Bit harsh surely. No, I'm not an industry expert but bearing in mind what they managed to achieve in a day I thought it was quite impressive...

Yes they managed to make a few bags of Doritos look like a dogs dinner and there was absolutely nothing new or even fresh to their concept.

It seemed to me that the two girls couldn't be bothered or were deliberately sabotaging the task.

Peppers aren't Mexican says SM who eats lots of Mexican.

We can't come up with ideas.

Their contribution was more hinderance than help.

Well the others only got 7 out of 10 for what looked to be an operation streets ahead of Caracas. Also the big fail for team Jim was the lack of costings and any idea of throughput - which wasn't really highlighted until Sugar really got going in the boardroom.

So 60 x 7 isn't £4,200?

I'd have liked to have heard what the individual 4 scores were for each team. Also, what measure of 'average' they were using. As anyone who knows a bit about stats will know, there are three measurements of averages- mode, median and mean, and each will give different results.

Not sure if I misheard it, but did Jim say £4,200 or £4,800. Was impressed with the double miscalculation if the latter.

It was £4800 first but when Karren shook her head at him, he revised it to £4200.

She's right - they aren't!! CHILLIES are Mexican - the bell pepper was developed to give colour and crunch without the heat!!

That said - I agree 100% that the girls were next to useless on the task - well rather Natasha was!

Her attitude towards Susan meant that she wasn't even trying to get along, and her refusal to utilise her skills from her degree (from a "long time ago") was one of the key reasons they lost. She said that she had done all the restaurant stuff as part of the degree - then refused to call on that knowledge to help out! SHE should have been managing the kitchen - leaving the inexperienced ones doing what they did best - dealing with customers!

I think Mexican food can be a bit tricky to present. You need a lot of imagination to present Mexican food. Last night, the presentation was so poor. Natasha who has degree in hospitality industry should know better about food presentation.

I agree with LS that the food is like vomit. Honestly in London, I am always disappointed with some Mexican restaurants. Mexican food is getting popular in this country, but not many restaurateurs do it right.

I did find it funny before the task Natasha bigged up her restaurant running bit in her degree and it would be great for the task but yet in the board room she never really paid attention in uni so not her fault.

sorry, but I don't agree. I am a chilli enthusiast and grow different varieties of chillis and peppers each year - I've just obtained another two unusual varieties last week. I am sad enough to read up on plants, particularly ones I grow such as chillis and garlic.

the capsicum family of peppers ranging from chilli to the larger milder bell-pepper is native to the Americas and has been eaten there for circa 3,000 years. even if the popular bell-pepper has been influenced by recent development, the 'pepper' as in capsicum, is definitely a long-serving food in Central American/Mexican cuisine. the elongation varies.

I'm not sure whether finger chillis and African bell peppers were imported from the Americas or not - there a 5 main cultivars of which almost all popular varieties of chilli are derived from.

whilst the chilli - say the cayenne or habanero - is iconic (they use cayenne-shaped chillis for hotness ratings - not true Scoville ratings, but mass-market indications) - all those varieties could be used as part of a logo.

Susan was wrong on this one.

PS
the naga chilli - the hottest (and popular in India) - like the scotch bonnet is bell-pepper shaped. my growing capsicums look like them at the moment as they are only part grown.

Mexican for me was a bad idea altogether because it takes time to prepare and a lot of presentation to make it look good. It doesn't work as a fast food concept. They should have gone for something they could've cooked in a big batch and just served out. That was their biggest mistake imo.

I imagine the figures for viability were very low. You couldn't produce enough or serve enough to cover costs. Add to that the food wasn't great. the low service wouldn't attract repeat custom, and the name was Caracas. Even if they got 6s for everything else(and 5 might be more realistic?) zeros for viability would knock them own into the 4s overall .

I'm from the USA where Mexican is huge. (I'm not talking shit like Taco Bell!) Mexican works well as a fast food, but you have to get the right kind of stuff. I was screaming at the TV last night after they decided on the fajitas, because they require a lot of prep and can't be eaten or made quickly. I used to go to loads of little tiny taco stands back home and be served the most delicious food for a fraction of what a McDonald's value meal cost. They should have stuck to a burrito, a quesadilla, and small tacos. Also, at Mexican joints, they work in an assembly line. Usually there is a grill with several meats on the go and the sauces are in little tubs. It's a great idea, just that the team had no clue of what they were doing.

Burritto shops springing up in the city, and very popular. And they are Fast food.

I wonder if their mark was brought down for the viability or business plan element because they had nothing to say on that. No costings, no expected turnover, no idea how many customer they could serve.

I (naively) thought that showing that you could run a business was the whole point of the tasks in TA, but very little emphasis seems to be put on it, especially in this series. Last night the fact that Helen had actually produced some costings was only mentioned as an afterthought by LS. I now realise that TA is entertainment, pure and simple. The candidates are chosen for their entertainment value, and we can all have a good laugh.

I am sure he said £4,800 to begin with

Maybe at a push a 5 but anything over a 5 would have been too generous.

It wasn't 'fast' and they'd given zero thought to the financials - not harsh at all.

Food took forever, was badly prepared, they had no business plan or costings or indeed the faintest idea of any of the numbers, and their fresh, contemporary branding ideas were a few sombreros and cacti.

How did they even get 4 marks from anyone?

But the fact that you need to be a chili expert shows they probably would've been able to get away with it.

It was rubbish. Fast food is meant to be just that, and it is meant to be easy to eat. MyPy was quality, this country needs a decent pie place like that, who doesn't like pie mash and gravy.

They were appallingly bad. No structure. No originality. No good team work. No nothing. It was a half-hearted attempt all round,. Jim as PM was terrible. He didn't know what he was doing. The poor woman in the kitchen gave him a few good pointers, but Jim still didn't quite get it. Natasha slouched in a pool of apathy and exhaustion. And Susan... I don't know where her head was. During this task, she acted as if she was in a chick lit magazine office. All style and no substance. She seems a tad too fond of recycling stereotypes, too. It wasn't the first time she did this.

Jim could have assigned himself to sorting out the business model side, Susan to branding and name next to him at the table, and Natasha, whether she likes or not, to food, but no. All he did was flapped his hands figuratively while looking quite gormless. All three did a crappy job during this task. Susan did try to improve a couple of problems, but it wasn't enough.

The other team, even with its flaws, were million miles ahead of them.