That
was the mantra invoked by Sir Alan Sugar as he heaped scorn
on his losing team of would-be apprentices in the first episode
of the new series on BBC1. The teams had each been given a mobile
coffee van and a Tradecycle, and told to go and sell coffee
on the streets of London. Revealingly, the losers' Tradecycle
helped them turn in a whopping £500 in a day's trading,
the 'location' jibe having come about because the girls chose
a poor pitch for the van, and the team manager subsequently
closed it down altogether, leaving the bike to make all the
sales. Ironically, it seems the girls' team would have won on
sales figures alone, but they overestimated their stock requirements
and so they overspent. You can see highlights from the show
on bbc.co.uk/apprentice.
So - location,
Sir Alan? Well, a cycle-powered mobile sales unit offers unique
opportunities. You can take it where motorised catering providers
can't even get a sniff. Pedestrianised shopping centres, canal
banks, seaside piers, parks, gardens, railway stations and promenades.
Hardly surprising that when Talkback Thames producers spotted
one of our Tradecycles busy serving coffee among the crowds
of tourists in Canterbury's olde-worlde High Street (a traffic-free
zone), they just couldn't resist inviting us to London to help
out with staging the new Apprentice series.
Something
they didn't mention in the TV show is that Tradecycles' big
difference is a virtually zero-emissions trading opportunity.
You can deliver your stall to your chosen site by simple pedal
power; you light the bottled-gas burner under your deluxe Italian
coffee machine, and that's it - you're ready to start serving
the most delicious coffee and hot chocolate to a queue of satisfied
(and returning) customers. No motor, no noise, no fumes, no
electricity - and no road tax! Everything you need for a day's
trading is all on board - a water-supply and a waste tank, a
cool-box for your litres of organic milk, canisters for your
freshly-ground organic coffee and your luxury hot chocolate,
your top-quality recyclable paper cups, your promotional blackboards
and your sunshade. Not to mention your own personalised catering
offers (ours include organic fresh-baked muffins, gingerbread
men and toffee-apples).
If coffee
doesn't grab you, we can modify the Tradecycle concept to market
all kinds of goodies from ice-cream to pancakes, smoothies to
soup. We love the challenge of building special bikes for innovative
entrepreneurs.
So, if you're
tempted to give up your job, forget becoming a loser-in-a-suit
on the Apprentice. Use your creativity to be your own boss,
get out in the sun and enjoy your life!
That
was the mantra invoked by Sir Alan Sugar as he heaped scorn
on his losing team of would-be apprentices in the first episode
of the new series on BBC1. The teams had each been given a mobile
coffee van and a Tradecycle, and told to go and sell coffee
on the streets of London. Revealingly, the losers' Tradecycle
helped them turn in a whopping £500 in a day's trading,
the 'location' jibe having come about because the girls chose
a poor pitch for the van, and the team manager subsequently
closed it down altogether, leaving the bike to make all the
sales. Ironically, it seems the girls' team would have won on
sales figures alone, but they overestimated their stock requirements
and so they overspent. You can see highlights from the show
on 
Something
they didn't mention in the TV show is that Tradecycles' big
difference is a virtually zero-emissions trading opportunity.
You can deliver your stall to your chosen site by simple pedal
power; you light the bottled-gas burner under your deluxe Italian
coffee machine, and that's it - you're ready to start serving
the most delicious coffee and hot chocolate to a queue of satisfied
(and returning) customers. No motor, no noise, no fumes, no
electricity - and no road tax! Everything you need for a day's
trading is all on board - a water-supply and a waste tank, a
cool-box for your litres of organic milk, canisters for your
freshly-ground organic coffee and your luxury hot chocolate,
your top-quality recyclable paper cups, your promotional blackboards
and your sunshade. Not to mention your own personalised catering
offers (ours include organic fresh-baked muffins, gingerbread
men and toffee-apples).