No one else seems to have picked up on this but doesn't it strike as odd that he claimed to employ 150 people to run 15 sandwich bars?

Ten people per bar?

What is the betting that if he'd lasted longer it would have turned out that he'd got franchises to sell sandwiches at 15 events and had a pool of casual staff for each.

I cannot believe that anyone needs 150 people to run 15 sandwich bars in static 'working hours' locations. Had he got 15 of those running successfully he wouldn't have been able to afford to work for Siralan.

it was unclear what the "shops" were. Rocky appeared not to mention the word, but Sir Alan did. Rocky however did not correct him.

Does he employ 150 people, or has he had at some point 150 individuals working for him but not at the same time?

It certainly sounds like he has embellished it, a but like the guy who ran an international company from his parents back bedroom.

Ever heard of part time staff? That could account for a fair proportion of the 150.

And also he may well have shift workers in the shops - and a main kitchen/ warehouse producing/ delivering all the stuff to the shops, and he'll need his management team as well - accounts person/ personnel person/ secretarial/ clerical staff etc

Its quite easy to see how he could have 150 people.

ROFLMAO!

It's quite easy to see how he could claim 150 people without actually telling a lie.

So in the sense that 150 people is an almost meaningless figure, yes, it could be true (as I said in the OP).

What I was pointing out was that it seems to have been taken at face value without any critical assesment.

Or is it just that people are now completely inured to the 'self employed' candidates bigging themselves up beyond any reasonable credibility.

150 staff could easily be used if each shop had extra trade doing lunches for local offices, in that size of business you will constantly have people on holiday, cleaners, accountant, skilled staff, non skilled staff. If you are open all day every day then the staff levels could easily double to cover all the shifts

I live in the North East, the sandwich shops do exist and have done for a few years. No doubt it is a successful business. However from what I've heard, it's his dad's business and not his.

Yes, you are missing the point.

I know that there are ways that you can count your staff to get a very impressive figure. Particularly with something like 'Sandwich Outlets'.

It's just that the figure got bandied about as if he was running a fairly major business and no one ever inquired as to the reality.

The obvious intent being that anyone uncritically watching (as a great many people seem to do) would assume Rocky was in a substantial way of business whereas I suspect the reality is somewhat different.

From the sound of it, those 150 people don't all work in sandwich shops. There's probably some of them at central production facilities, some of them doing deliveries etc. ("He'd struggle to get a job cleaning one of my vans."