Cakes Trade Your Way to the USA

I'm Saira Khan and I'm a successful businesswoman.

I started trading when I was just a teenager.

Now I'm looking for the next generation of budding entrepreneurs

who are fantastic at trading and know how to make a profit.

I'm looking for Britain's best young traders.

Can you do three for £2?

Can I interest you in 50p for the jumbo sword?

-Yes.

-No.

From over 1,000 applicants,

14 teams have made it through to the heats.

Would you like a pick 'n' mix fruit dessert?

Very nice. Ooh, lovely.

They will be tested in a range of tough trading challenges.

I don't know how I'll survive the cheese challenge!

I think you look amazing.

Each team will be given £75.

They must decide what to buy...

We need to look for a cheaper option.

..negotiate the lowest prices...

-It's a deal.

-£8.40?

You drive a hard bargain, you guys!

Nice doing business with you.

..and then they must sell, sell, sell.

-Pick any you want.

-Yeah, £10.

Come on!

The team that takes the most money wins the challenge.

But only the teams that top the leaderboard

could be in with a chance to compete in the Grand Final in New York.

..USA. U...S...A.

Watch them in action, listen out for my top trading tips,

and one day you too could trade your way to the USA.

It's time to meet today's two teams.

ALL: We're Prosperity and we're going to trade our way to the USA.

As a group of friends, we do get on really well.

-We know how to work...

-We know how to work together.

We know our strengths and weaknesses and we know how to play to them.

Prosperity are three friends from Liverpool

and they're quietly confident.

We've all known each other for three years

and we've always been best friends.

Me and Lizzie have done car-boot sales.

I've got a lot of business experience in my family.

I know things like setting up websites.

Lizzie is really, really ridiculously clever,

so she's dead good at the maths.

We're all approachable, friendly people, so we should be all right.

But Prosperity are up against stiff competition.

We're Money Talks.

And we're going to trade our way...

To the USA!

Money Talks from Peterborough are also convinced they'll win.

We think we'll win this competition, because we're good at persuading

people to part with their cash and we're good at selling things.

As a group, we definitely have the skills to win this competition.

We're all bright and know our way around business.

So, it's the cheeky charmers of Money Talks

versus the sassy brainboxes of Prosperity.

Which team will take the most money and win today's challenge?

What's this?

It looks like a scene from Alice In Wonderland.

But what's it got to do with buying and selling?

It's time to reveal today's trade challenge.

Welcome, everybody.

Your trading challenge is to set up a cakes and biscuits stall

at a real, live Victorian village

where they're holding a very special Alice In Wonderland event.

But first, you've got to decide

which treats you're going to buy for your customers.

That's why we're here at Ludlow Food Centre,

because in there, you've got everything you need.

Time is money, so get in there!

Ooh! Food, glorious food.

Where are those chocolate brownies?

There's so much choice here.

The teams must decide on what will sell best at a fancy dress party.

There'll be thousands of visitors at the Victorian village.

What will they be interested in buying?

Money Talks, Prosperity, this is your trading fund.

This is Rubin. Today you can buy directly from him.

Remember to negotiate hard and ask lots of questions.

So, what will Money Talks and Prosperity

spend their £75 on today?

The first rule of trading is research.

They now have 15 minutes.

Do you sell it by cake or by slice?

In the shop, we sell it as a whole cake,

but over in the cafe, we sell it by slice.

Do you think that more simple packaging sells more effectively?

Packaging could sell anything, is the honest answer to that.

If you package something right, you'll sell it.

Back on the shop floor,

Prosperity head straight for the cakes.

I like that one. Would it sell, though?

I think that would, cos I like carrot cake, and all my family does.

We don't want too many whole cakes.

We're cutting them into slices.

-We need loads of cookies, though, I think.

-Yeah.

And what have Money Talks got their eye on?

Strawberry bonbons.

Toffee, strawberry and lemon.

Sweets. Hmm.

You could, like, have them for 5p or 10p each.

-Yeah.

-I think the sweets are going to sell, because it's a child's event

and it will attract the parents to come in with their children.

Prosperity want to buy scones and fill them with jam and cream.

I just think that adults go for the strawberry over the...

Yeah, but people might just like that.

I wouldn't put a lot of money into them.

No, just get the least of them, then, and get the most of them.

Write it down, then.

So much choice...

Shall we get some chocolate?

I don't know!

..so little time.

And it's so easy to get distracted.

-Did you see those bears?

-Bears?!

Come on Money Talks, focus.

OK, what have we actually got?

Scones, tarts, cakes and some sweets and some biscuits.

Prosperity want to work out exactly how much to spend on cakes.

Let's go for, like, how much maximum are we willing to pay?

-A fiver?

-No way a fiver.

£3.50, I think.

Let's start with £2, because then it'll be like "£2.25?",

and we'll be like, "OK!"

You know when you were looking at the scones, the biscuits and cakes,

what were you thinking about?

Whether they'd appeal to who we're actually selling them to.

How we could keep them in with the theme and make a profit from them.

OK. It sounds like you've got a plan, and I hope you stick to it.

Thank you.

See you later.

In Alice In Wonderland, we've got to make it that kind of theme.

For Josh, it's all about the image and look of their stall.

If we have them in packaging, we could have a big showpiece

and then you can take the slices out, like a wedding cake.

We could line them up and make them in the shape of a caterpillar.

Guys, from what you've seen so far, what have you got your eye on?

-The tarts.

-Mm-hm.

Some strawberry scones and a couple of Victoria sponges.

Then we can jazz them up.

Yeah, add, like, our own touch.

My top tip to all your traders is, the look of your stall is important,

but what's more important is knowing how much you paid for something

and how much you're going to sell it for.

Time's up on deciding what to buy.

Now Money Talks and Prosperity have to negotiate with Rubin.

Remember, they have £75 to spend today.

They need to haggle for the best prices now

so they can take the most money when they sell tomorrow.

Prosperity, you're up first.

Whatever you do, don't crumble. Come on, guys.

Prosperity's up first.

Hello.

Hope you found some interesting products.

-Yeah.

-We have the Victoria sponge, which you're selling for £4.75.

How are you going to sell it? What have you got in mind?

We were going to cut it into eight and then sell slices.

What sort of price are you going to be selling each slice for?

Each slice, we're thinking about £1.50 to £2 per slice.

So there's some good profit in that for you.

Lizzie makes their first offer.

We were thinking of buying each cake for about £2 to £3.

Oh-ho!

Coming in very low.

That is low, but it gives them room to negotiate.

Initially, I'm thinking £4 for a cake.

-I think you can go lower, to be honest.

-Do you?

Faye is not budging, and Lizzie is backing her up.

So, if I was to say you could have four cakes for £15,

does that sound fair to you?

No.

-Maybe £3.50 would be better.

-Yes, I think we could...

Do £3.50 a cake?

Yeah, I think we could do £3.50.

25p...

I think that we could probably stretch to £3.50. OK?

Thank you. Hand shake.

It's a deal.

It's a textbook negotiation.

They've got the cakes at a fantastic price

and they're going to get a brilliant mark-up. An excellent start!

Prosperity's plan is to sell jam and cream with their scones,

and that means more haggling with Rubin.

£6 is pushing me right down to the bare bones.

They keep pushing...

You make a hard bargain.

-..and pushing...

-£6 for four?

-..to get a great deal.

I'll fold on that one and let you have that.

Thank you.

Now it's Money Talks' turn in the hot seat.

These cakes are going to be part of our centrepiece -

we're going to cut them up and put them in the centre.

Cut them in 12.

-Into 12?

-Yes.

Do you think that's going to make the portion a little bit too small?

If we have small portions, they'll come back for more.

Don't fill them up so they come back?

-Yeah!

-Very good.

Mmm, an interesting selling tactic, Josh.

How much are you going to charge them for a slice?

We were thinking about 80p to £1.

Because it's a small slice, that's a fair price.

-So you think you can make £12 back on one of those cakes?

-Yeah.

OK, so what are you willing to pay for one?

We were thinking of getting all of them together for 15 quid.

So that's four cakes for £15?

Yup.

That sounds like a fair deal -

I'm not going to come back to you on that.

They're paying £3.75 for each cake -

25p more than Prosperity paid.

Josh is doing a lot of talking in there,

but what he's not doing is driving a hard bargain.

They've got to get Rubin to cut his prices, because if they don't,

they're going to be in serious trouble tomorrow

when it comes to who takes the most money.

Now for their big trade idea - the sweets.

So we've £12 worth of stock.

Yeah, and we were thinking £8.50.

£10 sounds more like a fair deal to me.

-Maybe £9.50.

-£9.50?

Go on, then. £9.50 for six bags of sweets.

Aleem and Josh are now getting into the swing of the haggling.

We also need to talk about the tarts.

Would you give them to us for 30p a tart? That would be £7.50.

-For 25?

-Yes.

If we said 35p a tart, does that sound like a fair deal?

Yeah. That's a good price.

With just £12 left,

they've got to spend it wisely.

Just times it by two.

Oh, no! Aleem wants more sweets,

but I think they'd take more money if they bought more cake.

Can we have another lot of all of the sweets?

-So the same again?

-Yes.

-OK.

It's been brilliant.

The deals are done.

So, how did each team spend their £75 trade fund?

Prosperity have spent almost £40 on cakes and tarts,

and almost £25 on plain and fruit scones,

with £10 for the jam and cream on top.

Money Talks have spent over £50 on a wide mix of products,

including Victoria sponge cakes and lots of cookies.

They've spent a whopping £20 on sweets.

So, will it be the high teas for the grown-ups

versus bags of treats for those with a sweet tooth?

Now it's all about who sells the most at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

Only one team will win and be in with a chance of trading their way

to the USA and becoming Britain's best young traders.

Let the battle commence.

It's the selling day. We're in Shropshire at a Victorian village

that welcomes thousands of visitors to its Alice In Wonderland Festival

and Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

It's full of people dressed up

and ready to step through the looking glass.

But before Prosperity and Money Talks start trading,

they have to look the part.

Now, the team that makes the most money wins today's challenge

and has a shot at the semi-final.

Win that and you will be in our Grand Final in New York.

You've got a lot of selling to do, so go for it!

They'll have just three hours to sell.

Which team will take the most money today?

The pressure's on to get their stalls ready.

A big part of Money Talks' plan

is to sell sweets in pick 'n' mix bags.

The sweets cost them £20.

By dividing them up into 50 bags for £1 each,

they could make a £30 profit.

And Prosperity, making their own scones with jam and cream

could be the key to their success.

They bought the scones at 35p each. The jam and cream cost a few pence.

They plan to sell them for £1.75.

Five minutes.

The pressure's on.

Putting them on... it doesn't look good.

Josh is confidently putting everything on display.

Josh, put them all back.

-And Aleem's not happy.

-You've got to put them out.

The strawberry ones are the best, - we've got to be able the see them.

-No, no, no. Aleem!

-Oh, no!

That's almost £4 worth of stock gone.

And that's the marmalade down too.

We just lost some cakes!

We lost four, but we're OK, because we didn't lose the strawberry ones,

and hopefully they'll sell better.

Prosperity are getting flustered too.

How much are we selling one for? Did we say 60?

-Make it 1.30 for two.

-That's ridiculous - that's more!

But they won't buy individual ones if we do them in twos.

Yeah, but that's more for two - they'd just buy them singly.

There are moments to go before opening,

but the teams are still not ready.

Money Talks, something's wrong here.

-The sign's upside down.

-You're joking!

Well spotted, Alexander.

The prices are set, and the stalls are ready for business.

It's time to stop setting up and start selling.

It's crunch time.

The teams have got to sell, but will their cakes bring in the cash?

The crowds have arrived for the Alice In Wonderland adventure.

Both teams are ready.

Start selling!

We're open!

Queen of Hearts jam tarts. Would you like one?

Thank you very much. We have our first customer!

Money Talks makes the first sale of the day.

Made a sale straightaway, so that's a good omen, hopefully.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

We made a sale.

It's £1.75 for a slice.

There you go. Enjoy that.

Prosperity's stall looks busy, which is great, but I'm concerned

that they may be overwhelmed by customers

and they're not keeping track of their prices.

A full cake? How much are the full cakes?

Full cakes are £5.50.

What's that?

Full cakes are £5.50.

A full cake for £5.50?

Come on, Prosperity, you'd take more money selling it in slices.

Thank you.

Money Talks' stall isn't looking so busy,

and they need to do something fast.

Josh has a clever idea for selling.

£1.20 a slice of award-winning Victoria sponge and chocolate cake.

Take the cake to the customers.

Over at this stall!

Aleem is out with the sweets, a good tactic to get people to their stall.

Money Talks have a mishmash of products at low prices,

but what they have got is lots of enthusiasm when it comes to selling.

£1.20 a slice for cakes.

Hey, what's that?!

They're cutting the cake into eight, not 12.

They'll take less money for each cake.

But those big slices for £1.20 are definitely a crowd-puller.

Now Prosperity's stall is quiet.

People are looking but not really buying.

We need to get more buyers. That's the problem right now.

I think they're lacking passion and enthusiasm.

My top tip to all you traders is, believe in your product,

because if you're not enthusiastic about it,

the customers won't be enthusiastic in buying.

Faye decides that if Money Talks are so good at selling out and about,

she can go directly to the customers too.

Ah, tarts!

These are the ones. There's one missing!

One missing, look! What do you do when you see the Queen?!

-Very nice, lovely.

-Curtsy?

-Yes. I should think so as well.

-They're delicious tarts, dear.

-Are you going to pay for that?

-No, we're royalty.

-No, we don't pay.

-We don't carry money!

I'm not going back to them!

They've just stolen a tart! They've just stolen a tart!

Oh...!

At least all you lost was a tart. You could have lost your head!

The Queen of Hearts might not pay, but lots of people are now buying

Prosperity's scones with jam and cream.

But those dry scones on Money Talks' stall aren't as popular.

Cakes, cookies...

How are you working together as a team?

Great, so far.

We need to pull more people in and stick to what we're best at,

and that's selling.

Money Talks are thinking of new ways to pull in the customers.

To charm people into buying, Josh gets out his ukulele...

-Chocolate cake?

-£2.80.

-..and it seems to be working.

Halfway through the challenge, and it's all to play for.

Prosperity are charging high prices but aren't pushy on the selling.

Power to the women!

Money Talks have lower prices,

but Josh has tricks up his sleeve to attract the customers.

Cookies, scones, tarts and some sweets!

I'm just offering around tasters.

Make way for the Queen of Hearts. Make way.

But what's going on? The customers are leaving.

This is a problem for both teams.

We should be entertained first, and that'll give us a good appetite.

It's because the Mad Hatter's Tea Party has just begun.

With fewer customers, Money Talks decide to take drastic action.

What is going on?

We're putting our prices down a bit,

because we're not selling enough, in Aleem's eyes.

Aleem was watching and has seen we're not selling enough.

Is that a wise decision?

I hope so.

You've still got quite a lot of time to sell?

Yes, definitely.

OK!

Everything over here is 50p!

My top tip to all you traders,

when you're selling and you're under pressure,

don't reduce your prices too quickly.

There's still 45 minutes of selling time left, and the gloves are off.

It's started to pick up now. I'm feeling more confident.

We're attracting a lot of potential from children.

The jam tarts have been going well, and the cake's gone really well.

People come over and keep coming back.

-I'm going out now.

-Thank you very much. Enjoy.

How cute does he look?!

That's cheeky, Josh - you're in Prosperity's selling space.

-Getting a lot of customers.

-He should move.

Is anyone interested in buying anything so we can beat the boys?

-Sweets, cakes, cookies!

-Money Talks, with their lower prices,

are getting lots of customers.

We made £15.

We just ran out of cake - we had to open another one.

Cookies have gone down well. Scones haven't gone down so well.

-I think we sold one.

-No, we've sold about three.

Prosperity, you've got 30 minutes left and you've got to sell

all this. Are you confident you're going to sell?

I'm confident we'll sell most of it.

In terms of your pricing, have you reduced your prices?

-No. We haven't reduced anything.

-Why not?

Because they're still buying it,

so we're not going to reduce it until they stop buying.

With maybe ten minutes to go,

we'll probably sell most of it for £1 a slice or something.

-OK, 30 minutes.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Money Talks, you now have 30 minutes to get rid of all your stock.

What's your strategy?

Literally give it to them.

We've lowered the prices loads... from the starting prices.

-Confident?

-Yes.

-Yes.

Come and buy some award-winning Victoria sponge,

absolutely delicious.

£1 a slice of chocolate cake with clotted cream -

-help us beat the boys.

-50p scones - over there!

£2, yeah.

Help us beat the boys!

Everything on here - 20p!

With just minutes left, it's a race for both teams to sell, sell, sell.

£2, yeah.

There you go!

Selling is over.

We're done.

'It's been a tight competition, but who's taken the most money?'

The winners today could get through to the big New York final

where they'll compete against another team

to be named Britain's best young traders.

Teams, the challenge is over. What did you enjoy about this task? Faye?

I really enjoyed today, selling to the customers,

going out and getting people's attention.

When it got busy and when it was crazy, it was more fun

than when there were no customers.

What about you, Joshua?

Yeah, the mad rush... when everyone's there,

you have to quickly do everything, that was really good.

Shouting out to get the customers into our stall to buy our products.

I've been following both teams for two days. These are my observations.

Money Talks, you bought some cakes,

but you also looked at different areas like sweets and marmalade.

Was that the right selection to get you the most money

at the end of the day?

Prosperity, at times,

I felt that you were quiet in trying to attract customers to your stall.

Has that cost you? Who had the right strategy? Let's find out.

Money Talks...

..you took...

..£100.60!

That's mad.

Prosperity...

..you took...

..£211.10!

Wooh!

Money Talks! It was a good sum of money but not good enough.

-Have you enjoyed it?

-Yes.

-Definitely.

-Have you learned from this experience?

-Yes.

Don't sell dry scones!

SAIRA LAUGHS

Wow! That was amazing!

-How do you feel?

-Really good.

-Feels boss!

-We never expected that whatsoever.

-Yeah, it feels really good.

Listen, I have to say, I was so impressed with you guys.

Your negotiation was fantastic. You were hard.

One thing you did was you kept your prices high

and you were determined to get that money.

You were fantastic. Well done. High five!

£211!

-You should be so pleased. Well done!

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

'So, Prosperity win.

'From their £75 trade fund, they've taken a whopping £211.10.'

That's a profit of £136.10.

So let's look at the leaderboard...

Prosperity go into first place

ahead of Sapphire, Impulse

and the OAPs.

Only the four winning teams

who take the most money get through to the semi-finals.

The two best will go on to compete in the grand New York final.

But only one team will be named Britain's best young traders.

Next time on Trade Your Way To The USA...

£2.50 for a really good present.

-..there are souvenirs to be sold...

-"I love London" mugs and spoons!

..as two teams of traders battle it out...

Just £2.

You can get this very fancy teapot.

..at one of London's top tourist destinations.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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