Agree with this. I think I saw konjac products before.
Yes, konjac and konnyaku products can be found in East Asian supermarkets. I used to have some when I was a kid. Repulsive as hell.
It can be flavoured as miso, soy, beef or just salty, but it's always about texture, which is why I found it repulsive. The texture is like a hybrid of blancmange and a block of jelly cubes.
You both are thinking too big or too far ahead, I think.
If there's 12 base colours for all types, stands to reason that one only needs five base colours for certain types to start off with.
As for sizes, the usual would be 8-10, 12-14, 14-16 and 18-20. That's four common sizes.
As for denier, pattern, etc. I don't think it matters at the moment because it'd make sense for one to focus on fulfilling the biggest demand: the solid/everyday type and the opaque/evening type.
Five base colours in two most-common types in four common sizes would be good to start with, I think. One could build from there in accordance with demands and requests.
But that's a speculation on my part, though, as I have no experience in the fashion retail & manufacturing industry.
Agree that the best starting point is to go with as small a range as possible. But equally Sugar will want the business to scale up ASAP. As an investor, you want to be getting your £250k (and then some) back sooner rather than later. This is the double-edged sword of starting up with an investor - they expect returns.
The issue for Bianca is that the nature of her offer - skin tone matching - is something which demands a large range, or else it renders the concept irrelevant.
Yes, konjac and konnyaku products can be found in East Asian supermarkets. I used to have some when I was a kid. Repulsive as hell.
It can be flavoured as miso, soy, beef or just salty, but it's always about texture, which is why I found it repulsive. The texture is like a hybrid of blancmange and a block of jelly cubes.
Agree that the best starting point is to go with as small a range as possible. But equally Sugar will want the business to scale up ASAP. As an investor, you want to be getting your £250k (and then some) back sooner rather than later. This is the double-edged sword of starting up with an investor - they expect returns.
Fair point. How did the one with the curvy nail file thingy do? Did he manage to make enough for Sugar to make a return on his investment quickly?
Fair point. How did the one with the curvy nail file thingy do? Did he manage to make enough for Sugar to make a return on his investment quickly?
Tom Pellereau. I've seen the product in Sainsbury's. Last I heard he was expanding his range into similar products. No idea what level of returns he's generating, but it's certainly a going concern.
Of course, he had the advantage of his nail file already having some sales history before he entered the competition (with Boots, I think). That made him a credible choice for Sugar - just as well given that his actual, original business plan was a bit crap.
Thing with Tom he's an inventor, so I assume the way the contracts would work is LS gets 50% of everything Tom invents, or even thinks of inventing/developing, while in a partnership. They would all get patents etc, so makes Tom very bankable, he comes up with one mass market idea and bam, LS could make millions from it.
Bianca has no protection. And as I said before, it's alright starting small, and making a living. Soon as a competitors rep walks into a regular customer and see's Bianca's range, then the trouble could start, and she could just get priced out of the market. She may be able to make it just big enough, that a competitor may just look to buy her company. Which would be a nice exit strategy, which all this big money investor do like to see.
But then ask yourself why, you can already buy it, some people on here have tried it, it's apparently awful. It's out there for established manufacturers/supermarkets, but they don't seem that keen to stock it.
Ok it may end up on the gluten free, lactose free, bit in Tescos but as Slouching says to make it into the mainstream will be very difficult and require several millions.
I think she has moved to the next stage of the argument which is the belief that she can produce something that's not awful, and people will like/want. The problem with that is that until she's done it, and tested the response, its an unsupported assumption.
Which again supports what I am saying. It is a growth market if people are trying to get in to it.
Roisin in the Independent says she has an industry backer, and Luisa thinks she could get the 250k for a smaller scale venture from crowd funding - as Luisa did. It may be possible to get through some of the walls in the way with a really good product. Scale and return look problematic though, and if your usp is taste and recipes, the bigger competition can copy that.
The problem if its not possible , is that it leaves a great big gap in the logic of the show. It rests on the implication you could be the next Sugar, or at least very successful - but, even with a good idea , the barriers to entry, and quasi monopolies in the system mean you can't make it. It ends up displaying why the system stagnates, rather than proving how its offers opportunities for new entrants.
It's not though, there's already a product out there, made by an established manufacturer and hardly anyone's heard of it. So why did she think she would be better.
I got the feeling that she thought she'd discovered some amazing wonder food, while back packing in the deepest darkest Amazon rain forest, and was going to bring it to the west.
I was completely surprised by her total lack of knowledge, she claimed no one else made the product, it's then presented to her, so she then backtracks and says "yes I knew about that, but no one does it as a ready meal"...oops
If the product is a ready meal, that that wasn't a ready meal, then the item she was presented with was not an example of someone already making the product.
The most basic thing is that its going to cost probably 250k just to produce the first batch if not more just to get on the supermarket shelves and what happens 14 days later when you need to swap it out for the next batch as its going out of date and you haven't sold enough stock and new products generally have a high return/being reduced rate so LS's money in the first month would probably of been spent!
LS wants a nice simple product thats has low stock count and can basically be run from a room with perhaps a broom cupboard for stock storage, tights are not a bad thing as they don't expire and its versus SEO which is as much a luck based thing in someways so it looks a nice balance
Which is whats won up to now. Tom can be stuck in a cupboard with something to draw with, and one of his comfy chairs to dream of new product ideas in . Leah can get on with supplying a high mark up service to people with more money than wrinkles. She was actually offering to do her own cleaning, to reduce the amount of money flowing out anywhere else. Ricky can get on with moreorless.doing what he did before, and be given an office in Sugar Towers. There's no question they can do what they say, little risk, not much need for investment, and big returns for something that exists and costs little, or a service that can charge premium prices. The person with the small restaurant, dance clubs idea, or idea for the next cornflake replacement, twitter, or Amstrad computer, need not apply.
Tom Pellereau. I've seen the product in Sainsbury's. Last I heard he was expanding his range into similar products. No idea what level of returns he's generating, but it's certainly a going concern.
Of course, he had the advantage of his nail file already having some sales history before he entered the competition (with Boots, I think). That made him a credible choice for Sugar - just as well given that his actual, original business plan was a bit crap.
Konnyaku is slightly heavier and a little denser than tofu. I think tofu has a better ability to soak up flavours from its neighbouring foods.
I don't even want to remember any more, I'm sorry.
I don't understand why its being sold in this tasteless form, I understand Konjac is elephant yam, so why not make it into a smooth consistency like mash potato and sell it in that form I think going by other root vegetables that are mashed up like potato they do have a distinctive yummy taste, perhaps if it has that taste and because it gives less calories then normal potatoes people will choose the mashed konjac instead.
If we go by regular yam consistency when its boiled and mashed up its quite sticky then potato but more yummy and just as tasty when you add your vegetables and meat etc.
I tried the Dragon's Den version of the konjac product (Bare Naked noodles) today in a stir fry with vegetables and black bean sauce. It was OK, but not great.....as other people have alluded to on here, the texture was very weird (more akin to a bean sprout than a noodle!), and it didn't particularly absorb the flavours of the sauce very well (guess I could have added more sauce, but that would have defeated the point of a low calorie meal). It was, however, *very* filling, so I can see how it might appeal to those on a diet. But, as others have said, it's more of a niche product for health food shops (mine was purchased from Holland and Barrett) than a mainstream one for supermarkets. The guy who runs the company seems to be doing well though, so perhaps he'll make enough money to keep Peter Jones happy (he only invested £60,000 for a whopping 50% equity share, so he ought to easily recoup that).
If Roisin can somehow find a way to make it more palatable in her ready meal range, then she might be on to something, but I seriously doubt it will be the mass market idea she thinks it is; otherwise, one of the big food companies with their legions of food technologists would have found a way to do it by now.
I was working at the Bord Bia Marketplace 2015 and she was there, its a major Irish event with global food buyers attending from the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia. Companies tend to get some business out of it the company I was with got business in Singapore and Indonesia so I'd be interested to see how she did.
Comments
Yes, konjac and konnyaku products can be found in East Asian supermarkets. I used to have some when I was a kid. Repulsive as hell.
It can be flavoured as miso, soy, beef or just salty, but it's always about texture, which is why I found it repulsive. The texture is like a hybrid of blancmange and a block of jelly cubes.
The issue for Bianca is that the nature of her offer - skin tone matching - is something which demands a large range, or else it renders the concept irrelevant.
Fair point. How did the one with the curvy nail file thingy do? Did he manage to make enough for Sugar to make a return on his investment quickly?
Blegh. Tofu is another I dislike.
Konnyaku is slightly heavier and a little denser than tofu. I think tofu has a better ability to soak up flavours from its neighbouring foods.
I don't even want to remember any more, I'm sorry.
Of course, he had the advantage of his nail file already having some sales history before he entered the competition (with Boots, I think). That made him a credible choice for Sugar - just as well given that his actual, original business plan was a bit crap.
Bianca has no protection. And as I said before, it's alright starting small, and making a living. Soon as a competitors rep walks into a regular customer and see's Bianca's range, then the trouble could start, and she could just get priced out of the market. She may be able to make it just big enough, that a competitor may just look to buy her company. Which would be a nice exit strategy, which all this big money investor do like to see.
I think she has moved to the next stage of the argument which is the belief that she can produce something that's not awful, and people will like/want. The problem with that is that until she's done it, and tested the response, its an unsupported assumption.
Roisin in the Independent says she has an industry backer, and Luisa thinks she could get the 250k for a smaller scale venture from crowd funding - as Luisa did. It may be possible to get through some of the walls in the way with a really good product. Scale and return look problematic though, and if your usp is taste and recipes, the bigger competition can copy that.
The problem if its not possible , is that it leaves a great big gap in the logic of the show. It rests on the implication you could be the next Sugar, or at least very successful - but, even with a good idea , the barriers to entry, and quasi monopolies in the system mean you can't make it. It ends up displaying why the system stagnates, rather than proving how its offers opportunities for new entrants.
If the product is a ready meal, that that wasn't a ready meal, then the item she was presented with was not an example of someone already making the product.
Which is whats won up to now. Tom can be stuck in a cupboard with something to draw with, and one of his comfy chairs to dream of new product ideas in . Leah can get on with supplying a high mark up service to people with more money than wrinkles. She was actually offering to do her own cleaning, to reduce the amount of money flowing out anywhere else. Ricky can get on with moreorless.doing what he did before, and be given an office in Sugar Towers. There's no question they can do what they say, little risk, not much need for investment, and big returns for something that exists and costs little, or a service that can charge premium prices. The person with the small restaurant, dance clubs idea, or idea for the next cornflake replacement, twitter, or Amstrad computer, need not apply.
http://www.tompellereau.com/projects.php
I don't understand why its being sold in this tasteless form, I understand Konjac is elephant yam, so why not make it into a smooth consistency like mash potato and sell it in that form I think going by other root vegetables that are mashed up like potato they do have a distinctive yummy taste, perhaps if it has that taste and because it gives less calories then normal potatoes people will choose the mashed konjac instead.
If we go by regular yam consistency when its boiled and mashed up its quite sticky then potato but more yummy and just as tasty when you add your vegetables and meat etc.
If Roisin can somehow find a way to make it more palatable in her ready meal range, then she might be on to something, but I seriously doubt it will be the mass market idea she thinks it is; otherwise, one of the big food companies with their legions of food technologists would have found a way to do it by now.