Eight weeks ago, I sent 12 food and drink entrepreneurs on an
assault course of challenges to decide which one of their businesses
I'd be investing 150K of my own cash into.
This programme contains some strong language
Each challenge was designed to push them to their limit...
I'm not very good with height.
It's like all my phobias all in one.
..and test them
in the most extreme business environments... I cannot take money
off people without getting the orders out.
You didn't let me do this. This is all you. All right. Festival!
..to see who would rise to the top.
This is vibrant. The colours are great.
I like the flavours that are coming through.
I'm excited about the cocktail.
She's fantastic.
Oh! You couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery!
Shit. Just pack it in now.
You can't be upset. The day hasn't even begun yet.
Got to bring it together now. This is a joke.
I'm not doing this.
Disorganised, underprepared. You let your team down.
I've invited my three finest to meet me here in Covent Garden,
a marketplace that's renowned across the world and home to some
of the UK's finest shopping and dining experiences.
Where better place to decide my winner?
How beautiful is Covent Garden? It's so nice.
With nine contenders eliminated, we're down to my three finalists.
My baby! Steph, with her Japanese-inspired soft drinks.
I've gone through the last eight weeks and I've changed, like,
completely from the person I was.
I haven't been in a grilling.
I haven't messed up in a big way.
This is the last hurdle on that race, and I want to win.
It's really real now, isn't it? I wonder what we're going to do.
Victoria, and her plantain-based snacks.
I'm going to do everything I can to win this.
I am an East London girl, so I've got a lot of grit in me.
I've overcome a lot with zero money whilst working full time, studying
full time, while starting my business. I know I have it in me.
I am absolutely shaking.
And Leah, with her free-from brownies.
Getting into this final, it means everything.
I've left my family.
I've not seen my children for eight weeks, but to get to the final,
it was worth it.
Wow. It's so different, isn't it?
The drinks, the plantain, the brownies.
Hi, Gordon! Hello.
First of all, congratulations to all three of you.
This week, I'm going to decide on who's going to win
my £150,000 investment.
So tomorrow, you'll all be hosting a unique launch event right here,
right in the centre of Covent Garden, to promote your product,
your brand and you.
Whilst I see something unique in all your businesses,
I've identified areas each of you are going to have to address
if you want any chance of securing my investment.
Oh, my God.
Steph, your Japanese-inspired soft drink.
It's a lovely concept, but currently I don't know where it stands
in an already crowded drinks market.
Mm-hm. I want you to work today on your marketing and social media.
I want to see something that really sells your brand. Got it.
Leah, you sell sugar-free, gluten-free, delicious
vegan brownies, but I feel like your current packaging is not doing
the brownies justice.
No. I want to see a total rebrand of that packaging.
I want you to show me packaging that is as aspirational as the product inside.
OK. Yeah.
Victoria, a healthy, exciting snack brand.
I've seen your business plan, and I know you want to extend
that product range. Yeah.
Prove to me you have what it takes to create your great product.
Oh, my word.
One final challenge. Everything to play for.
I've set you up with the best of the best.
There are no excuses.
Good luck, and I'll see you soon.
Off you go.
Oh, my gosh.
You know, just like...
Oh, my gosh...
To launch their businesses,
I provided each of them with a unit in an iconic building in the heart
of Covent Garden.
Oh, wow, look at this! What an amazing thing.
This is massive.
They'll have just 24 hours to reinvent these empty rooms
into incredible spaces to showcase their brands tomorrow.
Oh, my gosh. It's so big.
Oh, the drinks just look so small.
Gordon's throw down the gauntlet.
He said, "Your Achilles' heel is your social media. Sort it out."
Having 24 hours to change around the whole social media
strategy is, is pretty intense.
I'm going to need a few more cans.
Oh, my gosh.
This looks so cool.
It is very ambitious to do a complete new product in a day,
but it is a huge opportunity right now.
It's more than the £150,000,
it's working with Gordon Ramsay.
This is my baby.
So Gordon said that he wanted to rebrand.
So I have to really focus, because if I win this, my life
will change forever.
How do you showcase such a tiny item in such a massive room?
With such a huge task ahead of them,
they're going to need some help.
Team... Shut...!
How are you? Are you OK?
Hello, sunshine.
Fuck off! Oh, my God!
Matthew!
We're going to win this.
We're going to do this together. With me?
Oh, my God.
That was a big surprise.
Victoria, how's it going?
SHE SCREECHES
What the heck?!
What?! Are you working with me? Yeah, yeah...
If I could pick anyone to come back, Jamie would be the first person
that I would pick.
So him being on my team is like a dream come true.
Team! This is Sunmo.
Tell me about it, yeah.
This is our plantain crisp range. Plantain -
it's cousin to the banana, but it's got so much more potassium.
So I wanted to create a brand that is healthy, nutritious,
but it was fun.
So my brand is very much rooted in East London.
I started it literally in my mum's East London council flat,
and then I took them to market stalls, other sites,
and then through that.
Now we're in the huge stores across the country.
Even to say it, it's amazing.
I'm not surprised that Victoria's business has become the success it has been.
She's had to come back from work, work on the business and go back
to work. Going to the market at 12 midnight, to lugging everything
to the trade shows.
But to see her at this point, I'm just so proud of her.
Well, the orders are coming in. I just need the money.
So what will I be helping you make, then?
We're going to be making a plantain smoothie,
so we're going into drinks. OK. And I'm working with the best person
to make a new product. Funny! Yeah.
What's this? Is this you?
Yes.
So this is the ginger stem brownies.
So they are gluten-free, refined sugar-free and dairy-free.
Wow. And do you make these all at home?
Yeah, I've been doing it in my kitchen, in my house. Stop it.
So I called them Norah's Brownies cos I was on maternity with Norah.
She was six months old and I'm there, like, baking brownies.
My husband ate one one day and he went, "You could make money from this."
And I kind of went, "Hmm."
Any event that was going on, I would message
them and say, "Can I get my brownies in your goodie bag?"
And I had boxes of brownies in one hand and Nora was in a pushchair.
It just step-by-step and bit-by-bit grew.
Look. I love it. I love it.
The business has grown organically so far, so to get investment
of any level, I think, would be a game-changer.
Being able to get a premises somewhere, that means
we don't have to share a kitchen with loads of workers any more.
Can't tell you how much I've outgrown my kitchen.
I've got, like, secret cupboards with just things popping out.
I don't want my family to feel like they're living
in a work space any more.
I'm bursting at the seams here.
Your products look insane and they taste incredible.
So it's the design. The packaging needs improving.
And I've always known that. I've known that for years.
I just haven't had the funds to do it.
And I just am really excited about...
Oh, my God, I can't believe you're here!
Let's do it. Let's do it.
The whole idea came from being in Japan and I tried this drink
and it really lit my imagination.
And I want to be transporting people to downtown Tokyo every time
they drink it. All the bustling around, all the movement...
Yeah, exactly.
Sounds really cool.
The idea for my brand came from my travels with the Royal Navy,
specifically four months in Japan, where I was really inspired
by this drink called Chu-hi.
When I returned home, I couldn't find it, so I decided
to make my own version of a Chu-hi.
I went from kind of first ideas on paper to minimum product
in the shop in six months.
My goodness me, here is somebody that... She's one to follow.
She's done the hard miles.
She's not been given this on a plate and her drink
will be a great success.
The last two years have been really tough.
I've done everything on my own.
I've paid my way with everything, using loans and grants.
I need to get that investment and I need to take my business off.
This opportunity does not come around twice.
You know, that's nice and refreshing.
What has Gordon said?
He said it's a bit too niche.
I need to make it more accessible for other people. Right, OK.
So he's told me to work on social media and marketing.
OK, cool.
So you're going to be helping me with a marketing agency.
OK, so we've got to create a campaign around this. Exactly. OK.
What Gordon's asked Steph to do, it is massive, mammoth task.
I mean, 24 hours is not a lot of time.
OK. OK.
We got this, we got this!
Yeah? Yeah. Don't worry. Don't worry.
I've given the finalists an interior designer each... Hello! Hi.
..to assist them in bringing their units to life.
When I do the markets, I have lots of, like, green and plants,
really bright, vibrant colours. These white walls,
I'm going to transform it.
I really want it to scream downtown Tokyo.
So I'm thinking futuristic, like, gaming vibes, assault
on the senses.
So maybe we could create some kind of cool light installation. Yes.
It's vital the brief that the finalists give is clear
and represents the vision for their brands.
When I was younger, I used to have a graffiti wall in my room,
so all my friends would come round and write their
tag name or whatever.
Yeah, we can bring an element of that in. Good to have, like, seating
as well, because that's what it's about, bringing people together.
I think that sits really nicely with you launching the new products as well.
The next time they see this space will be before they launch in front
of the public tomorrow.
My business is in my kitchen.
I don't have a bakery. So maybe we can play on that a little bit. Yeah.
Incorporate your kitchen into this space and maybe extend
it out to other rooms of the home. Yeah, I would love that. OK.
Definitely work with that.
There's a huge amount of work to do.
Obviously, Leah has had this vision for this company.
She's never had the money to be able to rebrand it.
So we've got a day to put in four years' worth of work to get
it rebranded and set up. Yeah.
Oh, my gosh. This is just not real. Is this really happening? Yeah.
The stakes are high, so I've put them under real pressure.
That's what it's like in business
with me. Now, I'll only partner with someone who can really step
up and take direction and get to that next level.
With the design of their spaces under way, the finalists now
need to tackle the concerns I raised with their businesses.
With only limited time to achieve this, I provided some support
for them all.
Helping Steph revitalise her social media is award-winning digital
marketing agency Jellyfish.
Hey. Hey!
Assisting Leah to see if she can take her packaging
to the next level...
Oh, thank you so much.
..top creative agency TRO.
And working with Victoria on expanding her product range...
Hi. Good to meet you.
..leading food and drink innovators Tastemakers.
Do you want to tell me what you're hoping to achieve?
So we've got our plantain crisp range. Yep.
What I'm really thinking is to do a protein shake.
Oh, wow. A type of smoothie.
It's got that lovely kind of creamy texture associated
to it and it's quite sweet. So I think it would be quite a good one.
Yeah, I would really like to do four flavours.
OK, cool.
Have you made smoothies before?
To be honest, I haven't.
I was thinking like a green smoothie.
Either broccoli or spinach. Or a combination of the two.
Yeah. Yeah.
So we can use the cucumber. Yeah.
That will give us the kind of base liquid.
Yeah.
Amazing colour. It is so green.
It's very bitter.
Yeah, I don't like the taste of that.
For a smoothie, this could be too many.
Maybe if it was my business, I'd maybe just do two,
to start off with, and then build on that.
But, you know, Victoria wants to do it.
So, sod it, let's do it.
The green smoothie's out! The green smoothie's out.
The digital marketing agency have had a look at Steph's current
social media campaign.
They have some thoughts.
There's a few question marks, challenges we've got.
There's lots going on in your social media
that's, that's maybe a bit confusing.
So, social media so far has literally just been me.
It's garbage.
I know it's poor.
So I guess one of the first questions is - who is it really for?
The biggest sort of sector and the most diverse sector is gamers
who want something that's going to go with what they're playing.
What do you want people to feel when they pick up a can?
I want them to be transported.
I remember standing in the centre of Tokyo, just looking
at a billboard and just taking it all in.
It's about an experience.
And I think with marketing, especially with the journey,
that you've got to make people feel something.
What if this brand is a real kind of... Gives you an instant hit
of Japan? The sour, distinctive taste.
What if we said, "This is about helping you sour up"?
Like power up. To sour up.
Oh... Almost like life's a game and you need to kind of sour
up to get an edge. That's cool.
What do you think? I think there's a lot there. In terms
of what it should look like,
we had an idea of a 15-second or a 30-second video.
Yeah, I think video is massive.
Getting someone to put on a headset
and then it's almost like you're going into their mind
when they're opening that kind of drink and into the experience
of Japan. Oh, perfect.
It's a really exciting brief. I'm getting overexcited.
No, no. Excited is good.
That's what it's all about.
My biggest challenge now is to make a video that rings true
with that Gen Z, early-millennial bracket.
Sensory overload. That's what I want.
I want someone... Perfect. ..like, borderline overwhelmed!
Over in South London, Leah is addressing the issues
with her branding.
I've had this packaging for four years.
I'm very proud of it, only because I did it myself.
In terms of the overall look and feel,
probably initially, I wouldn't have thought it was brownies.
It's got a little bit of a tissue box vibe, but I think we can kind
of bring it together to shout about brownies and things.
When I called it Norah's Brownies, we started with brownies, and now
I'm doing doughnuts, and now I'm doing cookies.
Lola always said, "Why is it never called Nola?"
Because it was a... Perfect! ..combination between the two.
In terms of looking at a logo anyway, we're starting from scratch,
so now is the time if you want to change that name. Yeah.
Gordon has given you the challenge today to rebrand this and change it.
If you're going to do it, we're going to do it with the best in the business.
This is an opportunity to rebrand, then...
Yes. ..today is the day.
Today is the day. Today is the day.
So Nora and Lola - Nola's?
I've had that name Norah's Brownies for four years, and I built my
brand on that.
People know me as that.
It is a bit scary.
I feel like I've let go of something and it's a risk.
With only a few hours to completely revamp their brands...
Oh, my head hurts.
..all three finalists will need to press ahead and make
some bold decisions...
Just rotate a fraction. I am rotating. There you go.
..if they want to be ready for tomorrow's launch events.
At the flavour innovators, Victoria is pushing forward
with her plantain smoothies.
I think maybe if we start off with 25g of plantain. OK.
We're going to use some almond butter, some cacao, water,
and then we're actually going to try a bit of date syrup.
Mm, it smells very good.
I can't wait to try this.
That should be done. Brilliant.
It smells so chocolaty. It does!
Cheers! Nice one.
It tastes quite nutty.
Consistency-wise, I think I will blend it a bit more.
It's not so lumpy.
I was wondering if it could do with a tiny little bit of salt.
Now that I'm making the smoothies packed with plantain,
and I've tasted them, I'm so surprised that no-one's done it before.
I'm really excited. I can see the pound signs with this one. Yeah.
This is delicious. I can't believe it's got plantain in it.
I already don't like it.
Leah is going to have to get creative if she wants the branding
of her packaging to match the high quality of her product.
I am looking at that. And then going, "And then what?"
To create a kind of green backdrop you then have Norla's on top of.
And is there another way that we could do it?
Only cos I know time is short and I'm sure you can hear the panic
in my voice.
So that's £23 for that box.
So I want the people when they receive the box
to be like, "This was worth my money."
If we could maybe, like you said, incorporate those ingredients
in an abstract way. And that could work really nicely
if we have the kind of raspberry colour flashing and then you've got
a little lilac that works nicely tonality-wise. Yes. I'm liking that.
I feel a bit sick, like, I feel a bit like "Shit, like, what if it
"actually doesn't look nice and I don't even like it?"
But I'm almost thinking that the panic is making my brain
stop a little bit and that I just have to maybe take a deep breath
and calm and just focus, because there's just...
There's only so much time I can do this.
Not much longer. Not much longer.
The less fumbling we can have, the better.
Over at the digital marketing agency, Steph is calling the shots
on her new social media campaign.
Can you say, "Wow," and, like, look to that point above the camera?
Wow.
Little bit more wow. A little bit more.
Wow. A little bit more wow.
OK. Same again.
Do you want to try one from the other side or anything?
No, I want to just get all the shots in. OK.
This is the one. I can feel it.
Oh...
HE EXHALES
I like that a lot.
I think the idea is ace. Yeah.
I think, personally, I would have liked to maybe shoot
more of a variation. In my humble little experience with shooting,
it's just to kind of try and get as much as you possibly can.
But, yeah, I think what we've got is good.
Right. Steph, are you happy with everything? Cos we've only got
ten minutes left. I think you're right. We need to get the, um... Yeah? ..the video chosen.
The day is coming to an end, and it's time for Victoria, Steph
and Leah to make the final touches to their brands.
What do you want to do?
Because we've developed four recipes.
We've tested five.
Yeah, I would actually love to put forward all four of them.
There is a lot hinging on Gordon liking these smoothies
that I've produced today.
Him seeing that I can develop products, that I have that skill
and that ability is so vital.
Good colours. That's good.
Yeah. So we have the opening of the can.
It's got the logo nice and clearly, it's looking really good.
So I think what we want is like the VR headset coming
down and then neons, cartoons, games, anime, anything.
Tokyo in a drink.
That's the one. Perfect. Yes, please. Yeah.
Today's been a massive eye opener.
It's shown me what can happen when you put money
into professional services.
And it's like, having now seen this,
I want that 150 grand from Gordon because I'm not going back
to editing videos on my phone.
It's going to be a cracking video. Oh, I'm so excited.
Thank you. Thank you so much. See you soon. See you.
Let's get Katie's work up on the big screen.
Oh, look, it says, "Bakery".
It's almost projecting success.
You've gone from brownie to bakery.
Stop it. Yeah, exactly.
I've changed the name, I've changed the look, I changed everything.
And...
And I'm hoping that Gordon will appreciate bold, brave decisions.
The difference is huge.
Yeah, and that's what I wanted to show Gordon, that I was brave
enough to go.
I hope Gordon appreciates how hard today was.
About an hour and a half ago, I did feel a little bit, like,
shellshocked and now it's all come together and it just looks
so beautiful.
So that's it. You're done!
CHEERING
I'm not nervous about tomorrow. I'm excited about tomorrow.
I've just put everything in today.
I worked my hardest. I couldn't work any harder.
My brain couldn't work any more. And I just hope that it's enough.
I'm obviously living for tomorrow.
It's going to be brilliant and I can't wait to see what comes out.
I can't wait to see what it looks like.
It's the launch of my brand, really.
Tonight I'm going to plan and perfect what's going
to happen tomorrow, cos this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Last time I saw the finalists, I asked Leah to rebrand, Steph
to update her marketing, and Victoria to expand her range.
In business,
you have to take advice on board and constantly evolve.
Will they step up and present something I want to invest in?
It's make or break.
24 hours ago, the finalists left the designers with a vision
for their units.
Sorted? Yeah, I feel good. I'm feeling really good.
I still have that kind of, like, "Eugh!" Kind of, like, feeling...
Oh, I really hope it's, like, super in-your-face...
With their brand's reputation on the line...
Oh, wow.
..now it's time to see if the brief they delivered was clear enough.
Let's see. Fingers crossed.
Fingers crossed.
Wow.
Oh, my God.
That looks ace.
It's so good.
Oh, look at this.
I love this wall.
That is cool, innit? Yeah.
Your shakes.
Oh, my gosh.
Oh, this is going to be so much fun. Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, wow.
Oh, my gosh. Look at that.
Oh, wow. Oh, look at this.
This is actually what my kitchen at home looks like.
And, oh, my gosh, look at that.
They have done amazing.
Well, I say, "They..." You, you!
Isn't that cute? I think it's beautiful.
I love the text. I love the writing.
I'm really proud of the way it looks.
I knew it was going to be great and then it was better.
Yesterday, when I left, I did doubt myself whether changing the name
was too big a decision.
But then going in there today and seeing it on the box,
it had to be done. It was definitely the right decision.
I just can't believe it. It just...
It's like everything, all the touches you've got,
like, the screens, which are amazing.
You've got pictures kind of six-foot-high on the walls.
It's really cool.
Let's have a look at the video. Yeah.
POP MUSIC
Oh, my gosh. That did it.
That's so good.
I think you must have answered the brief with that. It's good. It's awesome. Really good.
Looking at that room,
it's just, like, this is what my brand could be.
I just haven't got enough money, so I'm coming out of the blocks fighting.
And I'm here to convince Gordon Ramsay to invest
all his money in me.
Maybe not all of it, but 150 grand's worth.
These are your products that you made yesterday. So we've had them down here.
Nice, mmm, let's see...
Vanilla latte shake.
That's nice. Do you like it?
That tastes good.
I like the consistency.
Yeah. Really good.
I feel like there's a big reveal behind these.
Well, I was thinking, how can you showcase your new product?
So I thought everything you said about healthy lifestyle.
Yeah. Good food.
Oh! And these smoothie bikes.
So much fun. We've got some more out the back.
Yeah. Have a little smoothie spin class.
Oh, that's amazing. Get everyone having fun.
That is cool.
Today is such a big day. To be in the middle
of Covent Garden, the pressure is on.
Have you ever been to an event with a doughnut wall? Never.
It's only a couple of hours until these spaces will be filled
with members of the public.
A bit further to the right.
The finalists will need to get hands-on so the units are ready for their launches.
With my £150,000 investment up for grabs, there is no room for error.
So I think what I might do is take out the palm tree vibe
and just have it, like, raw. In Nigeria,
plantain is like a street food. Yeah.
Like, when you're in the middle of Lagos, you've got a lot of cars,
concrete, that type of thing. Yeah.
So it's more that type of vibe than a tropical vibe.
She's got a one in three chance of getting 150-grand investment
off Gordon Ramsay. I mean, who could imagine that in their lifetime?
It's a really, really big day for her.
Oh, my God. Gordon is going to be here.
People are going to be here.
SHE SHRIEKS
Gordon's got a really, really tough decision today.
Leah, Victoria, Steph - completely different businesses, completely
different people, as well.
Edible bubbles! That is so cool.
It's actually chu-hi flavoured.
Yeah. I've never seen anything like this before.
I think maybe we need to have it somewhere, so, like, it's not
blowing straight into people's faces.
I think the event is going to go ace.
There's so many different elements there.
Steph's incredibly confident.
She's passionate about what she does.
I hope it goes well. I can't see it going any other way.
Come on, Leah. Too thick.
No pressure.
It's really important for us to welcome them as soon
as they come in. I'm going to be like, "Hello, I'm Victoria,
"CEO, founder of the brand."
Right, Steph. Good luck, mate. No worries. You got it? Yeah. Got it.
Where shall I stand?! Here. Get ready!
SHE LAUGHS
I'm not nervous at all. Got it.
I'm not nervous at all.
The finalists are about to launch their products and there's everything to play for.
Hi. Welcome to my home.
How are you? Hello.
Hey!
SHE SPEAKS JAPANESE
Hi. My name is Victoria.
I'm the CEO and founder of the brand, and this is our concept space.
Please help yourself to matcha lattes.
OK. Smile.
She was just inspired when she went to Japan.
She came out with Chu Lo because it's kind of very different
to what's available in the market.
There is more shakes. Some shakes here,
if you want to try the ones...
That's it.
That's almost healthy.
That one is one of your five a day.
What the finalists don't know is that I'm sending in undercover
industry experts who could help me propel their business
to the next level.
Visiting each launch are titans of the food and drink industry.
offering a buyer's perspective -
Breige Donaghy, head of product development at Co-op Food,
and Charlotte Di Cello, commercial director of Waitrose.
Assessing Leah's baked goods -
co-founder of handcrafted doughnut brand Crosstown, Adam Wills.
Casting an eye over Steph's brand - founders of Japanese mochi company
Little Moons, Howard and Vivien Wong.
And making time for a taste test at Victoria's event is Praveen Vijh,
co-founder of healthy snack brand Eat Natural.
Soon, I'll be choosing one of them to invest in.
The more insight I get, the better.
With all the finalists' launches in full swing,
it's time for my undercover experts to interrogate their businesses.
We did all the rebranding yesterday.
These are all vegan, so dip it in and then you need to decorate it.
Yeah, dip it in.
Oh, I like what you did there. And then have fun.
I just dip that...? Yeah.
You can dip it, we've got raspberries.
So I used coconut sugar.
That's quite clever because it gives you almost that molasses kind of flavour to it.
Well, that's how the brownies are so rich.
Being a diabetic, it's kind of just showing like, look,
I can eat these treats and it's still healthy.
My whole brand is about healthy eating, but still, you know,
it still being a treat.
I'm very calm because I've always had that manner.
I'm always like, you know, it's my teacher mode on,
and inside I'm like, "Oh, my God...!"
Oh, my gosh. You need to work for me.
You're hired. Thanks.
LAUGHTER
That's it, get the glitz on.
Right, smile. Yes.
So a chu-hi is a Japanese cocktail.
The number one drink for women in Japan.
Are you going to target women?
We're targeting Generation Z.
So people that are into their gaming,
they're into anime, cartoons.
And what they want is a really authentic experience.
So how do you market to gamers?
If you have a look at our social media over there, that's brand-new,
and the idea is that this guy is putting on his VR headset
and he's transported to all the amazing things that are
synonymous with Japan and everything is all about that really excited
Japanese vibe that everyone loves and wants more.
So using platforms like TikTok and Twitch,
so we're specifically looking at the really quick media.
Like, if you don't grab their attention in the first couple
of seconds then you're going to struggle.
Doing a great job of multitasking.
No, I love it. Cocktail mixing and holding the conversation.
I'm so, so, so excited.
The last two days, I've had a taste of what running a successful
business looks like. I want this so much.
Write on the wall. Memories.
Take some photos here. No worries, go for it.
We're redefining snacking, essentially.
I know snacking can be really heavy, we want to strip it back
completely and make it healthy, but also very fun.
And it's very low in calories. And what makes it low in calories?
So these are baked, not fried.
Ah. Yes.
How much do they sell for?
In Sainsbury's, they're only £1.60.
We really want to bring down that price.
So it's more of a mass-market product.
I'm going in fighting.
I know that my brand has the most potential to be a global brand
and I really want to work with Gordon.
My experts have had a chance to get their lowdown on each
of the finalists, but now it's my turn to see them in action.
And it was just, like, so wasteful, so making my own
and making the coconut... possible.
So... Hello, Gordon!
How are you? This looks beautiful. Thank you so much.
Very beautiful, indeed. I've obviously rebranded.
We talked about rebranding yesterday and I went for it.
I didn't hold back and we got Lola in there as well.
Big transformation. Really big transformation. Yeah.
Wow.
This is a spin class on a whole new level!
Yeah, I know, right?
How do you find the drink?
So good. Oh, amazing.
Great idea with the smoothies. We've got, what, four different flavours?
Yeah, four different flavours. And they taste good as well.
Also, the energy in the room, getting excited about and delivering.
Wow.
How are we? I'm good, thanks. How are you feeling? How are you?
I'm perfect.
This looks incredible. Thank you. Great video, by the way.
May I have a little sip? You may, yes.
All three of the finalists seem to be handling the pressure well.
But how will they react when I put them on the spot?
Ladies and gentlemen, can I just have your attention for 30 seconds?
First of all, thank you so much for making the effort to be here.
Can I hand you over to Leah to give an insight and an essence of the story?
Leah. Thank you.
Hello, everybody.
The essence of my brand, it's called Norla's.
It's named after Norah and Lola.
They're my inspirations. They're my babies.
I'm a type 1 diabetic.
And it was so important for me to be able to treat myself
without harming my body.
Since, I've been making brownies for royalty, I've been making
brownies for campaigns, and loads of events and loads of big people.
And at the moment, I'm in my kitchen.
Any questions?
What do you think your biggest challenge is to get
this out of your kitchen and to more people?
I'm already getting orders in that I'm having to refuse.
I've already got wholesalers that want me to stock them.
I can't, I can't do it.
So there has to be that change for me, getting from my kitchen
to a larger bakery and a unit.
And then I can turn around and say, "I'm ready for you,
"bring on the orders."
So I just want to thank everybody for being here.
And I'm so glad that you, you enjoyed your day.
Lovely.
Really good. Well done.
Downstairs next, to see Victoria.
Nice atmosphere. Yeah.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I just have your attention
for 30 seconds, please?
First of all, on behalf of Victoria and I, thank you so much for coming. It means a lot.
This has been an amazing journey and I'm so proud and happy to see
these incredible products.
But trust me, you don't want to hear from me, let's hear from you. OK.
Absolutely.
So I started the brand from my mum's East London council flat,
burning my mum's pots, essentially, developing these products
and selling them to the mass market. Plantain crisps
are full of energy, so you can grab them before you go to the gym.
You can grab them if you want to go to work, and be full of energy
till lunchtime.
And then we're launching a new range of products, which is our smoothie
drinks. A breakfast drink that's high-protein, low-sugar,
and it's going to keep you full for longer.
So how do you sort of tell people about that?
Because I think you mentioned that these are baked, not fried, for example.
I mean, that's a wonderful story.
Yeah. I would have expected that to be sort of front and centre
of the packaging because for me that's quite a big thing. Right.
Yeah, that's a great question.
I think what we are going to do is put that "baked, not fried"
message on there, cos it's a very niche thing.
So I'm definitely going to put that on the front of the pack.
And like you said, plantain isn't something that everyone knows about.
It's so much higher in potassium than a banana.
So that educational piece is something that we're going to do
on social media, send it out, educate people about plantain
because it's a great, great ingredient.
So, welcome to the Sunmo family and have a great time.
Thank you.
The smoothies are on Jamie. Let's go, ladies and gentlemen!
Let's go, Jamie! Come on!
Finally, it's over to Steph.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I just ask for your attention
for 30 seconds, please? First of all, personally, I'd like to say
a big thank you for making the effort to be here.
I'm going to pass you over to Steph, who's going to give
you a little insight to the brand, to the story,
to this incredible journey.
Steph, over to you, my darling. Hi, everyone. My name is Steph.
I'm the owner and founder of Chu Lo Japanese-inspired soft drinks.
So I left the Royal Navy eight weeks ago, and this is inspired
by my travels in Japan.
So I spent four months of 2018 in Japan trying all these different
flavours and tastes, and drinking a lot of drinks called chu-hi.
So chu-hi is this sour fizz customisable cocktail available
everywhere in Japan. And so when I came home, I was like,
"Why do we not have chu-hi in the UK?"
And so Chu Lo was developed as an alcohol-free chu-hi.
So it's got the same sour fizz tang but super-authentic branding
and a really exciting story.
How come you're targeting the gaming market?
Everyone thinks that the gaming market is, like, only male,
and actually they are 50-50 split male and female, and it's one
of those markets that are extremely loyal.
If you can break that gaming market, everything else will follow.
So, welcome to my brand. Please, enjoy. Well done.
Launches over.
The finalists have given it their all.
I'm going to bang my name on it now, well done.
I'll tell you what, that went incredibly well. Yeah? Yeah.
Everybody was engaging. They were here taking pictures. Yeah.
They were looking at that and they were focused on you. You told the story.
Oh! It's fucking worked!
Yes!
Like, when you do something so massive to change your life,
it's like you want it to work, and it has worked.
It's not just worked. It's gone really, really flippin' well.
Shall we head off? Yeah. I need to cool down!
Been cycling and making smoothies for everyone!
Oh, I could jump up and down.
I can probably run a marathon.
I'm so happy right now.
Well done. You did so well.
Really?
Your presentation as well.
Gordon went, "And now Leah is going to explain."
And I was like, "Am I?"
I couldn't have done any more.
I gave it everything. So I'm just hoping it's enough.
It's done.
Before I leave, I want to get the feedback on the finalists
from the buyers and the experts.
First one, Victoria.
Victoria brought energy, because this room was buzzing.
She certainly did.
Obviously, she's got a real passion for the plantain crisps
and she's got some brilliant ideas.
You can see that she's quite entrepreneurial.
I think there's a lot we can do with the branding of it,
because I think it's about the messaging.
You pointed out - emphasise baked. One of the most important marketing
tools on there, and nowhere to be seen. And all the other
nutritions as well. You know, a lot of passion that doesn't come through
on the packaging but comes through from her.
Were you surprised by the flavour? I thought the flavours were good.
I think one of the challenges she's going to have is the price point.
At the moment it's quite high, it's quite expensive.
She wants to get below a pound, so she can compete.
Super busy area, with the crisp market. Could that fit in?
Healthy snacking is going to be really, really key for the future.
So from a retailing perspective, be key to get more products
like this on the shelf. Good. Excellent. Shall we?
Next, I want to hear about Leah.
So, Leah's brownies, erm, gluten-free.
It's on everyone's lips right now.
Gluten-free, vegan, healthier snacking, trying to do the right
thing for our kids.
Branding? Branding, I think, is interesting.
Having her two daughters' names
come together, it gives it a level of authenticity with it.
I feel it has improved massively from what it was.
It now feels like a high-end product. How do we stand out?
I think that's going to be the challenge.
So we're going to have to really elevate her story
and what it stands for. The big issue for me was the scalability.
She's done a great job from her kitchen with her mum
and her husband and her kids all pitching in.
But she's going to have to let go if she wants to grow this business
at scale. And I think that's going to be quite hard for her.
I think she's probably going to need help with the production side
of things if she's really going to move this forward.
I think you're right.
Scaling up and keeping the same quality is going to be her biggest problem.
She mentioned earlier about, you know, "I'm cancelling orders,
"I can't take them."
That's not what we want to hear in growth.
Finally, their thoughts on Steph.
A vibrant atmosphere,
but her marketing was a big concern for me.
What were you thinking?
The video, the branding,
I think she's, you know, she's bang on-trend. Too niche?
Is she focusing on too small a market?
I think she's done a fantastic job to get the product
to where it is. Yeah.
A lot of people said Little Moons were too niche when we launched,
but it has taken us ten years, so it could be a long journey
to transition to supermarkets.
What does she need to focus on next to get that out there?
If she wants to take it mainstream, she needs to broaden her appeal
and her marketing strategy.
There's lots of brands in this space at the moment, and therefore
she's going to have to be really focused.
I think it's going to have to be about her building
her social media connection.
Armed with the experts' invaluable insights,
tomorrow I'll decide who gets my £150,000 investment.
This will be the most intense.
This moment is huge.
The last eight weeks have actually been more intense than the whole
two years of my business.
It's a lot of pressure.
There's so many emotions going on inside of me,
and this is really my opportunity to show Gordon that I'm that person
to invest in.
I'm really hoping that I've done enough to get this investment now.
This is it. This is the last thing I have to do.
I'm going in fighting today. There's no way I'm going to lose it now.
Three finalists walk out, one winner. Yeah. Literally.
I can't express in words how much I want this.
I feel like an Olympian that's chasing that gold medal, and silver
and bronze is just not going to be enough!
ALL GASP
Well done.
CHEERING AND SHRIEKING
ALL CHATTER
Right!
Hello, everybody. Good to see you all.
- We good? - Yeah.
All right,
first of all, a huge welcome back to all of our former contenders.
So good to see you all. Let's go back to the beginning,
all those weeks ago, when I first met you on that beautiful beach
in Cornwall. I told you all that you had some of the most exciting food
and drink businesses anywhere in the UK.
And then I designed an assault course of challenges to push
you to the extreme.
I had you jumping off cliffs, caving for cheese, organising extraordinary
feasts in forests.
I pushed you all to the limit, because I wanted to see
what you're really made of.
After seven amazing weeks, Victoria, Leah and Steph, you rose
to the top and became my finalists.
Matthew, Jamie and Amit, you were helping these ladies
over the last few days. All three of you, thank you for that
extraordinary work that went into it.
Right, this week, I set you, quite honestly, your hardest
challenge to date.
I identified three areas that I needed each of you to work on.
You then got to host those incredible events for members
of the public in the centre of Covent Garden.
Unbeknown to you, I invited some very special guests
to attend those events.
We had two of the top directors from major supermarkets.
Wow.
Waitrose and Co-op. The founders of Crosstown Doughnuts.
Eat Natural.
Oh, my God.
And Little Moons.
They were all in the room with you, and you were fielding
questions with them. Taking all of that into account,
I now have to decide who will be getting my £150,000 investment.
And trust me, this is not going to be easy.
So, Victoria, Leah, and Steph, I want to grill you one more time
before I make my decision.
I'll see you in the restaurant for the final time.
OK. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you, Gordon.
Three deserving finalists with three very different brands.
Now, they've all excelled across the last eight weeks,
and this is the final hurdle.
I've got one massive decision to make, and what they say to me now
in this room could change the rest of their lives.
Victoria, please, take a seat. Thank you.
Leah, please, take a seat. Thank you.
Steph, sit down, please.
Right. What a week.
Incredible.
I've got a huge decision to make with the big investment.
I need to make sure that investment goes into the right hands.
But more importantly, there are such tiny margins between all three
of you in this finale. It's that close.
I now need to make sure that I'm 100% certain
that I've backed the right winner.
Victoria, you've won the majority of the challenges.
Let's be honest,
you've been working with some big
personalities and you kept it together,
which is not easy.
Right?
But I've not seen sufficient moments to make me feel comfortable
of that leadership.
OK. I understand.
I am a leader.
I may not be the best speaker.
To be honest, I am from East London...
That doesn't matter. I was born in Glasgow.
In all of the challenges that have been my expertise,
I have stepped forward. As soon as pitching or brand design
came into play, I made sure I was leading the teams.
There's no CEO anywhere on the planet across major companies
that is not a leader.
I need to hear a voice.
Steph, you've done incredibly well to get to this stage.
If there's one thing you have been across this competition is consistent.
Fair to say? Absolutely.
You've led your team to victory on a few occasions.
I think the most important thing for me is that you've excelled
in the challenges that are important to you.
The big question I have is, have you delivered anything
creatively outside of your comfort zone, or do you always just revert
back to that safe space because of that fear of screwing up?
I think I've shown creativity. Absolutely. Mm-hm.
If you give me three objects, I'll create you a brand.
That's what I'm good at. I'm good at delivering what people want.
Leah, what I've loved more than anything is how much you stepped up
in these challenges and tackled those difficulties head on.
You're comfortable being in uncomfortable situations.
Yes, I am.
Yeah. So that was a big plus for me in terms of that business strength.
But you've failed to relinquish control to other people.
And if there's one thing that is questioned over your business
is the scalability.
You said something poignant yesterday and it raised eyebrows.
You announced to the audience that you're turning down orders.
I'm in my kitchen at the moment.
I can't accept wholesale orders.
The dream is to get out of my kitchen and I want to be able to say
yes to orders. You know, if a big order comes in, I know when to say,
actually, I can't cope with that.
How many products are you selling? Weekly.
Roughly, at the minute.
50 boxes. Weekly.
I'm thinking of 5,000.
Yeah.
How are you going to maintain that level of consistency and quality
when you are over every little detail?
The great thing about my product is that it can be made quickly
and it can be made well.
It's not overly complicated, so there's definitely methods
in place to be able to scale up. Sure. That will make it quicker
and it'll just keep the quality the same.
Let's talk about that presentation. Huge launch.
The positives from the experts -
accessible flavours.
They absolutely identify that you're bang on-trend,
but it's already a niche product you've got here.
The experts felt that you're pigeonholing yourself
in a way that, yeah, it could work, but it's not going to gain traction
over the next five years if you stay in that tiny spot.
So, ambitions over the next five years are more flavours, zero-sugar
version, which, that will be in the next six months.
Following that, we're looking at an energy drink version
for the gaming market. And where are you thinking
of selling these drinks?
Where's the target market? If I can get the margins right,
I would love to have it in a supermarket, clearly.
But at the moment, with the order quantities I'm in, it's just not
viable for the supermarkets to stock me.
You just can't afford to become too niche. Yep.
You'll be missing out on a huge potential market.
Victoria, let's talk about this week.
Yeah. A few question marks that I'd like to address.
Let's start with the packaging.
You're missing the most important marketing skill, the fact
that you are baking them, not frying them. Yes.
How do you miss something like that off? On the packaging,
I didn't want it to be too crowded.
We highlight that it's 100% natural ingredients, it's vegan
and it's gluten-free.
And those were the tickets that I thought were bigger
than it being baked, not fried.
You've got this great brand, but if the general public
can't identify the message, it's going to get lost.
Yes.
Going forward, what's your plan?
This business takes off.
You win the investment.
Give me an overview on your five-year plan.
My plan is, of course, we've got our plantain crisp range, to launch
it into more stores in the UK and then also to launch the drinks.
It's a bigger market than the crisps.
It's actually, like, three times the size.
The product's expensive.
Yes, that's very true.
I've studied the figures.
You have a turnover, but you don't have much of a bottom line. Yes.
You're not making money, currently. Yes.
And if we can't make money with a product that's so expensive,
how is an investment going to make that viable?
With going mass market,
I'll bring the prices down.
It costs about 14p to make.
So if I bring them down, we can bring it down to the 90p mark,
and it will be a competitor
against what is in the market currently.
How important is that investment of £150,000 to you?
I really want your investment because I want to take
this to the States.
The soft drinks industry in the States is worth 120 billion.
That's huge.
If we can break the States, then everything else
just falls into place.
You saw that Japanese dessert brand in there, Little Moons.
Ten years it took them to get to this level.
Are you willing to put that amount of time in on this journey to get
to the very top? It won't take me ten years,
Gordon, I'll do it in five.
Five years? Five years.
Thank you, Steph. Thanks, Gordon.
I started at 27 in a business with six staff. Yeah.
I've got just over 3,000 now.
How are you going to sit comfortably in five years' time running a group
with 250 members of your staff?
Yeah. I've seen skills in myself that I've utilised from my teaching
and I continue that in my business.
I can see weaknesses. I can see strengths.
You know, I play to my strengths and I know that I'm capable
of that because I've seen myself do it throughout the years.
I'm not expecting this investment to go in and it's going
to be thousands throughout the country.
Start with, like, working on the supermarkets locally
and you scale up bit by bit.
How desperate are you for your business to succeed?
I've sacrificed eight weeks with my children to be here.
So it means everything.
Thank you, Leah. Thank you. Thank you.
How important is that investment of £150,000 to you?
It's so important to me. Everything that you say, I take on board,
because essentially you've done exactly what I would love to do.
You've made yourself a global brand, and there's no-one
that I would work better with.
I don't know if I could put it in words, to be honest,
but it does bring me to tears because it's very overwhelming
to think about. Thank you, Victoria.
Thank you, Gordon.
Right.
Leah, Steph, Victoria, thank you so much for being
brutally honest in there.
What's really important for me tonight is that I'm investing
in someone future-facing. Someone that I can help
propel their businesses to the next level.
All three of you were worthy finalists, and this has been a very,
very tough decision. Leah...
..you have so much passion, and the story behind your business
is so inspiring.
Steph, you are incredibly determined and I saw you come alive yesterday
when you were talking about the product and the story
and the essence behind that.
I love that.
Victoria, from day one, you've been focused.
Your vision for your business is clear, and then in that presentation
the room could feel it.
This hasn't been an easy decision.
The last two months have all come down to this moment right here.
The person who I will be investing in...
..congratulations goes to...
..Victoria.
CHEERING
Oh, my God!
Well done. Well done.
Oh, my gosh.
Victoria, congratulations.
I'm really looking forward to working with you.
Thank you so much. Enjoy your moment.
Oh, my gosh!
I'm feeling overjoyed.
It definitely hasn't sunk in yet, but I'm so happy.
So happy.
Working with Gordon is a huge deal.
It's even better than the investment.
So I'm super excited.
I'm super excited.
I could scream. I could literally scream.
Now the fun time begins.
So it's a dream come true.
I feel I've lost a massive opportunity.
But when one door closes, another one opens.
So that's... That's where I'm looking now.
I can't believe it, I'm so sorry.
I'm really proud where I've come.
Really proud.
I still feel like a winner.
I'm very happy that, you know, if I was going to lose to anyone,
it would be to Victoria.
I've just loved her from the beginning.
I'm going to be going round and seeing her and celebrating with her.
I'm so happy.
A truly deserving winner.
The other two finalists were incredible, but Victoria
just edged it.
I said at the very start I was looking not just to invest
in the business, but the person behind it.
I couldn't be any happier with my decision and I'm so excited
to see what the future holds.