This programme contains some strong language
I'm on the hunt for the UK's next top food and drink entrepreneur,
so I've hand-picked 12 amazing contenders,
each with an incredible up-and-coming business.
I want to invest £150,000 of my own cash into one of them
and catapult their business to the next level.
But I'm not giving the money away easily. They'll need to earn it.
SQUEALING
That's not how you do it.
It's on fire.
SHE GASPS
BLEEP!
I'm setting my contenders a series of
food and drink-related challenges...
I mean, they're cooking, but in the wrong way.
GRUNTING
SPLUTTERING
Stop now. You're being rude.
..which will test them on every element of the industry.
Close up, please, Hebe.
Just all stop.
If anyone can't give me a standard, then please go home.
Only one of them will make the grade.
Who will be my Future Food Star?
Previously...
It's all about innovation and reinventing the classics.
Oh...whoa!
It's not good.
You'll all be launching a high-end canned vodka drink.
That's... A bit disappointed, if I'm honest.
Everyone likes a cheeky vodka, don't they?
Would you use words like "It's 12 o'clock somewhere"
on any of your drinks? I don't think that we would.
It's not advertising that it's a cool thing to do. It was a mistake.
They left me to tidy up what they had created.
That is as an out-and-out lie and, I'll be honest with you,
excuse my language, but it's BLEEP!
I need a leader, not a follower.
Naomi, we're done.
Oh, wow. Ooh! Well, this is quite impressive.
Is it your house?
Yeah...my house!?
Welcome to Kier's place! Oh, you know...!
It feels like I'm in Wonderland.
I've invited the guys to meet me here in Lowther Castle
in the beautiful Lake District,
and I've laid on a stunning high-end afternoon tea for them all.
Oh, wow, look at this.
Aw, this is cute.
Now, this week is all about creativity,
making something out of nothing,
and then turning humble ingredients into a huge profit.
They say that money doesn't grow on trees.
Trust me, it certainly does here.
What is everyone going for? Ooh.
Oh, my God, that is really good!
I feel like we're going to have to really earn this afternoon tea.
Abseil down the castle backwards or something!
What flavour's on this?
It tastes like, you know, like a scone.
I hope we don't have to make them. Oh-la-la.
Oh, here he is. Hello.
Good morning. CONTENDERS: Morning.
Are we good?
THEY RESPOND QUIETLY
How beautiful is this?
THEY MURMUR POSITIVELY
Stunning.
Now, what you've just eaten really epitomises
what I'm looking for this week -
turning something humble,
and elevating it into something really special.
So, for your first challenge,
I want you all to recreate four of those Michelin-starred
mille-feuilles you've just eaten.
First of all, you're going to need to forage for the star ingredient
over there in that beautiful woodland nearby.
The star ingredient -
pine needles and pine cones.
To get the needles and the cones,
you'll need to climb 40 feet...
No, Gordon! ..up a tree.
LAUGHTER
Today you'll be in two teams of four.
Let's have Rachel, Hebe, Sam and Kier.
You're going to be the Red team.
That means Flo, Craig, Andy and Amy, you'll be the Blue team.
I'd like two people from your team to get up into that tree
and collect your needles and your cones.
The other two will make the pine glaze
and then construct that beautiful mille-feuille..
The winning team will have an advantage in tomorrow's challenge.
Anybody scared of heights?
Kier! Come on.
LAUGHTER
I told them on the form and...!
LAUGHTER
Right. Good luck. Off you go.
Anyone got any tree-climbing experience?
I've fallen out of a few.
Don't say that. Don't say that!
I would love to go in the trees
but I think you two really want to go in the trees. Yeah.
Yeah, you need hunks like us in the tree!
Yeah, I'm well-confident. I just want to get sent up that tree.
You'll probably see me shit myself a bit, but I'm ready.
Tarzan! Yeah.
You've got the hair for it. Thanks.
OK, so we have to do the glaze and make the mille-feuille.
Do you feel confident building? Yeah. OK. Yeah?
You feel OK with glazing? Yeah. All right.
Are we all good, we're ready? Yeah, we're good. I'm ready.
Who's going to do the tree?
I might freeze in fear if I'm...
I'm going to be better up a tree than in the kitchen.
See, I don't mind the tree, but I know when I get up there,
the whole tree will vibrate.
And I'll be like that if you put me in the kitchen. Yeah, all right.
I'm happy to glaze the pastries.
Obviously, I'm not climbing up in the tree.
Balancing on a branch? No chance! Have you seen the size of me?
I reckon I could have a go at building a mille-feuille.
It's just pastry, bit of glaze, a bit of mousse, pastry...
He's sacrificing you!
You'll be all right.
Get those pine needles. What could be so hard?
While the teams get ready to climb the pine trees...
Cal, are we good? We're good.
..I've gone to see Cal Byerley,
co-owner and chef patron of Restaurant Pine,
and creator of those remarkable mille-feuilles.
Congrats on Restaurant Pine. Thank you.
Sustainability is the DNA of the restaurant. Absolutely.
You've been open a year. Yeah.
The refreshing thing about these ingredients is they're free. Yeah, absolutely.
So from a business perspective, you know,
we get this humble ingredient and we elevate it to these beauties.
Tell me about these.
So this is the mille-feuille for our afternoon tea.
So you've got layers of puff pastry which are glazed with pine,
that they're going to make today. What does the pine do to the glaze?
It just adds a lot of refreshing floralness to it,
really helps bring it all together.
Tell me about the glaze because it's no ordinary glaze, is it?
What do the contenders have to focus on
because if it goes too far, it crystallises. Yeah, that's right.
If not in there long enough, it doesn't infuse.
Yeah, it's not going to infuse.
It won't have that right consistency to glaze the pastry with,
so it will just be running off.
Fingers crossed the contenders do it justice today. I hope so, cheers.
Rock, paper, scissors for who goes first.
One, two, three.
Yes!
Have you already found a couple of acorns?
LAUGHTER
Right, Blue team. Who's first?
Craig, good luck, off you go.
Each pair have 20 minutes
to collect 25 pine cones and around 100 needles.
Oh, yes, Rache! Yay! Legend, go on, mate.
Ugh.
They need to collect pine cones from the outer edge of the branches...
Careful, careful.
..as these get the most sun
and are the most succulent and unique in flavour.
Yes, Rache. Yes! Ah, go on.
Now just sit there and get everything.
Don't sit down right now.
Aah!
SHE LAUGHS
Just slightly behind you to your right,
see how they're all exposed to that light there? Oh, yeah.
Ugh.
Yeah. There, there, there.
Look at them. That's it.
Well done.
Let's go, Hebe. Oh.
Next to climb the trees - Hebe...
Let's go. Climb, climb, climb!
HEBE SQUEALS AND LAUGHS
..and Andy.
Right to the end.
That's the ones in the sunshine. That's it.
We've all seen your muscles. We know you can do it.
HEBE SQUEALS
Right, Hebe, turn round, you're going the wrong way.
Ooh, this branch is so wobbly. Is it strong?
Yes, it is. It's sturdy.
It's being held up by the other one as well, so you're fine.
I don't want to snap the tree!
SHARP SNAP, TEAM GASPS
Are you OK? Yeah, don't worry.
One minute, one minute. Go on, Andy. Come on, Andy.
You can do it, go, go.
Right on the end, the branch in front of you.
What, this little cone? No, not them. They're the wrong ones.
They're dead. They're right on the end.
30 seconds left. Come on.
Brilliant, Hebe! Come on, Hebe. THEY SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT
Pull it, keep pulling.
Well done. Oh, well done. Well done, boys.
Ooh, my back.
Well done. Well done, Hebe. Right, good job. You did good.
Oh, my God.
We've done OUR job. Yeah, well done. Now it's our turn.
Mille-feuille, please!
You get up there and you've got your face full of branches,
you can't really see. I'm like battle-scarred and cut
and I've got a wedgie!
Right, I'm going to strip these down
and then get the big cones out for you to crush.
Pine cones and needles foraged...
Ooh. Ah.
..the teams must now follow Cal's three-stage recipe.
Is that enough? Definitely 200 in there, yeah.
OK, so that's boiling.
Where are the pine needles going? In here. In Sam's glaze.
First, they need to boil the pine cones and needles
to extract the flavour for their glaze.
It's not boiling yet.
Can't do anything, it needs to get a temperature. No.
We should have thought about boiling it first.
So the Blue team are a little bit behind. Yeah.
They didn't bring it up to the boil first, so they stick
all their pine in, it's going to take longer... They panicked early.
I can have a little taste of them, I don't mind.
It's got a good flavour, right? Wow. That's really good.
Let's go. Yeah. Got the flavouring, let's do it.
Ooh, it looks good. It's got some green colour. Yummy, yummy.
The good news, the Red team, they're tasting their stuff. Yeah, yeah.
It sounds like they've got the right flavours. Sounds good.
Also, I don't think the Blue team tasted theirs. No.
You can't guess it, right? You can't guess it, no, you should be tasting.
And the quality, we've got time, and there's quality, quality -
that's what we're being judged on.
With glazes made...
Just like your toothpaste!
..the next stage is to start assembling the mille-feuille,
layering puff pastry with piped glaze.
Good work, Flo, keep it going, girl.
I've never done this before. Yes, my man! Oh, Kier.
Lovely old job.
Oh, I'm shaking like crazy.
It looks amazing. Keep it going.
It's hard to watch, isn't it?
One of them's cracked already.
Just kee... Ooh, yeah. It's very fragile.
The final step is the most delicate -
adding the tempered white chocolate layer.
The secret to the white chocolate garnish
is to lay it on the top and peel it off. Yeah, exactly.
The second it's in your hand, it starts melting.
It's very fragile.
The longer it's in your hand, it's going to melt. Yeah. Oh.
Sorry, that was my fault.
30 seconds to go.
Go on, Flo. Well done.
We've got this.
Five, four, three...
two, one... And stop, guys. Well done.
Good work, Flo. Good job.
I never did that before.
In my mind, I was like, it has to be kind of perfect
because we are presenting our food to two Michelin-stars chefs,
so it just has to be perfect.
I think as much as the presentation is super-important right now,
it's all in the taste.
I mean, ours look a little bit messier, I think,
but if the taste is there, then I think we'll edge it.
Time to see if these desserts meet Cal's Michelin-starred standards.
So, Blue team - they didn't taste it first. Yeah.
How important is that? Yeah. Seriously.
Colour-wise, what do you think? Yeah, colour's OK but
I think it would have been better if they'd boiled it first,
then added the pine in. It tastes nice. But it does taste good.
They look beautiful. They do.
Piping? Piping's very good. Very good. They've done well.
The Red team, flavour-wise?
Yeah. Good consistency.
Ooh, that's delicious. Mm, very good.
They've got one beautiful one. So they lost the final presentation
because they... Handled it too long, yeah. Yeah.
It's a shame because the glaze is delicious. Yeah, it is.
HE SIGHS
Tough. It's a close call.
OK, well done.
That was a tall order.
The winning team is down to the tiniest of margins.
Congratulations...
..Blue team, well done.
MURMURS OF RELIEF
Well done!
The finesse was beautifully done to Cal's standard,
Michelin-star standard. In fact, Cal said
they could go into his restaurant tonight.
Well done, guys. Well done.
Red team, what a shame.
When you put that white chocolate in your hands, it instantly melts it.
Visually, it didn't have the impact.
Blue team, tomorrow we've got a big challenge
and you guys have got an advantage.
Right, who'd like a bite? Let's go, dig in!
I'm chuffed with everyone's performance.
Obviously, Amy, with the syrup. Credit to Flo for the finesse of it.
I'm just chuffed right now
and I hope that we can carry this momentum over to tomorrow.
Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. Here's to tomorrow.
It was Rachel who was peeling off the white chocolate layers
and I think that's what we lost on.
But...nothing we can do about it now.
We need a medic to cut Craig out of his uniform!
THEY LAUGH
Blue team got a bit lucky there. Not tasting that glaze
could have come back to bite them on the arse
but it did look good and it tasted good.
Sadly, the Red team, they lost it through the finesse. Tiny margins.
Tomorrow is a big challenge but no room for error.
Have you been to Newcastle before? Of course not! Miles away.
I reckon the real challenge is
to not get shit on by the seagulls. Yeah.
I've asked the guys to meet me here
at the stunning Hawker Market in Gateshead.
Now, yesterday was all about using humble ingredients
to create a high-end product.
Today, I really want to see how they can take a store cupboard staple
and transform it into something special.
And trust me, that is not easy.
Oh. Here we go! Uh-oh. Here he comes, here he comes! Here we go.
Good...morning! ALL: Morning!
Are we good? ALL: Yes.
Right, for your next big challenge,
I want all of you to take on
an absolute staple from the dinner table.
You'll be creating your very own brand-new bottled sauce.
THEY GASP AND LAUGH
Yes.
Listen carefully. Think creatively.
How is your sauce going to stand out on those supermarket shelves?
Think about the occasion.
When will your customers enjoy it, and what food
will it pair with?
Tomorrow, you'll have your very own stand here at this amazing market.
Whoever sells the most bottles, wins.
OK? Yep. Now, you're going to be in the same teams as yesterday.
So Rachel, Hebe, Sam and Kier, you are the Reds, which means
Flo, Craig, Amy and Andy, you are the Blues.
Now, before we get started, I want to introduce you to an amazing
couple who have turned the bottled sauce industry on its head.
Sauce Shop...
Welcome, Pam and James from the amazing Sauce Shop.
Good morning.
APPLAUSE
Nottingham-based duo Pam and James started Sauce Shop in 2014
from their kitchen.
Nine years and multiple awards later, they now supply over 1,000
shops and supermarkets.
Good to see you. Good to see you. Take me back to the beginning.
The inspiration came from where? We used to work in food product
development, and we thought
that the sauces in the supermarkets
just weren't doing our food justice.
We just thought - we can do better than this.
What's the secret behind creating an exciting new sauce that absolutely
blows those customers away?
It's got to be unique and it's got to go with something.
A lot of our recipes are kind of reinventions of classics,
but we've obviously got some pretty unique flavours as well.
Here's the good news.
Both Pam and James have agreed that the winning sauce
will be featured as a limited edition on their website.
Yes. How cool is that? That's amazing.
So, take inspiration from Pam and James because their business
was in the exact same position as yours, under a decade ago.
Blue team, as you won that mille-feuille challenge yesterday,
you'll get to spend some very special time with Pam and James
to give you some amazing tips.
Excited? ALL: Yes!
OK. Off you go, guys. Good luck.
Right. Who has experiences with sauces?
OK.
As a prolific sauce entrepreneur...
Are you feeling good? Feeling the pressure?
I'm excited and terrified, all in equal measure.
And, hopefully, I won't have a meltdown. Yeah.
I'm setting this challenge because half of us use a condiment
with every meal, which means the UK industry is worth around
£2.5 billion.
And honestly, it's a huge market. Crack it, you're onto a winner.
I'm thinking, like, with your business,
that hot sauce is the most popular sauce.
I would go for the hot sauce if we took a vote on it.
I literally do carry hot sauce in my bag everywhere I go.
And for the pairing, if we've got hot sauce, we should do tacos.
I think it just will marry-up well.
I am feeling immense pressure because it's my thing,
but everyone's looking at me like, "Kier, save us from the grilling."
Keep calm. Carry on.
We know that they're going to be relying on Kier.
They're going to take his lead. Exactly.
If they got for hot sauce, he's going to get judged on - that
better be the bloody best hot sauce that they've all ever tried.
If he doesn't live up to that, that's on him.
I would more go round, like, a ketchup.
It would have to be so original, though, wouldn't it?
Could you not do a play on, like, a tartare sauce or...
..a mushy peas? Mushy pea ketchup? Yeah.
With ketchup, you can pair it with fish, chips and gravy, fish, chips and curry sauce,
fish, chips and mushy peas. Fish and chips, then? What?!
Yeah. Fish and chips?!
No, it's terrible. For me, it's terrible.
I don't really eat fish and chips.
I think I never had a good fish and chips in my life,
and it's cultural, so doing a ketchup will be really hard for me.
Decisions made,
the teams now have two hours to develop their sauce recipes.
I have to strip a little bit. Ladies, watch out.
That is fenugreek.
Yeah. And that goes really nicely with peas. Peas?
Britain's favourite dish is curry.
The second favourite dish is fish and chips.
So I know we had the mushy pea idea.
What about doing something like...
..like a tikka masala mushy pea ketchup?
A curried ketchup? Yeah? Let's start.
Base-wise, I think we've got to think about stuff that goes
with Mexican food as well. So pineapple definitely could work.
Molasses could work, but it's quite dark.
Or you could have cider, so you could have a cider
and pineapple hot sauce.
I don't make sauce, but one thing, when I was travelling
in Mexico, was chocolate.
I just don't think I can make that taste nice.
We use it with the molasses and the cider.
I think pineapple and molasses is interesting enough. Yeah.
Yeah. Pineapple, cider, molasses. Let's rock it. And I'm happy doing whatever.
I know myself pretty well, and I know that I'm not the loudest one.
And I think that can be a little bit hard to get your voice heard.
Start with this pineapple. But it's about trying to make sure
we play to everyone's strengths.
Ah! I haven't really used molasses before.
It's, like, I do this every day, but under this kind of pressure,
I'm like, "Ah! Am I remembering everything?"
As the teams cook-up their sauces...
So we've started off with onions and garlic, basil,
pea, gherkins and then fenugreek.
..yesterday's challenge winners... Hello.
..are getting some top tips from Pam and James.
We know that you've got to hit a certain pH, slightly acidic,
but don't go too far, because you'll create something really sour.
OK. It's all about consistency.
So you want your sauce to be coherent, smooth, homogeneous,
and you achieve that by cooking it properly and blending it for long
enough, as well, so it's all nicely held together.
So the secret is blended? Yeah.
And in terms of flavour? It's up to you.
Ah! OK. OK.
We'll have to work on the texture and the acidity.
And I really like this fenugreek.
We need a little bit more, I think.
On the Red team... It's a good colour, isn't it?
..the first attempt at their pineapple hot sauce is ready to taste.
Got the sweet balance right.
I don't know if I can taste the pineapple.
I think the after notes was pineapple.
I don't feel like I feel flavours. I just feel, like, sweet and heat.
It's not "pineapple-y" enough. The challenge is, though,
if we increase too much more of it, it's going to get too thick.
Yeah.
Are you good, guys? Oh, hello. How are we doing? Hello.
Well. Tell me, where are we going?
We went with pineapple for the base of the hot sauce,
but didn't want to go too standard.
So we went with molasses to sweeten it, and it adds a little bit
of bitterness as well.
But, you know, it's counterintuitive because it's the base of a barbecue.
Can be, but it's... I think it's a bit original.
So, what's in here? Yeah.
So we've got a bit of onion and garlic, just for the touch
of savoury-ness. I like the heat level of that.
Yeah? It's got a good heat coming through. Maybe a bit too much
sort of fighting on the flavour-wise. The flavour doesn't come through enough - the pineapple.
No. I lost that pineapple there. I want to taste that fruitiness.
All right. Think carefully about naming it as well.
There's quite a lot going on, isn't there?
How do you communicate that flavour in a few words?
What I need you to do, is all of you taste it, because you're a team.
So you need to win as a team. OK? Good luck.
Your successful hot sauce, does it have molasses in?
No. We'd use that in a barbecue sauce.
I've never seen it in a hot sauce.
Yeah, it seems a bit of an obscure ingredient for a hot sauce.
I don't know if they're doing enough to stand out. Like, the pineapple
didn't come through. If it's a pineapple hot sauce,
you really want to just taste a fresh punch of pineapple.
Do you want to maybe ramp the pineapple up a bit, then?
To see if we can get the pineapple to come through.
I wouldn't go too much extra on the pineapple.
I mean, personally, I think it's quite well-balanced.
But he did just say there that he didn't taste the pineapple in it. Yeah.
At all. Yeah.
And I wouldn't want to lose the task based on the fact
that the main element of the sauce isn't tasted.
I just don't want to end up with something worse.
Kier's pretty headstrong on what he wants to do.
But from past experience, not taking the advice, you end
up in the losing team, so, a bit concerned.
Maybe, let's go up by, like, 10g.
We can try it, absolutely. Yeah?
I'm not going to be... not going to be a knob about it.
How's that?
Gosh, it's good. Ooh.
That's very good.
That's lovely.
Are you happy with that consistency?
No, it's too thick.
So we need to work on the texture.
Hello. Blue team, we good?
How are we feeling? Good. Good.
Where are we going?
A mushy pea ketchup.
Do you want a little taste? Yeah, absolutely.
So, this is a real classic one, this one, right?
In terms of, like, ketchup. So it needs to stand out.
Visuals first. What do you think?
It's, erm... For me, it's not really ketchup-y.
I think it needs a lot more blitzing. Yeah.
It's kind of like pea puree. It's more like a pea puree.
Which is nice. So, I need to work on the texture?
It needs to pour nicely.
I'm getting really strong fenugreek. Did you put fenugreek? Yeah.
Yeah, you literally get hit with that. Yeah, fenugreek's a bit weird
in there, cos it's not the kind of thing you traditionally put
on fish and chips. It stays with you, as well.
So, it's working on the balance.
OK, got it.
So, Blue team, the consistency looked a bit...
No, it wasn't ketchup.
There's a shine that ketchup should have, cos of that sweetness,
cos it's so well-blended. Yeah.
So, how do we make it like a ketchup, then?
Well, we blend better.
Flavour-wise? Peas have got to come through, cos at the moment
it does taste just like fenugreek.
Yeah, it's not the kind of thing you find with peas, is it, fenugreek?
Not really. No. You put it in curry.
I'm not sure if it's even... Look. It's not enough.
This is not a ketchup.
So, more water.
I didn't know it was so tricky to make a sauce.
Shit! Fuck's sake.
You OK, Kier?
How are you getting on? Ugh...
It's all sticking to the bottom. Fuck's sake.
I know I'm panicking a bit.
My entire future's at stake. No biggie.
All our futures are at stake, though, as well, Kier, remember.
Like, we all have to contribute enough to... Oh, I know.
But maybe slightly less embarrassing for you.
I'm thinking, am I in the process of destroying my reputation?
I'm second-guessing everything.
I'm a bit of a mess.
Slightly less spice, slightly more pineapple.
How's that taste?
I'm finding it hard to find the pineapple in it, if you know what I mean?
I don't taste pineapple either.
Oh, fuck me.
Right, let's just chuck a little bit more pineapple in there,
and see what we can do.
The teams now have 30 minutes left to perfect
their final sauce recipes.
Take a deep breath, Blue team. No panic.
As well as producing their sauce...
Ooh-la-la.
Going to do a beer batter.
..the teams also have to come up with sample dishes
to help showcase it tomorrow.
A fish, chips and sauce - is that it?
Yeah.
We've got tortilla chips for the veggies, chicken tacos...
I mean, we could make taco without the chicken on the top,
then it's a veggie taco.
But then it would just be a taco with just salad in it.
Yeah.
Me and Hebe conflict on a lot of stuff. Like, I think the ideas
she comes up with are shit, and then she thinks ideas I come up
with are shit, and we just conflict all the time.
Tomorrow, I'm worried how much the kitchen team might have to do
if they're doing a lot.
But what we are meant to do, make the tacos shit?
Well, not make the tacos shit...
Has anybody thought of any names?
I think we should play on the fact that it's ketchup and peas.
Pea-ky Blinder?
Pea, ha-pea...
Ha'pea Ketchup?
Like, as in "ha-pea", as in with a pea? Yeah. Ha-PEA.
Like, H-A-P... Oh, I see what you mean.
What did you think I meant? Oh! You're ha'pea!
Just you were calling it a happy sauce.
So, I like Ha'pea Sauce.
We've got ten minutes to get this done, all right?
Allez, allez, allez. Sorry.
You say "allez" a lot when the time's going... I know, I know.
It's just, let's go. We can do it.
Ooh. No.
I'm happy about the taste.
I'm not happy about the texture.
I think we are a little bit too thick.
I like thick sauces.
I think that will be a little bit tricky for tomorrow.
Ah...! Oh, yeah. It's hot.
Yeah, it's very hot.
I can taste the pineapple a bit more.
Can you taste the pineapple more?
Wee bit. A wee bit?
I think I'm tasting pineapple, yeah.
So, this is the final recipe, right? Yeah.
We're all going with it. We have to get behind it.
Yeah, yeah. Let's do it.
What are we going to go with?
Pineapple Molasses Hot Sauce. Flaming Pineapple Molasses.
What are you thinking, Hebe?
I quite like the Flaming Pineapple Molasses.
That's what it'll be.
It was emotional, guys!
It tastes fine.
But it's been really tough juggling all of the opinions.
I think I'm just a bit overwhelmed with the whole thing.
It's just a lot of self-doubt.
9am.
Hawker Market.
Nestled under the iconic Tyne Bridge, it's one of the top
independent food markets in the north of England.
A great place to showcase new food brands to members of the public
and local retailers.
Game faces on today.
Let's do it.
Peas. Mushy peas. Easy sell.
So ready to sell the pea.
Flaming Pineapple Molasses.
It sounds really sexy. Ooh!
Overnight, the teams' sauces have been mass-produced...
We're really going to kill it today, guys. Show me the sauce.
..and I've set them up with their own stalls at the market,
to sell them from.
Ooh, this is a bit cute. Oh, that looks nice.
Plenty of peas, guys. Plenty of peas.
Oh.
Oh, they're in there.
Wow.
Flaming Pineapple Molasses.
I'm really happy with how it's come out. I'd buy that.
Oh-la-la. Hey!
Ha'pea Ketchup.
Ah! I love it. Like it.
Shall we try it?
Taste.
Oh, that tastes amazing. Yeah, it tastes really good.
Tastes really good. It's hot.
It tastes really good, it looks really good.
I think it works.
I'm feeling better.
Obviously, yesterday was a bit of an emotional roller-coaster.
Today's a new day.
It's all about the selling now and...
..ta-da!
So it should be good.
Sort yourself out, why don't you? I'm having some happy sauce.
You want more? That is so nice.
It's got that curry kick to it a bit, though.
It's different. It's curry.
You'll need probably one of those two.
Before their stalls open in 30 minutes...
Yeah, baby, work it.
Work it, baby, yeah. Oh, you're an animal.
..the teams have a chance to snap some promotional material
for their sauces.
Can we do, like, half the chips in... Exactly.
Half the fish and chips in the shot.
That's a nice one. That is a nice one.
So, that's a barbecue underneath it?
Yeah. Is there nothing else?
What about out at that Portakabin?
It's, like, got multiple colours, just outside a wee bit.
We'll be back in a second, guys. OK.
I just think the colours are irrelevant behind it. Yeah.
I think the barbecue one looks really... it just blends.
It's just dark. I don't really like it.
She's a tough mistress, isn't she?
It'd be nice once to just be like, "Oh, that's actually quite good."
Yeah, she doesn't like anything!
If it were me, I would've found something with red and yellow
in the background. Red and orange.
I just think it looks a bit lost.
Yeah, can you take the pineapple out?
And I'll just take one that's wider.
Yeah, I mean, that's it. We have to go and have a look. See if...
See if that meets Rachel's approval!
So, this is what we have now. No, I know. I'm just saying...
And we haven't got more time. Do you not think you were a bit far away, though?
I mean, there's a lot of things we could, would and should've done.
But there's no point in us worrying about what we could have done.
This is what we have. It's going to be worst if we don't...
One of these, I think, will look really cool.
It's just typical Rachel. Not happy with a lot of things, as per.
But, like Kier said, she's a hard mistress to please!
One bottle, £3.50.
We don't need to have them all out, though, do we?
Just put them all out, Hebe, because that's our product. Like, that looks good.
What is the argument for not having them out?
If you knock one over, like, 20 will just fall off the side.
I think, me and Rachel, we have to work together.
Not let's talk for 20 minutes about how many exact bottles of sauce.
Not really an important detail.
We're in a team together. We have to make this work.
I think we're focusing on a really minor detail
a little bit too much.
Do any of you have bricks and mortar shops, though?
Like, do you know how visual merchandising works?
There's just so many times you can say something without it being heard.
But if the team don't want to hear it, then that's their problem.
I'll fight my corner.
All right, let's not have a tantrum.
It's not a tantrum, Kier. It's a sales task.
Yeah, I know.
Just don't patronise me.
You putting them all out?
I just do as I'm told.
There you go. Sauce just got real.
With the market nearly ready to open its gates,
the teams need to decide on their roles for today.
Oh!
I think it's a given that I'm going to be out.
I'm more confident selling. So, I'll be in the kitchen with you,
I'll be here with you, and then you two will be out on the pitch.
Yes, I'm going to start in the front.
Amy's starting in the kitchen.
I'm out the front.
No, no. I will be on the front, too.
We have, we have turns.
We just have turns. Make sense?
If I'm being honest,
I don't see myself in that kitchen.
I understand we want turns, but in the kitchen, I'm just going
to be useless there. I'm better with people.
There is absolutely no way
they're going to stick me in the kitchen and cooking again.
No way.
I work too hard to make this sauce, so I'm going to sell it.
Here we go!
Midday and the market is open.
Does anyone like hot sauce? Roll up, roll up.
So this is our little spin on a mushy pea sauce.
The teams have 90 minutes to sell as many sauce bottles as they can.
Here we are. Get a little dish of this.
Only £3.50 for a bottle.
Or three bottles for £10.
So, how many would you like?
Three, please. Three bottles.
Three bottles! First order of the day!
Have you guys tried some? Do you want to come forward?
Limited edition.
Guys, it's going to be a manic situation.
Let's not panic, do you know what I mean? We are not panicking.
I'm happy to go out also at some point.
Yeah, no worries, we'll come back.
Here we go. Let's go. Let's go.
Let's do it. Grab a fish and chip. Thank you.
Grab your sauce.
This is our take on a mushy pea ketchup.
It's a bit different. What do we think?
Tastes like mushy peas with a curry taste.
That's banging. Banging, innit?
Can I interest you in a little bundle? Why not? Yeah?
So it's called our Ha'pea Ketchup.
Bit punny, but the main thing is the gold in the inside, you know?
We're only here for the day, so we're really the only people
to do something like this.
So, Andy's got this patter about him that he can sell stuff
and he's selling to everyone.
So we do the one for 3.50
or you can get the three for a tenner.
Yeah, I'll take three for ten.
With sales in full swing, I want to check-in on the teams.
Are we happy? We are happy.
How's it going? Really well. You want to try it? I'd love to try one.
Yes, please. Thank you.
What's the feedback? They're getting the fenugreek, definitely,
and they do love it.
Keep on pushing them. Absolutely.
Thank you.
The Blue team off to a flying start.
Smart move, that, with the fish and chips.
What's impressive about the Blue team is the system
because Craig and Andy are out the front and they've got this beautiful
mechanism where they are dropping the fries
and sending them immediately.
Customers are eating and they're happy.
On the Red team...
Have we got any more samples on the way?
We're just getting some more samples, everyone, hold tight.
..there are some issues with their production line.
If anyone wants to buy any without testing them first,
you're more than welcome to come over here and grab it.
People are waiting, like. We're going as fast as we can.
Our biggest challenge really so far has been we haven't been getting
the food out quick enough for people to sample the sauce,
so we can sell it to them. I know, it's coming.
It's coming.
Oh, my Lord. We're getting them as fast as we can.
They're just sort of like getting all the bits ready individually.
Bam.
Production seems a little slow.
Try and get a conveyor belt working where you do five tacos in one,
so lettuce, chicken, garnish, garnish, rather than one at a time.
OK. Because that's what's going to sell that sauce.
And also tell your team to take the business down there!
Don't just stay in here. OK.
Go, go, go.
Red team feel a little bit more disorganised
because they're all clustered round the front of that kiosk.
There's 200 people here.
Get out, sell it.
This place is packed and they can't execute the tacos quick enough.
Would anyone else like a lovely bottle of hot sauce?
30 minutes till the market closes its doors.
Can I interest you in a little bundle deal? What do you reckon?
You're going to buy one.
But before it does, I've sent in some pretty special customers.
These guys have the potential to blow the team's current sales
out of the water.
Ready for trying? Ready.
Checking out the team's sauces are Charlotte Macken and Dave Akmeta
from on-demand grocery delivery company Gorillas.
I'm getting a lot of curry. A lot of curry.
What food is it meant to go in, or is it like anything, very versatile?
Really good with Mexican food,
really good on your eggs in the morning. It's got a kick.
Haris Deane from high-end supermarket chain, Booths.
You can definitely taste the pea.
Yeah. There's a good percentage of pineapple in there. Yeah.
And Paul Hargreaves, CEO of leading fine food suppliers Cotswold Fayre.
It's reminding me a bit of curry and chips I used to get at school.
What do you think? It's tasty, yeah.
After sampling the team sauces, I want to see whether these buyers
are impressed enough to spend big.
So, Red team's Flaming Pineapple Molasses.
First impressions? It probably wasn't flaming,
I didn't get a lot of pineapple
and didn't get too many molasses either.
I didn't get a lot of anything.
There's not much depth of flavour with that product.
Flaming Pineapple Molasses, first thoughts...?
The bottle, I think the biggest thing, it doesn't tell you
what it is. There's nothing about it's actually a hot sauce.
It's a big miss.
And how did you find the flavour on the taco. Taco's nice.
When you're kind of eating it, like, it's a nice eat,
but the pineapple just doesn't come through that strongly.
That's the first thing that you want to taste
and it's just not, yeah, it's not strong enough.
I think if you're a consumer and find this in the hot sauce section,
I think you would be a little bit confused.
Fair enough, it does say flaming, but that could be like cooking it
on a barbecue to get that chargrilled flavour.
Let's talk about the pea, Ha'pea Ketchup.
How did it taste? Better than I expected. Really?
Did taste a bit like the curry and chips I used to sneak out of
the back of the school gate to buy at lunchtime.
I was there as well. Ha'pea Ketchup.
Love the name. The product is, like, different, it's fun,
it's completely new.
I think my issue with it was it's being branded as a pea product,
but it is the texture you get from the mushy peas
and you can't really taste the pea as much as you'd probably like to,
but it's a pea product.
Branding wise, in terms of name,
on point? In terms of the name, I really like it.
I guess my only concern with this product, Gordon,
is you might buy this and have it with fish and chips,
but if you don't have fish and chips as frequently, you know, as some
other people, then you'll just be left with the product
in the fridge and that's the last thing you want.
The buyers have given their feedback on the teams' efforts,
but will they place any orders?
So we have a beautiful, juicy, flavoursome concoction
of flavours here.
So are we going for the three for ten?
Yes. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
That's what we like to hear.
Back at the market, 15 minutes to shift their sauces.
So I'm just checking the kitchen one more time.
You OK? I'm pissed off, but it's a team work.
That's it. Don't want you in the kitchen,
I genuinely want you to...
To sell. To thrive somewhere else.
Like, I don't want you to feel like you're being...
Stuck in the kitchen. ..pigeonholed.
We had a deal that at some point I wouldn't be stuck in the kitchen,
so I'm waiting for Craig to come back in the kitchen,
like that, I can go out a little bit more.
Sorry, we were selling so many.
We're selling so many.
OK, let's go. We have one more tray ready.
We're smashing it. Let's just carry on.
Just take it. Let's go.
OK, grab that.
There was obviously a strategy at the beginning to send two out
and two stay in and then rotate, and Flo wanted to go out on the floor.
Do you want to try some fish and chips
with a little bit of pea ketchup?
I knew they were pressing for it,
but sometimes, just fucking ignore them. You know what I mean?
They wanted to get out, but we're, like, useless here.
My bread and butter is really selling with people,
like, making deals. I'm ready to go.
I just want to get back into it.
Want to go back home with one?
I'll have a think about it. It's nice.
Go, go, go, go, go.
I kind of sent Andy back out to sell as many bottles as possible,
so we had to keep him out there.
I know that's frustrating.
It's fucking frustrating.
He's selling so much sauce.
Honestly, he's a machine.
I'm fuming.
If we can get some more, a couple of samples, that'd be wonderful.
We're just waiting for more tacos to come out of the kitchen.
Like, it's taken too long.
I knew these were too fatty.
Can we help? Just get in there and just chuck a tray with some nachos
on it. Sorry, guys. I'm going to just help.
I get you want to get the nachos out fast, but we want something
that's going to really sell the sauce.
Let's just work in a production line and just get stuff streamlined.
And that's the problem.
Can we, look, we're just fucking about now.
I'm disappointed in Rachel, If I'm honest.
In a task like this, you want the rest of your team to be on board
and I don't think she was.
Here's a trade. Go out and then I'll deal with people that come here.
Hi, guys. How are you? Do you want to come closer?
Gents, we're ending in five minutes.
So could we interest you in a little bulk order just before we go?
It's a limited edition, so I think you should have this in your shop.
We have a prize for, like, 20, 10 bottles.
Do you like mushy peas, normally.
Yeah? I don't.
These will go off the shelf in a shop
because there's nothing like it.
One minute left!
Go, go!
I'll tell you what, We'll take ten off you. Yeah?
There you go, buddy.
Thank you very much.
You go for 20 bottles it's £60, just saying.
I am, innit! Go on.
Go on, then.
Hey! Thank you so much.
Thank you so much, guys.
Really appreciate that.
Well done, Sam.
Can I interest you in a bottle each?
We'll get three.
Don't worry about this guy. Don't worry about this guy.
Is that time up?
We're done. Oh, well done, guys.
Well done. Good work.
I don't know how many we sold.
It was just a blur of, we were selling a lot.
So I'm really pleased with the performance in terms of sales.
Yeah, we'll see. We'll see.
Put it there. Put it there.
I think winning for me would just be a relief
because my reputation's on the line, or at least it feels like that.
So if we win, I think it'll be tears of relief
more than anything else. In it to win it, baby.
We're in it to win it!
Ready, Andy? I'm ready.
It's going to be close.
Did we sell enough?
Good morning. Good morning.
Right, we are now getting into the latter stage of the process,
and trust me, the competition is really heating up.
You all had to create a brand-new original sauce
to sell to local retailers and members of the public.
Let's start with the Red team, Hebe, Sam, Rachel and Kier.
Flaming Pineapple Molasses.
Obviously, Kier, you've got a range of delicious hot sauces yourself.
Mm-hm. So did this feel like it was in your comfort zone?
It was, obviously, but that was almost to my detriment in some ways.
Like, I think I definitely overthought a fair bit.
Kier was under a lot of pressure and there was a lot of opinions,
and I think he did really well to keep us sort of
on the right tracks.
It was so many cooks in the kitchen situation.
Why no mention of hot sauce on the bottle?
That was one of those wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night,
fuck, moments for me. Yeah.
So, yeah, that was an oversight.
I think it's so easy just to forget those small details.
Yeah. I respect your honesty, but it's pretty key, isn't it?
Yeah, it is. It's a stupid mistake.
Blue team. Flo, Amy, Andy and Craig.
Ha'pea Ketchup. Flo, we established very quickly
you're not a fan of fish and chips or ketchup!
Not really, but I follow my team.
They are English.
Their culture is not mine.
I tried your sauce.
I noticed it had a strong curry flavour with that fenugreek.
We all really liked it because we felt as though it sort of combined
those classic flavours that you would have on a fish and chips,
which is, like, ketchup, peas and curry sauce.
Yeah. But there's no reference to the curry on your bottle.
So how are the customers going to know that?
It was a bit of an oversight on our part.
Right, on to results.
Blue team, in that very busy market,
you ended up selling 133 bottles of Ha'pea Ketchup.
Red team, with your pineapple molasses hot sauce...
..you managed to sell...
..118 bottles.
So, Blue team, you sold the most in the market.
But just press pause on the celebrations for one moment.
Amongst the public and the local retailers of that market
were some very, very special big buyers.
The CEO of wholesaler Cotswold Fayre was there.
Also the head buyer of the largest independent supermarket
in the north-west, Booths, came along,
as did the head buyers from Gorillas.
So that is a massive buying potential right there.
That's crazy.
Blue team, let's start with Gorillas.
They felt your sauce was more curry than pea.
They felt that the lack of description of your flavours
could be very misleading to their consumers.
They placed no order for your sauce.
Red team, Gorillas felt that the word molasses was a strange choice.
They were slightly worried that customers wouldn't understand
what it is. But when they tried your sauce, they liked it and they placed
an order of 50 units.
50 units.
Blue team, Booths...
..they were worried about the usage of your sauce.
Apart from fish and chips, what else would it pair with?
But they felt the sauce was unique and that it would stand out
on their shelves.
They placed an order for...
..300 units.
Red Team, Booths felt that your sauce flavours didn't stand out.
They felt that it wouldn't be any good in an already congested market.
They placed zero orders.
Finally,
Cotswold Fayre.
Blue team, Cotswold Fayre felt that your name was pretty cool.
They loved the depth of flavour.
They placed an order...
..for 360 units.
Red Team, Cotswold Fayre,
they loved the pairing with the tacos, but they felt
the pineapple flavour wasn't strong enough, and they said the lack
of hot sauce in the name would be extremely
problematic for them.
So they placed...
..zero orders.
That makes the Blue team the winners of this week's challenge.
Blue team, well done!
Here's a really cool thing.
Your Ha'pea Ketchup will be featured as a limited run
on the Sauce Shop website.
Well done.
Red team, I'm sorry - you lost.
Absolutely pummelled.
But I would like to single one individual out,
because I felt they did really well in the selling and hustled nonstop,
and without whom, I don't think you'd have anywhere near
the sales you did.
Sam, I will not be grilling you this week.
Kier, Rachel and Hebe,
I'd like to see all three of you in the restaurant,
to grill you on your performance.
From that, somebody will be leaving tonight.
Blue team, well done.
Great job.
Here we go again.
Worst-case scenario!
That word "flaming", it wasn't clear enough.
It should have been Pineapple Molasses Hot Sauce.
Like, yeah, kick myself.
I had a feeling it was going to go this way.
I think we worked really hard. I'm proud of what we did,
but I think I just got up too much in my own head and let that impact
what I did.
In the other tasks, I've known that I've made mistakes that have led
to the failings of the task,
but this time around I don't feel that. I'm just going to go in
and state where I feel the failings were and hopefully Gordon can see
the same as I can.
Kier, sit down, please.
Rachel, take a seat, please. Thank you.
Hebe, sit down, please.
Looking at your brand and how successful that's been,
I'm talking about award-winning sauces.
Honestly, I was expecting more from you.
I'm gutted, to be honest.
Like, devastated.
I was so worried about getting a sauce that tasted good
and also paired well with the food, that I think I played it too safe.
I don't make sauce. Kier makes sauce.
I'd taken a sort of back-seat.
The word "back-seat" doesn't resonate with me. Especially...
However, in the kitchen, I recognised that their strengths
were stronger than mine. You can't have all of these voices
coming in at different angles.
You have to at some point realise their skills are stronger
in the kitchen, and I'm here to help them.
When Kier was doing the samples, I was continually saying to him,
"We can't sell a hot sauce that says pineapple on it
"that doesn't taste like pineapple."
Any time he was met with any sort of feedback,
he just wasn't prepared to take it.
He was just dead set on what he wanted to do.
Let's talk about the name. I've got a website up here.
You probably recognise that. Yeah, it's mine.
"Smokey Dragon Hot Sauce." Yeah.
"Seance Hot Sauce."
Yeah.
"Siren's Island Hot Sauce."
What's common with all those names?
Honestly, Gordon, I'm kicking myself more than,
more than anyone else could.
These are your fricking award-winning sauces,
all stipulating hot sauce on the front of the fricking bottle.
I had a bad day in the office.
I got in my head and I made some stupid mistakes
that I would never usually do, outside of this environment.
You were in that room when they were coming up with a name.
How in the hell do you let anybody in your team
put the word "molasses" on there?
Well, I opposed it. There was a lot of names getting fired about
that I said that I didn't like,
and I didn't like the molasses element from the get go,
and I did highlight that. I did try.
"Hot sauce" was not used and so you lost multiple sales
from all three major supermarkets.
I did want to put hot sauce, but when you've got someone
that's so stuck on what they're doing, like,
what can you actually do apart from just keep saying it?
I do feel like I'm trying to put points across.
I can't help it if they're not heard.
I've studied your drinks on your website and it's clear -
when you order, you know exactly within seconds what it is.
"Flaming Pineapple Molasses".
How do we end up with that on the bottle?
It was this breakdown of communication.
At some point, you're bickering, bickering, bickering.
Someone has to back down, because then we end up with no name.
We had room for four words on that bottle.
It should have been "Pineapple Molasses Hot Sauce".
It was obvious the tacos were so elaborate, cos you couldn't get them
out quick enough in order to taste the sauce,
because the tacos were too complicated.
I think in retrospect, I didn't really take on board
just how much volume of people would come through the door so quickly.
But I did try to set up a production line with everything in order,
like, as it would go on the taco.
You could have trebled those sales had you been organised. Yeah. I agree.
And had the - the taco hadn't been so difficult to execute.
I was the only one saying these tacos are too elaborate,
but yet again, Rachel didn't listen.
I was in the team with Rachel last week, and I saw the same pattern
of behaviour. When an idea isn't carried forward that she likes,
it's like a strop. We spent I don't know how long bickering,
wasted precious time on that day too,
when we should have been prepping the tacos.
The sauce was actually going down really well.
The kitchen basically couldn't keep up.
Whilst I will put my hands up and accept my role in this,
it was, at the end of the day, a team task
and the kitchen didn't carry its weight.
It felt like we were all on these different islands.
Yeah, I think particularly Rachel I had some trouble with.
She checked out. Rachel checked out?
She did, yeah, yeah. We didn't immediately see eye-to-eye,
and she just kind of got her nose put out of joint,
and then from that point, barely talked to the rest of us. Wow.
And it kind of felt like it was us three and her, to a degree.
No, that's not true.
I mean, I think when you continually give someone your opinion
and it's not met, you just have to stick to what you're doing,
and that's what I did.
Tell me why I should keep you in this competition.
Prior to this week, I'd won three challenges in a row.
I've brought two brands to market, successfully,
and won those challenges.
This challenge was in your back garden.
This was yours to absolutely nail.
And I didn't.
Partly because I was not on my A-game,
and partly because I think the rest of my team stood back
and enjoyed the ride.
Are you coasting? No.
I know it might appear that I'm in the background.
However, there are key moments when I've either taken leadership
or become a really valuable member of a team.
I'm so far out of my comfort zone in the kitchen.
However, I am getting on with it.
I'm getting my head down and I'm learning new skills.
You've lost four out of the last five challenges.
Are you difficult to work with in a team?
Why am I seeing you the most?
I think you've seen me the most because I am not taking back-seats.
I'm always putting myself out there and letting my voice be heard,
which can sometimes transpire as being difficult
but I don't think that it is,
and the one task that I did do exceptionally well on
is the one that is closest to my business.
So I think the fact that Kier has flopped in this task,
it can't be me that's to blame.
Thank you, Rachel. Thank you.
Thank you, Kier.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for the opportunity, as well.
All right?
I didn't cry.
Oh, well done.
Kier, Rachel and Hebe,
overall, this was not a good week for all of you.
Kier, everyone is allowed a bad day at the office,
but you chose a pretty terrible day to have it.
Yeah, I agree.
Rachel, you've been in the losing team now four times,
and in this challenge, it felt like you felt you could hide
behind Kier as the expert, and avoid collateral damage.
Hebe, this week, much like the previous weeks,
I'm struggling to identify any ideas that you actually managed to get
on the table.
This has been a really tough decision.
The person I will not be investing in...
HE SIGHS
..is Rachel.
In business, we need to be proactive, not reactive.
And I wish you all the very best with your eco cafe,
but I'm afraid we're done.
All of you just stay seated for a moment.
There were too many mistakes for just one of you to leave
the competition this week, and it's too late, especially at this stage
in the competition for anyone to be fading into the background.
So, I'll also not be investing in...
..Hebe.
Young lady, I love the energy you brought to this competition,
and I know that your kombucha bar down the line
will be a huge success,
but unfortunately it won't be with me. Thank you.
Now, we all make mistakes in business, but for me,
it's about accountability.
And Kier stood up and owned his. With the other two,
one person didn't listen, and the other couldn't be heard,
so that's why Rachel and Hebe had to go.
I'm a little bit gutted, but I'm leaving with my head held high
and I wish all of them the best of luck.
I do need to get my voice heard,
so I've learned a valuable lesson here.
I'm excited for the future and for what I'll go on to achieve.
I've done a lot in the past two years, and with all this experience
and knowledge that I've learned, I'm going to go on
to do something great.
I'm surprised to stay in,
because I thought I'd fucked-up too badly this week.
Six people have gone, six people are left.
It's getting tantalisingly close to actually being able
to win this thing. So, yeah, I'm in it. I'm in.
Next time...
It's all about quality.
It's a little bit hot.
Embrace the world of high-end hospitality.
I'm talking. I'm asking a question. I need... Listen.
Go back to the kitchen. Oh, God.
My restaurant, your quarterfinal.
Sorry to keep you waiting, guys. It won't be too much longer.
That, nowhere near, mate.
Fucking hell, what have I done?