The Milton Keynes address is probably the address is probably just the registered address. The actual operating address can be different. Registered addresses are usually just PO boxes somewhere.

http://www.thebakershop.co.uk/ is still down. If it's a multi-million £ operation I can't imagine how much money she is losing for today. Pretty ugly database error as well.

Her website was up and running a few hours ago but looks like it's down again. I think I know why.

Shockingly bad programming by the look of it. If it were deliberately taken down, there'd be a "sorry" page, not a bunch of php/MySql errors.

It's up again now but they've been working on it following the results of the final.

Perhaps I repeat my post here.
What exactly is she expecting LS to invest in.In which way is it different to her present bake shop.

My understanding is that she wants to start a cash & carry style warehouse for other independent baker shops.

It's a Magento web-shop. There's ways to update it without showing mysql / database errors. Or maybe they got an Apprentice to do it.

I doubt there will be enough demand for a cash-and-carry. Luisa's new wholesale warehouse (if that is what it is) will surely need national coverage.

Watch the final - it makes it clearer (but not that much!)

Unlikely - much more likely to be fulfilment of web orders to achieve national scale.

Selling "everything except the cake", but the items were clearly aimed at home bakers.

A standard UK Industrial baking tray is 30" x 18" or 75cm x 45cm.

What it looks like she was selling was sundry items that sell in "cook shops" or cake decorating specialist shops.
These shops are always "independants" so are small - usually one shop companies, family run and under huge pressure - if not under threat.

The main UK supplier of small equipment items to "proper bakers" has always been Creeds.
http://creeds-southern.com/

If you go their cake decorating icing tubes I could not find a single one "out of stock".

I still maintain Sugar would have lost his money if he had invested in this - literally - half baked idea.

BTW - Commercial/ Industrial Bakers are in general - big hairy blokes.
Fancy fashionable Cupcake shops are probably mostly run by women - commercial bakers are mostly men

Most likely LS thought so too, but only put Luisa through as the decoy biz plan i.e. vague enough to sound good to viewers but not to industry specialists like you.

Luisa's biz plan reminds me of Tom Gearing's. I was the lone voice here who, based on specialist knowledge, said he had no hope of launching his fund without a track record. One year on, he still hasn't done so.

What I can't understand is why Luisa hasn't simply scaled up the existing wholesale section of The Baker Shop if she wanted to move into wholesaling?

Her latest tweet claims that she'll be launching the Bakers Toolkit later this year through Angels Den. It'll be interesting to see what form it takes if it materialises.

I get the impression that Louisa having only sold direct to the public has no idea how to be a wholesaler. Her web site does say she wants to go into it. So I am not really sure what New enterprise she was offering LS.
The public buy online but shops dont. They need and want the personal touch. You cant just wait till you get orders. And just walking in and saying youre cheaper wont get you a sale. They dont switch their regular suppliers so quickly. If she is trying to get more shops to stock these kind of products. who are not stocking them at the moment one has to go out to them. They are not going to come to her. How she expects to make her own brand beats me. The manufacturers already brand their goods, she is not big enough for them to make her, some own brands. This would be competing against themselves. Kellogs also dont make their products for own brand supermarkets.

This is sometimes/often true, but not necessarily always. My business, for instance - a large US-based multinational - is increasingly moving away from using field salespeople to service small accounts like this because it's not financially viable for us to do so. Increasingly small trade accounts are being switched to online trading - if they want to still have the personal touch they can, but they receive less favourable credit terms and don't enjoy the same level of discounts as they would do online. I'd say it probably varies a lot from industry to industry, though - I daresay that in many (old-fashioned) cases it's still largely field sales.

Agree largely with your other points. I think Luisa does understand her industry well, but underestimates how difficult it will be to build her customer base. Having said that, securing a supply deal to one of the big four grocers, say, would be a huge kick-start. (Not that that's easy!)

Maybe she's hoping to capitalise on her fame/notoriety?

I'm sure she is, but I suspect that in an industry like food services, where a lot of supplier/customer relationships are long-standing and quite 'old school' in nature, Luisa will find that her fame/notoriety will count for little when it comes to converting this into actual orders.

She is not a manufacturer so the big grocers and supermarkets have no need of her. If anything its just the opposite, once they get into this business she can close down. I do have a bit of knowledge of some of these products and I think they are all made by relatively small manufacturers. As far as I can see like I mentioned in my post, her best bet is introducing her products to shops who dont stock them at the moment. I speak from personal experience. I did the same. I walked into shops and asked the shop assistant usually first, if they thought my product would sell in their shop. No one likes to say no. Once she said yes the manager wouldnt argue. No, I couldnt sell to everyone, but not many refused me.
So I think her idea is basically flawed.

You mention the big grocers. How did I get to them. I went round all the tesco shops and asked to speak to the manager. I showed him/her my product and asked if he could sell it in Tesco. They again dont like to say no and they all said yes. With this in hand and the list of Tesco managers I applied to their head office for an interview which I got. But they didnt take my product in the end.

With Selfridges and Harrods its quite easy. The buyer is on the shop floor. They did take my product.

the balance sheet value is not the be all and end all of a business. You can have a very profitable, well running business with a 0 balance sheet value because the business has a lot of debt and other liabilities.

Having said that. I saw figures banded around in millions during the interview process. Normally Claude is very good at spotting these and bringing inconsistences to light. A cake shop doing millions in revenue with 100% markup on goods sold - I would not expect it to have a low book value with low assets & liabilities.

In any case, after seeing her performance in the final task, I wonder if she's been instrumental in her so called businesses. I have a feeling that her parents had a key part to play in them and help her set them up.

Very good to have someone with inside knowledge of this aspect of the Industry commenting.

I still believe she will not get into supermarkets unless she is using natural flavours and colours, plus in the branded home baking sector she is up against Dr Oetker, Silver Spoon, and Betty Crocker - all huge multinationals with deep pockets - AND they are generally the manufacturers as well so have lower prices to offer.

For the home baker, Lakeland already do what she is doing, but have their own chain of stores.

I also thought she would be taking on the likes on Lakeland and if thats the case she would loose. Personally I think she should launch the brand into shops like Lakeland etc and forget the whole, wholesaling thing.

I wondered why she wasn't prepared to put all her businesses into the partnership, it seemed to be one of the deciding factors for LS. If they are in trouble, that explains it.
I think she could probably run a very successful small chain of retail businesses, but a large wholesale operation..no way.

I'm sorry to be stupid but I still don't get it - is she competing with Lakeland, ie selling to someone like me cooking at home? Or is she selling to someone like Lakeland, so when I go into a shop of cookery kit she has been the middle person between the maker and the shop? Or is she making things for professional bakeries, so the only contact with her brand that the average person would have would be eating the cakes that had been made with her icing, etc? Her branding all seemed to be aimed at the public, but her explanation seemed to be aimed at bakeries?

[dubest - you must be a brilliant sales person or have a brilliant product. Certainly in my line of work shops are more than happy to say no.]

Her branding was bizarre. All pink, girlie, and with her caricature aimed at the American housewife of the 1950's. But the word Toolkit in the name suggested she was selling hardware and not ingredients (which she was) and that you'd buy this toolkit only once and it would contain everything you'd need.

Perhaps it was lost in the edit but after watching the interviews, the final and You're Hired, I too am among those slightly baffled.

[dubest - you must be a brilliant sales person or have a brilliant product. Certainly in my line of work shops are more than happy to say no.]

Well I have just taught you how to go about it. My product was always something they were not yet selling but often another shop sometimes even next door was already selling.

I always offered to take it back if they couldnt sell it. The main problem of shopkeepers was returns. There is only one answer to that and I said there would be no returns.
I had my Harrods and Selfridges invoices with me to prove my quality. For that alone its worth giving them products for nothing.

Of course if a customer misused a product there would be. And if that happened and the shop couldnt 'argue' with the customer I stopped supplying them after taking it back.

If I thought a shop was in a good area I often just left the product there with the sales lady as managers are not always there. Once she accepted it, it was as good as sold,

I meant to say that is the only way that Louisa will be able to get into shops. Unless its really true that their deliveries are so bad. I am surprised that baker shops dont have stock of regular products and need deliveries on the spot. It is penny articles and shouldnt cost too much to stock up on.

My main point which you seem to have missed is that once supermarkets start selling these products she can close down. There is no way anyone can ever compete with them. I am sure that they also watch her antics on the apprentice and are seriously thinking about going into them. Like the saying let sleeping dogs lie. One shouldnt be waking up the super stores.

That's the British attitude for you, people will just say yes to their face and then reject it later.

Same applies for job interviews - everyone will be smiling and looking at you with glazed eyes, then you don't hear from them.

I provide B2b services and every time on the phone they will be happy about thye service and say "oh the price is fantastic", but then you never hear from them again. People are just nice to you to your face and then backstab you later.