Week 8 - enterprise week

During this week I attend the apprentice challenge. The event consisted of 3 stages, at the end of each stage several groups get dropped.







The first stage was a one day donut stall. For this we needed to make as much profit as possible in the one day that we had. We prepared for a week befor the event in order to have the donuts ready for the day, we also made a plan at our prices and how many we need to sell to brake even so that after that it is just profit. We were given a sponsorship of 500 pounds of which we only used a small percentage, this money was paid back after and any surplus was for us to keep.



Our plan was to buy 300 assorted donuts in bulk from morrisons, this meant that in bulk we would get the donuts at a cheaper price, also we agreed that they would have the donuts ready and warm on the day. This was so we could have a usp (unique selling point) because many of the other groups had their donuts too early therefor they were cold and not very fresh hence us having a advantage over our competitors.



The price we got was 9p per donut including the special toppings donuts. We sold the plain donuts for 30p and the special toppings donuts at 70p. We also added in deals like 3 plain donuts for 70p or 2 special donuts for a pound. When we actually started selling we soon realised that we could charge more as the demand was higher than expected, the weather also helped as it was a cold day and we were selling hot donuts. This meant that we charged 50p for the plain donuts and £1. This caused the demand to decrease slightly but we were still selling enough at the new higher price to be making more profit than before the price increase.



Our promotion for the event was to poster it all around the centre of wycombe and had our location in the central part of the high street outside macdonalds. Wen we were selling the donuts we had one member of the group handing out the donuts, one collecting the money and one caller that drew people in. Because our group consisted of 6 people so we also had one group of three selling on the move. The travelling group was mainly used to find better spots, because our main stand couldn't move we used the travelling group to find pockets of higher demand.





After this the overseers of the event evaluated our profits and some groups were dropped. Our profit (revenue after cost were minused) was £167. This alloud us to pass into the next round.


There was a preliminary presentation befor the start of the second round, unfortunately we did not realise that we had to do this presentation therfor we struggled to compete agains the well rehearsed presentation of our rivals, however the business managers of eden were impressed with our presentation and commented that we had some very promising ideas, however it wasn't enough to get into the next round and we were out.



The second round was having a stall in the eden centre where you could sell whatever you want. It was the same aim as befor, make as much profit as possible.



After this came the final phase in which the teams had to plan an event/takeover at the student union. The teams needed to breakeven but preferably make a profit from the night.



This event was very eye opening because I did not expect the selling of donuts to be as much fun as it was or that simple. I believe it has definatly widened my carrer aspirations as I believe I would like to start a small business in the future.