I think it was a good strong concept, it was very clear and worked well, unlike the Mexican rest which was both messy and unoriginal. I think it would have an appeal to tourists and also they could expand into desert pies, selling Apple pie etc

...

there used to be a chain called Sweeney Todd's where the servers dressed in school uniform. bit of a laugh, it was.

Crap. My joke completely fell flat.

In Excel, there is an outlet of something called the Square Pie Company, that does similar (except the pies are square to fit in a box better). They're f***ing delicious....


(And, looking at their homepage, they may have noticed some similarities to their concept last night - http://www.squarepie.com/ - In fact, if you click through, they mention about celebrating 'their appearance in the semi-final of the apprentice)

The task was to open a 'fast food' restaurant.......I think Tom and Helen got it spot on.
Something different, fast service, quality products, getting 7/10 against 3/10 for Jims team was well deserved.

I do wonder what the rest of five choices were. Two are British and Mexican, but what are the other three?

Pastry has to be made with between 1/3rd to 1/2 fat and by definition therefore cannot be healthy.

It really does not matter whether the fat is animal or vegetable fat

another weakness was the seasonality of the line, Tom could only come up with a pork pie as a seasonal summer pie.

As a concept I think it missed out on a lot of the things people think are important in their food such as freshness and healthiness, their food however did look better than the Mexican food which did look like dog food in a wrapper

I'm sorry, I don't normally post (I just enjoy reading, and I'd forgotten my account details, but shefair; you made me go through the effort!)

I'm a biochemistry student, and to think if something contains 1/3rd to 1/2 fat cannot be healthy, you are mistaken. It all depends on the TYPE of fat that the food contains.

There are two major types LDL and HDL (low/high density lipoproteins) and whilst having a high concentration of LDL in the blood plasma can promote heart disease and related conditions, high concentrations of HDL in the blood plasma have been scientifically proven to REDUCE heart disease. So by using vegetable fats (which sterolins aren't actually absorbed into the body effectively at all; see the disease 'Sitosterolemia' for more information) you can make a healthy product.

Sorry to get all science geek on you but it got the best of me. Also, I'm pretty sure Tom was right in saying Byron was a vegetarian or a vegan at one point (but that's just a guess)

Apologies for the high chance my writing is terrible
-Chris

Bryon was a vegetarian (although really just an all round picky eater so perhaps not the best choice) and Francis WILLIAM Drake is sometimes referred to as William Drake to avoid confusion as otherwise he has the same name as his father and all three of his brothers.

So to me Tom's history facts are nearly spot on. Columbus is not British but he did discover the new world from where potatoes then came.

All in all, Tom's history wasn't that far off. Given that it was all off the top of his head he's done better than most journalist's & bloggers who are scoffing at him, given that they have had the chance to check the facts and yet are still laughing about the Bryon & Drake statements which aren't incorrect.

I actually think there's loads of seasonal things they could do.
Come Summer they could do things like Quiches with some salad orlittle tomato and goats cheese tarts like you get in M & S for instance and serve it with some couscous or something.

They could do filo pastry with say Feta and Roasted Vegetables in Spring, all very similar to pies but a lot lighter and more summery.

Pie, mash and mushy peas is unlikely to reduce obesity.
And if you like it, go to Pieminster, or S&M cafe, a Pie & Mash shop or any chippy. Pies everywhere

They could but their customer base who like pie and mash are unlikely to switch to feta flan and salad. On a hot day they would have a cheese and pickle sandwich, with a bag of crisps.

Of course its true that some fats are less unhealthy than others, and typically in commercial baked goods we see the worst fats (trans fats). But too much even of healthy oils is bad because of the calorie content for our mainly sedentary lives.

Oh blooming heck hope it is not a barber too
Seriously love the ideaof a good pie and potato fast food outlet

Tom also thought Byron was writing at the same time at Shakespeare which was rubbish as Shakespeare had been dead for nigh on two centuries before Byron came along

I didn't say pies were healthy per se, but if a pie is made with vegetable fat (lower in saturated fat than lard and other animal fat), has lean meat, limited salt, and no unnecessary additives, then obviously it's a healthier fast food than some others. There are "good" fats and "bad" fats; not all fat is unhealthy.

And the whole point of fast food is that it's supposed to be an *occasional* treat; in which case I'd rather have eaten pie, mash and mushy peas than - for instance - a greasy burger and fries.

You can't beat a chicken and mushroom Pukka pie...nom nom nom.

Pies are full of saturated fat, ergo, they are not good for 'the times we are living in with obesity'

No one in their right mind would make a pie crust with vegetable fat!

Ha ha, yes, you win the prize for culinary pedantry hands down

The potato however (see, I'm trying to steal a little of your thunder) was the ordinary British family's great friend in hard times, freeing them from the tyranny of the medieval miller. Who needs bread when you've got chips? Unless you need a chip butty. And then of course, the potato got us through the blitz only relatively malnourished. Winston Spud.

Don't forget that their aim was to compete with McDonald's, KFC, etc. I'm not sure that freshness and healthiness is exactly high up the list of crucial criteria with this type of food. And I'd wager that a pie full of quality steak with a thin crust would be more healthy than McDonald's chips (5% potato, all the rest starch, deep-fried and liberally coated with salt) or deep-fried chicken.

I think that that's an entirely different market. I'm not sure that the mass of people who'd go out for steak pie, mash, mushy peas and gravy would be equally likely to go out for quiche and couscous.

On the other hand, I see no reason to suppose that pies would sell less well in the summer. Fish and chips, KFC, Big Macs, etc, don't. Just compliment the menu with ice-creams, etc.

That's true but hadn't they said they were going to be seasonal? Or at least the 100% british meant they would have to be seasonal?

I don't remember them saying that they were going to, and being British doesn't mean they'd have to remain seasonal. There are places that grow out-of-season stuff in greenhouses. It's more expensive, but perfectly possible to get hold of seasonal ingredients at any time of year.

Furthermore, that wouldn't apply to their main ingredients, like the steak or onions.