And answer it. Good luck. Thank you.
Right. I mean, what can go wrong?
Pep talk from Gordon. Glamorous shop person...
Argh! Yeah. This is it.
This is it.
What's nice is, I get to practise with people first.
I think the only thing that might let us down is that video,
but it is what it is.
Andy. Gordon. Rachel, good morning. Hello! Welcome back.
Good to see you. You too. How are you feeling?
I want to get what you think first. Yeah.
Yeah, that's spicy, that garlic. It's lovely.
It's a unique product, so you have to educate at the beginning. Yeah.
Not everyone's heard of a CBD olive oil. Yeah. OK?
So just be very careful there, but sell it in an uncomplicated way.
Yeah, that's key. Yeah. Good luck. Thank you. Thank you, Gordon.
Nice to see you.
We might get a question of, what does CBD do?
So I can give my personal experience.
You can... Say what it does exactly. Yeah, yeah, I get that.
Sam. How are you? Yes! Yeah, good. How are you feeling? Great.
I know you always get a little bit sort of nervous about this.
Honestly, this is a confirmation of how well you've done,
so let it go and just project that voice.
Look at one individual, focus on him or her...
I'm going to look at you the whole time! No, you won't see me.
I'll be hiding. Don't forget the DNA - the foundation of this brand.
It's a lovely story, and I know how much it means to you.
Shoulders back, and own that room. I will. OK? Yeah.
Good luck. Thank you. Looks beautiful. Well done. Thank you.
I think you're ready. And I think that...
Sam, when you go on that stage, do not cry! But that's not a bad thing!
We're ready. We're ready to go.
Stand here, so when they walk in, they see you first. All right.
There you go!
HEBE CHUCKLES
SINGSONG: Here they come!
Doors open...
SINGSONG: Let's do it! Hello, everyone. Hi.
..local residents and business owners arrive
to sample the new products... Would you like to try some CBD?
I thought you'd never ask! That's what we like to hear.
..to see if the contenders have cracked the Scottish market.
Also we've got haggis in there. There's whisky,
so it adds some depth to the flavour.
I'd like to taste a Wee Cracking Cranachan Blondie. All in one.
Yeah?
I wanted to make it so that
it's something that you could have every day.
From shore to shore, to Scotland, with love. Lovely.
Well, yesterday, created this.
So what makes it Scottish? I've put haggis in there, and whisky. OK.
And what fish should this go on?
Any fish. Any fish? ANY fish.
Have you ever tried CBD oil before? Do you know what it is?
It's cannabis oil or something...? So, essentially,
it's derived from hemp. It's completely non-psychoactive,
so there's going to be no adverse effect.
I'd love to get you to try it, if you'd like to. Yes, I will.
Yes?
Unbeknown to the finalists, I've invited industry leaders
in each of the fields to go undercover at the launch.
Then, give ME their honest opinions.
Would you like to try some olive oil infused with CBD? Yeah. Yeah?
What do you think of the taste? It's predominantly garlic. Yes.
I could get...garlic. Yeah. It's pleasant. Nice for dipping.
So, for each millilitre of olive oil, you get 2mg.
Would you cook with this olive oil? Because, if it was CBD,
I'd probably use it for...like,
dipping in bread and things like that.
Yeah, we try and encourage our customers to...use it fresh,
and to drizzle, make marinades out of it and so on.
How was that? That was good, yeah!
Did you want another one? Yes, please. Go on, mate.
I'd recommend eating it, in one, or with the raspberry as well,
because the raspberry really helps temper the sweetness.
Very, very moreish. Right?
Is the plan to sell it to bakeries?
Is that how you would get it out there into the market?
No. The plan is to go postal. Oh, right, yeah...
You can send a wee bit of Scotland anywhere.
Have you tried it in the post? Does it stay in perfect condition?
It does. OK. So what we've got, you can get, like, a cellophane bag
and you can heat-seal it.
How do you use the sauce?
Put it in a microwave for two minutes
and pour it over your seafood.
Well, I was looking in the back of the pack -
doesn't mention that at all.
On the back, it says, "For inspiration, visit our website." OK.
Tell me, how are you? Yeah, I'm really enjoying this! Busy.
I'm loving it! Busy, busy.
How much butter is in there? So there's 100g in a big pot.
So it's a garlic butter base. Right. Gotcha.
It's super rich. Does it taste Scottish?
It tastes delicious
and I can definitely taste the seafood coming through.
All three finalists seem to be handling the pressure,
but will they hold their nerve
as they showcase their businesses to the room?
Ladies and gentlemen,
first of all, I'd like to say a big welcome to The Barras.
Today is about three extraordinary brands,
and fronting those brands we have Amy, Andy and Sam.
Please, give a warm welcome. Let's start off with Amy first.
Thank you.
APPLAUSE
Ladies and gentlemen, honestly, thank you so much for coming today.
My name is Amy and I am the owner and founder of Blondie Bakery.
I started making blondies in 2018.
Initially, it was for friends and family.
It was little birthdays, social events.
And then, very quickly, I was getting orders, I was getting
wholesale requests, and I've gone from 20 boxes to 50 boxes a day.
So what I've developed for you is my limited-edition
Wee Cracking Cranachan Blondie.
We've created packaging to go with that also, so that you can send
a wee bit of Scotland anywhere.
I've created also a little social media video for you all
to have a little look at.
Blondie Bakery presents
Wee Cracking Cranachan Blondies.
You've had cranachan before, but not like this.
Too good not to share.
It's just a smashing good blondie.
Sending a wee bit of Scotland anywhere.
All the best. Love, Blondie Bakery.
That's very good.
Basically, this investment would absolutely change my life.
I've completely outgrown the kitchen and need to level up.
I'm sure we got some burning questions.
Yes. Amy, have you heard of HFSS?
I haven't. Should I have...? It's legislation that's coming in.
It stands for
high fat, salt and sugar. OK.
And it will limit what you can do in terms of promoting
and where you can place your product. When that comes in,
I'll...adhere to all of the regulations.
Madam, with the leather jacket. Thank you.
Obviously, the brownie blondie market, it's quite a busy market.
Yeah. How do you plan on making your product stand out
in such a crowded space?
So, at the moment, I'm actually the only...bakery within the UK
that only does blondies.
I think that the products speak for themselves, in the taste
and the quality, and I want to use that investment to really elevate
the boxing, the branding.
I honestly don't believe there's any event that can't be enhanced
by a blondie. So that's almost why there isn't a target market.
It's just people with mouths. LAUGHTER
Please, give it up for Amy. Thank you.
Really good job. Thank you. Really good job. Thank you.
That was...! So proud of you!
Seriously, dude, like, honestly, you nailed it. That's it.
There's nothing else you can do. I literally can't do anything else.
How did you feel? Oh, God. Sick.
Next up, Andy.
Let me take you back five years ago. I lost my career to a knee injury.
I used to play rugby. I was met with a lot of chronic pain, anxiety,
sleep issues.
My main aim, after that, was to find a natural remedy, and I found CBD.
It's a naturally occurring compound found in hemp, and I ended up
coming up with a CBD olive oil, and therefore you would have a dose
of CBD in your meal.
But why I'm here is I'm presenting my Scottish signature line.
So we call that our Serenity of Scotland.
I'm going to let you have a look at our promo video.
Drops of Heal, a CBD-infused olive oil...
..incorporating local wild garlic, heather
and foraged sugar kelp from the Isle of Skye.
A botanical blend of bliss, infused, designed and bottled
in Scotland.
Ladies and gentlemen, any questions for Andy?
How do you plan to inform the public and basically demystify
all those myths of CBD?
I am aware of how difficult it is to market and promo CBD,
as you might have seen, but I'm limited on what I can do.
By putting it into an olive oil,
we're kind of combating the taboo of what people think CBD is.
We hear a lot of, "Oh, it's cannabis, and it's weed,"
or whatever it is.
By having it in an olive oil, it's something that's relatable
already to everyone here, and I would use blogs
and try to educate, because it's a growing market as it is.
It's projected to hit a billion by 2025.
So we know it's going to be a thing.
Do you think you've got a competitive price mark?
Our natural is 39.99,
but with that you get 33 servings of 30 milligrams of CBD.
That's every day for a month.
Ladies and gentlemen, join me in thanking Andy for his presentation.
Thank you so much.
APPLAUSE
Did that seem...? Did it look good? Did it sound good?
Looked good, sounded good, and any question that you had,
you answered respectively, and I think... Oh!
..you're going to win this shit!
Oh, my God. I'm so proud of you, honestly. Thank you.
Couldn't be more proud.
APPLAUSE
And finally, it's Sam's turn to face the crowd.
Hi, everyone. My name's Sam and I am the founder of
Hot N Juicy Shrimp LDN.
Many years ago, me and my best friend went to America
and I tried a seafood boil for the first time.
I've had lobster, I've had crab,
I've had prawns, potatoes and corn.
But never in the way that it was presented in that bag.
And the flavour profile, my God.
When I came back to London, I realised there was nothing like it.
I've created this amazing sauce. You know, it's our gift to Scotland.
It's the Scot Seafood Sauce.
A lot of you have tried it and I saw some of you drinking it,
so I know it's good!
SHE LAUGHS
And that is what I want to see. We're going to play the video now
and then, yeah, let's see if you like it!
Hi, guys. We've got this
limited edition Scot Seafood Sauce from Hot N Juicy Shrimp LDN.
Today, we're going to try it and see what it's all about.
The whisky, the haggis...
So we've just finished the Scot Seafood Sauce
from Hot N Juicy Shrimp LDN. It's really, really good.
It's... The flavours are so bold.
It's just... You want more seafood so you can have more sauce.
APPLAUSE
Hi, Sam, what's the main ingredient in there?
Because I believe it's butter? Yes.
And with raw materials going up -
wheat, flour, fats... Yeah. ..you know,
how are you going to make sure you deliver value for money?
That is an ingredient within there that I want to reduce
and that as well will allow the price on the shelf
to reduce as well. Sir. Thank you.
You might want to sell your product in supermarkets... Yes.
..and I was just wondering, where do you see that sat in the supermarket?
So right now our sauce has a shelf life of 30 days,
seven days from when you've opened it. We're currently in...
..doing testing for 90 days,
so it is going to be on the shelf in supermarkets.
Having, like, Gordon's expertise and the funding,
we're going to grow fast, so that we can be on every shelf
in the UK and go global with it.
Please, give it up for Sam. Thank you.
APPLAUSE
Ya-a-a-a!
And the crowd went wild.
Ya-a-a-a!
THEY BOTH LAUGH
Aw...! I think I've really proven myself.
I'm just praying that Gordon sees...me
and he wants to bet on me and invest in me and back my company.
That would mean the world.
I think I am the most investable.
You know, it's not signified by whether I make a 30-second video
in an hour well - it's me, as a person,
what I have inside me, like, the fire in me,
that I want to be the best. I expect that from myself.
I absolutely feel like I've done enough.
Gordon can see how passionate I am, how capable I am.
I am more than happy with myself.
More than happy.
Before I leave, I want to get feedback from the experts
on my finalists.
Let's start off with Amy. Were you happy with the flavour?
Really good. Yeah. The flavours are very good, very moreish.
There's a LOT of sugar in that product.
And the way that we're moving, thinking more about health,
I would be a bit worried about that. Pretty good point.
Sir? She's an entrepreneur. You can see that.
Completely on our own, doing everything from A to Z. Yeah.
And I think the scalability is really, really challenging. Yeah.
Next...
Possibly one of the most precarious finalists.
Andy.
Retail price was, you know, a concern.
It's an emerging market, which is really exciting,
but we need to educate people on how to use the product,
and nowhere on the bottle did it say
how much you need to use in a portion.
It's mostly a supplement,
and people are using it for real-world problems,
and I think his marketing doesn't really match,
like, what he's saying in person. It's very confusing.
So we should be treading with caution. Yeah.
Finally, Sam.
Taste, it's really good and it's a new cuisine, bringing to the UK,
so I think she's got something exciting there.
She says she wants to sell to supermarkets.
It's quite difficult, but there's obviously an opportunity there that,
if she gets it right, that she could get scale pretty quickly.
It's a very, very high-cost product.
The first product is butter,
and I think the recommended retail price on this is way too high
on a very crowded marketplace.
Your feedback has given me a lot to think about and made,
I think, my final decision even more difficult.
Good luck! And I need it.
THEY LAUGH
Cheers. Cheers. You have to make eye contact, Craig.
I know, sorry... Seven years bad sex if you don't...
The band is back together.
God, I'm so excited!
Right, sh, sh, sh, sh...! They're coming!
Oh, wow!
Hello!
THEY GREET EACH OTHER
OVERLAPPING SPEECH
Well done, you've done amazing. Well done.
Aw, mate! So proud of you.
Cheers! Cheers.
Hello. Hello! Hello.
Right, welcome back. The finale!
How are we feeling? Good. Good...
First of all, welcome back...the previous contenders.
Thank you. Also, I'd like to extend a big thank you
to Rachel, Kier and Hebe.
Thank you, all three of you.
Eight weeks ago, I met you all for the very first time
in the grounds of that stunning castle in Scotland.
I told you that I selected you all because you have some
of the most exciting food and drink businesses anywhere in the UK.
But for me, I was very clear that I wasn't interested
in just the concept.
I was interested in the person behind it and whether I felt
they had what it takes to succeed in business.
Amy, Andy, and Sam, you all excelled across those challenges.
If you get an investment from me,
I'm not interested in a small-scale.
I'm keen to see these businesses go global.
That's why I set you a task to create a limited edition version
of your products for the Scottish market.
All three of you should know that yesterday was a huge eye-opener
for me, and I had some incredible experts from all your fields
in that audience, and the feedback they gave me was pretty incredible.
So, the time has come for your final grilling.
This one is crucial for me because I've been through
all your businesses with a fine-tooth comb.
And now I really want to interrogate them.
This is your last chance to prove to me that you're the right person
to get this life-changing investment.
Amy, Andy, and Sam, I want to see all three of you in the restaurant.
Good luck.
Andy, sit down, please.
Sam, take a seat, please.
Amy, sit down, please.
What an incredibly tough eight weeks to get to this point.
Congrats. What's got you into this position,
sat in front of me now?
For me, it was my ability within all of the tasks to win.
Every single team challenge, mini-challenges, I've won.
I've listened to the brief, every critique that you've given me,
I've taken on board, I've adapted. And, at the end of it,
come up with a product that's won.
I work hard every day.
You know, I was raised in a household, very humble,
didn't have much. My mum worked several jobs,
just really taught me how to grind and graft and make ends meet.
You know, personally, I want to transcend what it is
to be from a council estate and really make something of yourself.
There's nothing to lose by pushing myself to my limits
and further than that, because I want you to be a part
of Hot N Juicy - like, more than anything.
Let's dive into the business. Yeah.
I've looked into your blondies,
and then I broke down the recipe.
511 calories per bar. Mm-hm.
43g of sugar.
That doesn't scream healthy, does it?
No. And it's not supposed to be healthy.
I get that, but it's not even moderate, is it?
You have a responsibility to check the sugar levels,
the saturated fats. Yes.
And the government guidelines are putting pressure to rein that in.
Have you tried that yet? No. No?
No.
I didn't know that the recipe needed revising.
But we can take it back to the drawing board
because, at the moment, I'm one woman in a house.
With your skill set and my skill set, together, being able to
address that and then scale that up...
Yeah. ..I have no qualms that that would work.
I suppose what my worry is, that you haven't thought about any of this.
Whilst I'm excited about this blondie,
how long can it be around for if you're not adapting
to the pressures we're faced with?
In business, we thrive on transparency. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And whilst I was excited about the CBD content
and the multiple usages,
you're advertising it as something of a healing process. OK.
And it's not.
This is not something I push to people and try and sell it
as a curant to all things. It's definitely not what I do.
I know that there's... I'm not allowed to make medicinal claims.
Well, it's not about you're not allowed to make claims -
we need to be certified. Yes. We need to be bang to rights
on what we can use. Mm-hm. The dosage needs to be measured,
needs to be controlled,
and not just used as if, "Hey, this is olive oil that's better for you."
It's not a healing process.
Let's talk about another issue.
On the bottle of your extra virgin olive oil... Mm-hm.
..the minute it's been diluted... It's... Yeah.
..infused, flavoured, it's not extra virgin olive oil.
It's sloppy mistakes that you've got to be accountable for
and I don't want to spend this investment unwinding
everything you've just spent the last two years doing.
Let me show you something. Mm-hm.
So, a general order to go. Mm-hm.
I've got my large container, I've got extras,
I've got my sauce, my bibs.
And then the bag that everything's in. Yeah.
Is any of this biodegradable?
Erm, no.
These are all things that have been looking at. Sure.
And I was in contact with a supplier in China to create,
like, a cardboard box that is biodegradable,
that we can serve our food in.
This is not a good practice, is it?
No. No.
One of my big concerns, and it was shared by those experts in Glasgow,
how is your blondies business going to stand out
in a already crowded market?
You've asked us about going global.
To Sam's own admission, she brought this thing over from America
and she's the only person doing it in the UK.
If you want a seafood boil in the US,
why would they buy a British brand?
And it's the same with CBD.
CBD in the US is absolutely booming,
so they've brought these big ideas to the UK,
and I'm the other way around.
You take my blondies over there
and it's something completely new.
Um, do you know where blondies were created and originated from?
No.
Boston. Were they?
They are rife and they are in abundance.
Never... I'd never seen them. How... Yeah, I'm amazed.
Let's talk about the usage, shall we?
How many ways can you use this oil?
So you can cook with it,
you can have it marinaded, or as you would normal olive oil.
On your website, you're advertising you can roast vegetables in it.
Yeah. The most expensive product on your website is...? 124.99
124.99. Premium product. I get that. Mm-hm.
But in all honesty, there's no-one in this country today is going to
buy that to roast their vegetables in. It's just too expensive.
I know that I was going to have these issues,
to be honest with you, Gordon. I came in here really prepared
to be hounded because I know that this is going to be
one of the hardest things to push.
And part of your investment would go in to bring down the costs.
When it is correct and when it is right and it has all of them things
going forward, it's something
that's going to completely change the market.
The trio of lobster tails cost how much?
Um, I think 30-something pounds.
I looked up on the website. It was close to 45 quid,
a trio of lobsters. OK, yeah.
It worries me you don't even know your own pricing.
These are not cheap.
Are you in danger of pricing yourself out of the market? No.
People understand that it's premium ingredients,
so the price can't be low.
But there's a vast majority of the public that can't afford it.
Is your business London-centric? Will it only work in London?
No. I would like to have franchises of Hot N Juicy
in different countries, whether that's Nigeria, Dubai, Miami, Tokyo.
And then, obviously, also the sauce to go global as well.
And what are you making per year?
Last year was 360,000, profit.
Monthly overheads? Around 30,000.
What are you spending 30 grand a month on?!
The cost of shellfish, crab, lobster, prawns,
then we've got our rent, staff costs...
Wow. That's a big expenditure.
You're up against two other businesses like yours. Mm-hm.
Young, dynamic, talented, individual.
Why should I invest in yours?
In the UK, I'm the only person that solely does blondies
and I do them very, very well.
I want the unit. I want the staff.
I want that support behind me so that I can concentrate on driving
the business bigger and developing into different areas of the market,
and just expanding across the UK and globally. Good.
I started with the same beginning that you did.
I had a passion that I lost.
I appreciate that. There was a little glint in your eye,
walking out of that stadium, and I saw a slight...
..me in you. But are you worth betting on? Absolutely.
I understand it's a risk for you, but I know what we can create.
So I just hope you choose me.
I hope you see that I am the best option, and I won't let you down.
There's no other business in the UK that does what we do
the way we do it.
This is the perfect time to invest in us because we're ready
to take the world by storm.
I have a versatile brand that people love, regardless of the cost.
Sam, thank you. Thank you for your time, Gordon.
Thank you, Andy. Thank you, Gordon.
Thank you, Amy. Thank you so much.
Unbeknown to the finalists, I've invited their friends and family
along for support.
How are you doing?
OVERLAPPING SPEECH
What...? THEY CHEER EXCITEDLY
Ooh, who's this?!
Oh, my baby!
Aw! Oh, my baby!
AMY: Come here!
What is it?
Aw, bless... Good to see you.
Come on. Come on, boy!
SHE LAUGHS
WHISPERS: Hello, look at you!
Amy, Andy and Sam,
can you step forward, please?
I have three worthy finalists in front of me tonight.
I now have to make a very difficult decision.
I'm going to be honest - all three businesses come with a risk.
Amy, you are your business.
And that's what makes it so appealing to me.
But it's also my biggest concern.
Will you be able to maintain that level of consistency
as we scale the business?
But there's no doubt you are front and centre of your brand.
Andy, your business, I'm going to be honest,
is by far one of the most riskiest.
But it could come with one of the biggest rewards.
And, you, young man, as a person, clearly have that drive
to make your business succeed.
Sam, I love the ambition.
I suppose the question for me is,
can it work outside your London bubble?
OK. I've made my mind up.
My Future Food Star.
Congratulations goes to...
..Andy.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Andy, how're you feeling?
HE CHUFFS
I mean, it's...incredible to hear you say it.
Yeah, I feel amazing. Wow.
Congratulations, young man. Thank you.
I went for Andy, even though it may have been a risky choice.
If anyone can make it a success, it will be him,
so I'm very excited to see where we can take this product
under my guidance.
Amy and Sam, great ideas.
I think it's just the start for both of you.
I'll be watching you very, very closely.
Andy's a fellow Londoner, so I'm happy that he's won.
But, you know, regardless, I'm still going to grow my empire.
We're still going to go global.
I feel disappointed, but I've learned more about myself
in eight weeks than I have in the last ten years.
It's incredible.
Well done...
Well done.
This is just the beginning of, like, what I have worked so hard for
and I've got a lot to do, but I work with Gordon now.
Gordon's my business partner!