Before you go, I would like to say that overall we were dissapointed in some aspects of this task from both teams. From discussions with my advisors it does appear that a lot of the pitches were quite last minute, with there being nobody online in Team Aptitude 30 minutes prior to posting, with some of the pitch still to do and be organised. It does appear at times that not as much dedication was given to this task as we require, and as a result the end result suffered. I will give you the benefit of a doubt for now as I'm aware that it wasn't the easiest task to start on and lots of you are new to the process so were easing in, but we do expect to see an improvement in the next task. I must also stress that DEADLINES must be strictly adhered to, we were lenient this time as it's the first task but in future anything posted after the deadline will not be accepted.
I would just like to insist that part of our pitch was last minute due to a browser malfunction on my behalf and not sheer laziness, which is what is being implied.
Yes apologies for this Lord Sugar. I do work during my holidays so it is difficult to be online at certain times especially earlier today but I will try to work around both schedules. Thank you however for seeing the potential in our product.
I would just like to insist that part of our pitch was last minute due to a browser malfunction on my behalf and not sheer laziness which is what is being implied.
I don't really think that is completely accurate Zak, is it?
You popped up just before 4pm without having your part done, and said that you'd brb and have it done for 4:30. 4:30 comes along, and after the serious misfortune of your tab closing, you posted what you had anyway, the Starters without any additional details.
The main reason for this loss is the lack of brand identity your restaurant appeared to have, the idea of using 'ethical foods' is something that is quite common amongst restaurants nowadays but they all have something else to assure they can survive in a tough economical climate. Without a particularly aggressive advertising campaign for the ethical aspect of your task, your restaurant appeared to us to be a fairly generic restaurant which was a particular problem when creativity was so highly emphasised.
An aspect that I feel would have vastly improved your idea would have been making it solely a vegetarian restaurant. This would have been in line with your theme as most people concerned with the ethics of their food are likely to be vegan or vegetarian, and it would also help make your restaurant stand out that bit more and appear different. I hear this idea was brought up but you decided not to go with it, why was that?
I don't really think that is completely accurate Zak, is it?
You popped up just before 4pm without having your part done, and said that you'd brb and have it done for 4:30. 4:30 comes along, and after the serious misfortune of your tab closing, you posted what you had anyway, the Starters without any additional details.
I don't think spending 40 minutes on a pitch for a starters menu is anything to be disparaged.
And what I said was completely accurate, yes, regardless of the information you chose to add.
The main reason for this loss is the lack of brand identity your restaurant appeared to have, the idea of using 'ethical foods' is something that is quite common amongst restaurants nowadays but they all have something else to assure they can survive in a tough economical climate. Without a particularly aggressive advertising campaign for the ethical aspect of your task, your restaurant appeared to us to be a fairly generic restaurant which was a particular problem when creatively was so highly emphasised.
An aspect that I feel would have vastly improved your idea would have been making it solely a vegetarian restaurant. This would have been in line with your theme as most people concerned with the ethics of their food are likely to be vegan or vegetarian, and it would also help make your restaurant stand out that bit more and appear different. I hear this idea was brought up but you decided not to go with it, why was that?
The fully vegetarian idea was mine as I said before, I definitely think we should've gone with it because the fact we included meat looked like a half-hearted attempt and didn't really target a specific audience I suppose. I don't think ANY of the team were up for it though sadly except for George.
The main reason for this loss is the lack of brand identity your restaurant appeared to have, the idea of using 'ethical foods' is something that is quite common amongst restaurants nowadays but they all have something else to assure they can survive in a tough economical climate. Without a particularly aggressive advertising campaign for the ethical aspect of your task, your restaurant appeared to us to be a fairly generic restaurant which was a particular problem when creativity was so highly emphasised.
An aspect that I feel would have vastly improved your idea would have been making it solely a vegetarian restaurant. This would have been in line with your theme as most people concerned with the ethics of their food are likely to be vegan or vegetarian, and it would also help make your restaurant stand out that bit more and appear different. I hear this idea was brought up but you decided not to go with it, why was that?
I wish the initial brainstorming session included everyone because had I been in the first meeting I would've probably pushed for a Mediterranean Restaurant, given my vast knowledge in that field as I live in Lebanon. But we did a good job with what we had so I guess just spicing up the concept would've given us an edge.
I don't think spending 40 minutes on a pitch for a starters menu is anything to be disparaged.
And what I said was completely accurate, yes, regardless of the information you chose to add.
Regardless of any accuracy or inaccuracy in your former post, the issue to be noted is that it had no impact on the delay of your pitch being posted.
These were the reasons, in my opinion, from watching the team why it was posted late:
- There was NO delegation for parts of the pitch at all to the extent that one member of the team didn't even know they had to write anything more than what they had done until an hour before the deadline.
- Nobody even mentioned the pitch within the chats until the final day, the complete disregard for the pitch especially shocked me as a person with previous experience as a candidate. If I was on the team as unprepared as that I would literally be having kittens.
- The 10 minute delays in posting between the different parts, already adding to the last minute nature, there was no 'flow' in the speed of your pitch being posted.
- Steve's internet connection had gone off. To the extent that George I believe actually phoned him? There really was no need for it and I witnessed a lot of 'blame game' going on whilst you wee waiting for him to appear in the last few minutes before the deadline to the extent that I had to step in and ask you to post the final bits or it would not be counted. If myself, Louise & Lord Alan all had the images of the sample menu and the layout design, it was ridiculous that none of you took the initiative to go back and find it or reupload it, instead sitting around like lemons waiting for something to happen!
The main reason for this loss is the lack of brand identity your restaurant appeared to have, the idea of using 'ethical foods' is something that is quite common amongst restaurants nowadays but they all have something else to assure they can survive in a tough economical climate. Without a particularly aggressive advertising campaign for the ethical aspect of your task, your restaurant appeared to us to be a fairly generic restaurant which was a particular problem when creatively was so highly emphasised.
An aspect that I feel would have vastly improved your idea would have been making it solely a vegetarian restaurant. This would have been in line with your theme as most people concerned with the ethics of their food are likely to be vegan or vegetarian, and it would also help make your restaurant stand out that bit more and appear different. I hear this idea was brought up but you decided not to go with it, why was that?
Personally that would have been more within my tastes, but I felt it would limit the market too much. I think Stacey wanted to make it all vegetarian, but Mitch said that that would really be too niche, and I agreed with what he said. I wanted to stick to our theme enough to make us stand out, but not so much that we'd alienate potential customers. We do have majority vegetarian, but not 100% - I think we said 65%/35%. I think probably at the time I hadn't realised quite how generic we were going to come across, and by the time that was becoming clear we'd already designed the menu and going back would take too much time.
The fully vegetarian idea was mine as I said before, I definitely think we should've gone with it because the fact we included meat looked like a half-hearted attempt and didn't really target a specific audience I suppose. I don't think ANY of the team were up for it though sadly except for George.
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Zak McCready. 20:03
Can you just describe what you mean by ethically-sourced? Surely there would be zero meat if it has to be "ethical" - is killing animals ethical?
Stacey was pushing for the vegetarian aspect however George seemed to think it would alienate the market.
It was ridiculous that none of you took the initiative to go back and find it or reupload it, instead sitting around like lemons waiting for something to happen!
Once again, that's not true because I did just that - hence why it's in the final pitch. However I agree with you, the entire posting of the pitch was indeed sloppy.
Regardless of any accuracy or inaccuracy in your former post, the issue to be noted is that it had no impact on the delay of your pitch being posted.
These were the reasons, in my opinion, from watching the team why it was posted late:
- There was NO delegation for parts of the pitch at all to the extent that one member of the team didn't even know they had to write anything more than what they had done until an hour before the deadline.
- Nobody even mentioned the pitch within the chats until the final day, the complete disregard for the pitch especially shocked me as a person with previous experience as a candidate. If I was on the team as unprepared as that I would literally be having kittens.
- The 10 minute delays in posting between the different parts, already adding to the last minute nature, there was no 'flow' in the speed of your pitch being posted.
- Steve's internet connection had gone off. To the extent that George I believe actually phoned him? There really was no need for it and I witnessed a lot of 'blame game' going on whilst you wee waiting for him to appear in the last few minutes before the deadline to the extent that I had to step in and ask you to post the final bits or it would not be counted. If myself, Louise & Lord Alan all had the images of the sample menu and the layout design, it was ridiculous that none of you took the initiative to go back and find it or reupload it, instead sitting around like lemons waiting for something to happen!
But I did upload them. I found them, transferred them to my FB, and from there uploaded them.
Once again, that's not true because I did just that - hence why it's in the final pitch. However I agree with you, the entire posting of the pitch was indeed sloppy.
The fully vegetarian idea was mine as I said before, I definitely think we should've gone with it because the fact we included meat looked like a half-hearted attempt and didn't really target a specific audience I suppose. I don't think ANY of the team were up for it though sadly except for George.
I think that's a shame, as if you had gone with the vegetarian idea and focuse it around that then the result may very well have been different. If you had issues with the potential success of a purely vegetarian restaurant than I can assure you that from personal experience I have definitely been to vegetarian restaurants that have been both great to eat at and very succesful, however it is still enough of a rarity to be considered original.
It took you enough time to do something about it though, did it not?
I scrolled to the top of chat on my iPad, found them, downloaded them, attached them to a FB message sent to myself, opened my FB through the laptop, saved them on my desktop, uploaded them on IMGUR, and then onto the task thread. It wasn't a one click procedure.
Stacey was pushing for the vegetarian aspect however George seemed to think it would alienate the market.
Sorry I have a really bad memory and literally can't remember who said what, I think George was for it because he's a vegetarian like myself but when Mitchell disregarded it he tried to compromise. I do remember you saying that we should go with it fully though if we were going to, or else people would question it.
Comments
Bad luck, team.
Viewers discussions is over in the Task Announcement Thread. (Sorry, we just like to keep the boardroom threads to candidates only.)
Team Aptitude, you may now leave.
Good luck to Inspired.
I don't really think that is completely accurate Zak, is it?
You popped up just before 4pm without having your part done, and said that you'd brb and have it done for 4:30. 4:30 comes along, and after the serious misfortune of your tab closing, you posted what you had anyway, the Starters without any additional details.
An aspect that I feel would have vastly improved your idea would have been making it solely a vegetarian restaurant. This would have been in line with your theme as most people concerned with the ethics of their food are likely to be vegan or vegetarian, and it would also help make your restaurant stand out that bit more and appear different. I hear this idea was brought up but you decided not to go with it, why was that?
I don't think spending 40 minutes on a pitch for a starters menu is anything to be disparaged.
And what I said was completely accurate, yes, regardless of the information you chose to add.
I wish the initial brainstorming session included everyone because had I been in the first meeting I would've probably pushed for a Mediterranean Restaurant, given my vast knowledge in that field as I live in Lebanon. But we did a good job with what we had so I guess just spicing up the concept would've given us an edge.
Perhaps just having vegetarian food alone would've given us a clearer identity...something that I shall take on board for the next task.
Regardless of any accuracy or inaccuracy in your former post, the issue to be noted is that it had no impact on the delay of your pitch being posted.
These were the reasons, in my opinion, from watching the team why it was posted late:
- There was NO delegation for parts of the pitch at all to the extent that one member of the team didn't even know they had to write anything more than what they had done until an hour before the deadline.
- Nobody even mentioned the pitch within the chats until the final day, the complete disregard for the pitch especially shocked me as a person with previous experience as a candidate. If I was on the team as unprepared as that I would literally be having kittens.
- The 10 minute delays in posting between the different parts, already adding to the last minute nature, there was no 'flow' in the speed of your pitch being posted.
- Steve's internet connection had gone off. To the extent that George I believe actually phoned him? There really was no need for it and I witnessed a lot of 'blame game' going on whilst you wee waiting for him to appear in the last few minutes before the deadline to the extent that I had to step in and ask you to post the final bits or it would not be counted. If myself, Louise & Lord Alan all had the images of the sample menu and the layout design, it was ridiculous that none of you took the initiative to go back and find it or reupload it, instead sitting around like lemons waiting for something to happen!
Personally that would have been more within my tastes, but I felt it would limit the market too much. I think Stacey wanted to make it all vegetarian, but Mitch said that that would really be too niche, and I agreed with what he said. I wanted to stick to our theme enough to make us stand out, but not so much that we'd alienate potential customers. We do have majority vegetarian, but not 100% - I think we said 65%/35%. I think probably at the time I hadn't realised quite how generic we were going to come across, and by the time that was becoming clear we'd already designed the menu and going back would take too much time.
Stacey was pushing for the vegetarian aspect however George seemed to think it would alienate the market.
Once again, that's not true because I did just that - hence why it's in the final pitch. However I agree with you, the entire posting of the pitch was indeed sloppy.
But I did upload them. I found them, transferred them to my FB, and from there uploaded them.
It took you enough time to do something about it though, did it not?
6 minutes, yes, bearing in mind I was on my phone and eating at the time.
I scrolled to the top of chat on my iPad, found them, downloaded them, attached them to a FB message sent to myself, opened my FB through the laptop, saved them on my desktop, uploaded them on IMGUR, and then onto the task thread. It wasn't a one click procedure.