Chocolate - Brighton Trade Your Way to the USA

CBBC's search for Britain's best young traders

is reaching boiling point.

The heats are over

and from the 1,500 young budding entrepreneurs who applied,

only the four best teams have made it through this far.

It's time for the semifinals.

Today's two teams go head-to-head

when Team Synergy from Devon...

ALL: We're going to trade our way to the USA!

..take on Penny Pinchers from East Yorkshire.

-ALL:

-We're going to knock the stuffing out of you!

They've proved they've got an eye for a bargain...

We'd like to buy 100 cups.

£5.88.

You could do it for a quid?

..shown that they're tough negotiators...

We've knocked it down to £10.75

which is half-price.

..and demonstrated that they're top sellers.

Yogurt-based smoothie over here. Yogurt beats water

every time, ladies and gentlemen.

Two adults for the price of one.

Two smalls, please.

Nine pounds. Thank you.

KLAXON

But which one of them has got what it takes to win?

Because the team that wins today's challenge

will go through to our grand final in the USA.

It's semifinal time

and the Trade Your Way challenge is about to get even tougher.

Let's meet today's teams who have battled this far.

It's Penny Pinchers

versus Team Synergy.

Team Synergy are...

..three best mates from Devon.

In their heat they proved they had real talent for selling smoothies,

beating the other team by almost £50.

CHEERING

They took £150.01

putting them fourth on the leaderboard

and through to the semifinals.

It's so cool reaching the semifinals.

We're so excited to be here.

I reckon we're not going to go home without a fight.

To get through - that'd just be the best thing ever.

We're going to give it everything today - 100%.

We want this more than anything.

But you'd better watch out boys because your opponents

are determined to beat you and make it all the way to the USA.

Penny Pinchers are three friends from East Yorkshire -

In their heat they showed what they'd got,

selling their paw print mugs and T-shirts.

They beat their opponents by just over £60.

CHEERING

Congratulations.

'Their takings of £171.97

'put them second on the leaderboard,

'guaranteeing a place in the semi-finals.'

ALL: Penny Pinchers can win this and go to the USA. Whoo!

'Two tough trading teams',

but only one can make it through to our grand final in the USA

and that's the team that makes the most money

and wins today's challenge.

Today's teams have arrived in Brighton

but they've got no idea what their trading challenge will be.

All they know, is they need to win this task

if they want to make it to the USA.

Welcome to Brighton

and congratulations on getting through to the semifinals.

This challenge is going to test your business skills to the max.

Your challenge is to create and sell your own chocolates

to the 10,000 visitors

expected at Brighton Chocolate Festival.

You must negotiate the lowest prices

and then sell, sell, sell.

The team that makes the most money wins the challenge and earns

themselves a place in Trade Your Way To The USA's

grand final.

Here are your trading funds.

For the semifinal, I've increased your trading fund to £150.

Are you ready?

-ALL: Yes!

-Let's go.

Each team has £150.

They need to buy the right products now if they want to win

and secure their place in the USA grand final.

The first rule of buying is to really understand the product

that you're selling, so I've brought you here

to meet your expert, Rachel, who works in the chocolate industry.

My top tip to you is this - ask yourself,

"Who am I selling to?

"What am I selling?

"Where am I selling it?"

That should help you to narrow down those choices

and make some good business decisions.

Here are your notebooks.

-Are you ready?

-ALL: Yes!

Let's go!

Chocolate expert, Rachel, creates extraordinary tasting truffles

and chocolate slabs

using unique flavoured oils.

The teams have 20 minutes to learn all they can from her.

What's the most popular combination?

Well done, Maisie, that's exactly what I would do.

Pick the expert's brain

and find out from them what the best combinations are.

Great work.

This white chocolate,

flavoured with lemon oil and poppy seed

is very, very popular.

If you went for a dark chocolate slab,

chilli is brilliant.

Is the white chocolate,

milk chocolate or dark chocolate most popular?

SAIRA MOUTHS

Dark chocolate is very popular with men.

Younger people prefer milk

and white chocolate is a bit for everyone, really.

How much would you recommend selling a bag of truffles for?

Between £3.50 and £4?

He's established the retail selling price

and that's key to working out your profits.

OK, teams, your time for questioning is up.

Rachel, thank you very much for your expert advice.

You've got to decide how to spend your £150 trading fund.

Let's go.

The teams must spend their £150 wisely

to be in with a chance of getting to the USA.

If I were doing this challenge,

I would absolutely take a risk

and create some unique and exotic flavours

that would help my product to stand out

and distinguish me from the competition.

But what are the teams planning?

So, Penny Pinchers,

tell me what you've decided.

We've got quite a range of ideas

because we want a variety for the public.

We've got stuff like the white slabs with lemon oil and poppy seeds,

because she said that was quite a popular one, didn't she?

Then we've got the dark slabs of chocolate with chilli

because it's quite a popular taste.

We've got the milk slabs with orange.

Then for the truffles

we have a white one which is going to be

dipped in dark chocolate.

To give their customers a wide selection,

Penny Pinchers strategy is to buy a mix of truffles

and chocolate slabs in the most popular flavours.

So at the moment you're going for three different types

of chocolate slabs in bags and three types of truffles

-in boxes?

-ALL: Yeah.

What is Team Synergy's game plan?

I see you're tucking in to your chocolate there.

Tell me exactly what you want to buy.

We were thinking 10 small boxes,

20 medium and 10 large.

That's 40 boxes and we calculated

-that would be all right for 400 truffles.

-OK.

We're thinking 100 dark truffles

with rose on, 100 white chocolate truffles.

We're going to have vanilla truffles

in dark chocolate with flakes of white chocolate on top.

-100?

-100 of them as well.

We're just going to go for the basic dark chocolate - 100 of them again.

The boys' strategy is to buy only truffles.

They plan to order larger numbers to secure the biggest discounts.

-I'll see you in the negotiations. Good luck.

-ALL: Thanks.

Team Synergy believe that by only selling truffles

that will make them the most money.

Penny Pinchers reckon that by taking a no-risk approach,

that will help them bring in the cash.

But that's if they can negotiate the lowest prices.

With their chocolate chosen, it's time to bargain with Rachel.

They must haggle hard for the best prices now

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

The team that brings in the most cash is guaranteed

a place in the USA grand final.

First up - Penny Pinchers.

Their strategy is to buy a wide range

of both truffles and chocolate slabs.

OK, ladies, what would you like to buy?

Ten slabs of the white chocolate...

..with the lemon oil and poppy seeds.

OK, your ten white slabs will cost you £13.70.

£6.85.

SAIRA GASPS

They've come in with a 50% discount.

I'm not running a charity here.

OK. £8.85.

It may be a good deal for you, but it's not a good deal for me.

£10.50. That's our last price.

Fine, ladies, I will do those ten white slabs.

That's a £3.20 discount. Well done, girls.

Ten dark slabs with chilli powder.

Will cost you £13.

We're going for £7.

I'm actually getting slightly offended

that you would offer me half price.

£10, please.

OK, ladies, £10 it is.

'Penny Pinchers are living up to their name.

'They negotiate another 50 bags of chocolate slabs,

'saving a massive £13.90p.'

For the truffles we've decided on 70 coconut covered vanilla truffle.

Ordinarily, that would cost £20.93,

but as you've ordered a number of those,

I will offer you a discount and sell that to you for £18.84.

Could we maybe say £16.50?

Yes, ladies, I could do that for £16.50.

Could we have 70 traditional truffles, please?

So that would be £13.55.

£11?

Can you go any higher than £11?

-£11.50.

-And that is done, yes.

'They also order 70 rose-flavoured truffles for £19.50p.

-Please could we have 18 small boxes.

-£6.84.

-And 12 medium boxes.

-£5.30.

OK.

'Hey. The girls seem to have stopped negotiating.'

-If we had a ribbon on every box, how much would that cost?

-£3.

Thank you.

'Despite forgetting to haggle, the girls negotiated very well.

'So well, they've still got some of their trading fund to spend.'

We haven't even spent all the £150.

-Could we double the truffles?

-It's 47.50.

We don't have enough.

-How about just the...

-Just the traditional?

-That would be £11.50.

-That's fine.

That's the last thing.

So great, they've bought 70 extra truffles

but they haven't bought any extra bags or boxes to put them in.

Whoops!

'Although they've got some great deals, the girls panicked.

They'll need to come up with a very clever plan

to shift all those truffles with no boxes.

'Next up, Team Synergy.

'Their tactic is to bulk buy just truffles to get the best deal.'

-Hi, guys.

-Hello.

-Hi.

We'd like 100 dark truffles with an orange flavouring.

-That would normally cost you £24.70p.

-Yep.

But I could do that for you for...

£19.76p.

Sounds good.

Great. They've just got a good discount for buying in bulk.

But they could have negotiated more.

Why have they accepted the first price?

100 vanilla truffles with white chocolate shavings.

£23.92p.

£20?

We're talking about a higher quality truffle here.

We'll settle for £23 if you could knock the pence off?

That would be great, Matt, thank you very much.

Could we have 100 dark chocolate truffles?

I would charge you £21.50 for that.

-Ooh!

-£18.50.

I couldn't, I couldn't do it that low.

-£19.

-That's great. Thank you.

'It's a good deal, though not quite as good as the girls.

'Team Synergy have bought all their truffles, boxes

'and ribbons for just over £110, so they still have cash to spend.

'Let's hope they can think on their feet and don't panic

'like the girls.'

How much are the chunks of white chocolate with the lemon and...

-Poppy seed?

-Poppy seed.

'They've changed strategy and gone with one of the best-selling slabs.'

One bag of lemon and poppy seed is £1.37.

If we had 20 bags, could you do it for £20?

That's not good enough, sorry.

How about £24? That's final offer.

-Yes, I can do that for you.

-'That's £3 more than the girls paid.'

We'd give you all the money we've got left which is...

-£18.

-£18 for 20 bags of the dark chilli chocolate, please.

-I can give you 15 bags at that price.

-You couldn't go to 16?

I'll go to 16 because you ask nicely, Dylan. Yes.

'Well done, boys.

'I think those slabs could turn out to be a great buy.'

Lovely doing business with you.

'Team Synergy bought a total of 400 rose-flavoured truffles which

'they plan to sell in presentation boxes.

'They also purchased 36 bags of chocolate slabs, including

'the popular white chocolate with lemon and poppy seed.

'Items that weren't on their original shopping list.

'Penny pinchers ended up with 70 bags of chocolate slabs,

'almost twice as many as the boys -

'including a milk chocolate and orange flavour.

'They also bought 280 truffles but only enough boxes for 210 of them.'

I would've thought that with all that choice the teams would've

created some unique and exciting chocolates.

But instead they've opted to play it safe

and gone for tried and tested flavours.

Is that the right tactic when you're selling alongside some of

Britain's finest chocolatiers?

We'll find out tomorrow when they sell.

Today the competition is cranked up as Team Synergy go head to head

with Penny Pinchers in the semifinal.

Each team is ready to give it their all because the team that wins

today's challenge will be competing in the USA grand final and is

still in with a chance of becoming Britain's Best Young Traders.

Good morning, Team Synergy.

Good morning, Penny Pinchers.

Brighton will soon be choc-a-bloc with over 10,000 chocolate lovers.

And your challenge is to sell your chocolatey creations to them.

You will be competing for customers, not just with each other,

but also with some of Britain's top chocolatiers.

So every single detail must be perfect.

Remember, the team that makes the most money wins the challenge

and they will be in the grand final of Trade Your Way To The USA.

And could be crowned Britain's Best Young Traders. Are you ready?

-ALL: Yes!

-Let's set up stall.

The teams will be selling alongside some of the country's

finest chocolatiers so everything must be perfect.

But at the boys' stall I spy a problem.

Your chocolate is in the sun.

-Yeah, we're moving it.

-I would do that quickly if I were you.

Presentation will be crucial

and melted chocolate won't make the grade.

How much are you selling those boxes for?

There's the small box for £3.90.

Medium, £7.40.

And large, £10.90.

-Feeling confident, guys?

-Yeah.

'But 100 metres away, there are three very determined girls.'

The presentation's most important cos it's the first thing people see.

-Nothing can be in the sun.

-'Well spotted, Maisie.

'So how do their prices compare to the boys'?'

-How much are you selling the slabs for?

-They're £3.25.

These two are £3.00.

For the truffles, we're selling them for £4.50. That's in a small box.

For the large box truffles, we're going to have

the coconut at £8.50, the vanilla rose at £8.50,

and the traditional £7.50.

'Penny Pinchers' strategy is to undercut the boys on slab chocolate,

'and charge a premium for their exotic tasting truffles.

'Will it pay off? Only time will tell.'

This is the semifinal. The team that makes the most money wins.

-Do you want to go to America?

-ALL: Yes!

-Do you think you're going to do it?

-Yes!

-Good luck, I'll see you later.

'With the stalls set and thousands of potential customers,

'it's time to kick off this chocolate challenge.'

-Teams, are you ready?

-ALL: Yes!

Three...two...one!

-Start trading!

-KLAXON SOUNDS

-One of them.

-One of them? £3.40. Thank you very much.

Can I interest you in some truffles or slabs, maybe?

'The boys make a couple of quick sales.

'But then things start going wrong.'

Ooh, starting to melt a little bit. Get that out of the sun.

Put them in the shade, they're melting.

We want to make everything look unmelted.

'This is a disaster, and could cost Team Synergy

'their place in the Grand Final.'

They've melted a little bit, but some of them haven't.

-Why were they melting?

-Because they were in the heat for a little bit.

-Shall we give them for £3.00, because they melted?

-Yeah. £3.00.

'They're only five minutes in,

'and the boys are forced into lowering their prices.'

Come and buy a chocolate! Quality chocolate for quality prices.

These look amazing.

OK, that's £3.00.

'Penny Pinchers, though, are off to a flying start.'

To be successful in this challenge,

the teams really need to demonstrate to their customers that

how the chocolate's made, the flavour, and why it's delicious.

Coconut, chilli, lemon and poppy seed!

This is the vanilla orange truffle. £8.50.

-Yeah, I'll have that.

-Thanks very much.

Maisie is doing an excellent selling job.

She's really selling those chocolates,

telling people about the flavours and why they're unique. Well done.

-Is that orange?

-Yes.

-I'll have one of those.

-Will you?

It's doing really well, cos I've already got five sales already.

'30 minutes in, and the boys have a brainwave to pull in the punters.'

I'm going to break some out for testers...

-Let me try them.

-You can have a little taster.

'It's a great idea...

They're really good. Munchy.

'..but they're not closing the deals.'

It's great to have tasters for your customers, but you've

got to make sure that they are small pieces, otherwise you're just

eating into your profits. 'And the boys are doing just that.

'Three bags of tasters has cost them £9 of lost takings.'

I've been watching you.

People are taking them, tasting them, and then walking off.

They're eating your profits without buying.

I guess so, yeah.

Just put a little bit out there. And what you want them to do

is buy them. So people are just coming in, taking it, walking off.

'The trick is tiny pieces, and don't let anyone walk away

'without trying to make a sale.'

We're wasting the bag. Only tiny little bits.

-It's delicious. Yeah.

-£3.00...

'That's more like it, Matt.'

Just one hour left.

'And with a lot of chocolate still on their stall,

'the girls turn to giving out testers too.'

Are these your testers?

That's a lot of testers! Blimey!

That's about four boxes of chocolate.

Why did you put so many in there?

We didn't get enough boxes to box them up with

-on the day of negotiation.

-So you're using them all as testers?

-Yes.

'That's over £50 worth of chocolate,

'so they must make sure they sell and don't give it all away.'

Maisie, my top tip to you is this -

-keep an eye on how many samples you're giving out.

-OK.

Because customers love to take freebies, and don't always buy.

'And every sale gets one team one step closer to the USA.'

And how much is a bag of your chilli chocolate?

£3, or two for £5.

-Go on, then.

-Thank you.

With just 20 minutes left, the boys still have a lot of stock.

They need to do some serious selling to win this chocolate challenge.

Boys, what's your tactic now?

I think we have to drop our pricing

-and just try and sell all our truffles we've got left.

-Good luck.

I've just sold £11.40 worth.

That's three boxes, thank you very much.

And a bag of chilli chocolate, so that's very good.

We've only got one small box left. They're selling really well,

-so you need to make some more of the small boxes.

-OK.

So I'm going to try and tie one. Been practising a little bit.

Oh, my God.

20 boxes must be tied, and every one of them

must be perfect.

I'll have a go at making these boxes. Dylan's tried

but we'll see what happens.

I'm not very good at this.

Matt and Dylan's unsuccessful attempts

mean it's time to call for backup.

We need to tie loads of boxes. Me and Dylan are failing.

Premium prices mean perfectly presented products.

Thankfully, Will's just the man for the job.

Please come buy from our stall.

With ten minutes to go and a lot of stock to sell,

desperate times call for desperate measures.

We're not selling as much as we hoped

so we're going to put some deals on offer

and make sure everyone can hear about them.

The girls have a secret weapon -

a package deal that still earns them a £6 profit.

-Go on, then. I'll have a box. Here you are, darling.

-Thank you.

Thank you. Have a lovely day.

They've actually sold that box of chocolates to me

whereas none of the other stalls have.

-I want the lemon and poppy seed one.

-So that's £6.25

and I think you've got a great deal there.

-Are you the next Alan Sugar?

-Yes!

SHE LAUGHS

There's just five minutes left. Who's going to make it to the USA?

£2 for one bag of chocolate.

That is an amazing price compared to the other stalls! Come on!

In the battle to secure last-minute sales,

both teams slash their prices.

Pound for two? Ten truffles for £4?

Ten chocolates for just £2?

I'll take anything!

-Have you any chilli chocolate?

-Yeah, two for five.

So that will be £6.50, please.

Three bags of chocolate for a pound.

Ten, nine,

-eight...

-£4, please.

£1.50 for two.

Four, three,

two, one. Stop trading.

KLAXON BLASTS

-Girls, can I have your cash box?

-Yes!

-The very best of luck.

-Thank you!

-Thank you!

I'm so nervous.

Well done, guys. We can't do any more.

High five.

Yes!

Boys, can I have your cash tin?

The very best of luck.

They came...

..they sold,

but there can only be one winner.

Is it Team Synergy

or Penny Pinchers

who've made the most cash and will be flying to the USA

to compete in the Trade Your Way To The USA grand final?

Over the last couple of days,

I've kept my eye very closely on you

and I have to say, I've been very impressed with what I've seen.

But only one team can win today's challenge

and they will be going

to the grand final in the USA.

The cash has been counted.

And I can tell you this.

It's very, very close.

Team Synergy, you took...

..£169.

Penny Pinchers, you took...

..160...

-..£3.45.

-Yes!

-Yes!

-Yes!

Team Synergy, you are today's winners

and you will be trading your way to the USA.

-We won!

-We won!

-Oh, my God, I actually can't believe it.

-Awesome!

Can't believe it! £6!

I feel pretty speechless

but it's just insane, it's amazing, I can't believe we're actually going.

I've only ever been on a plane to Scotland

and it's amazing. America.

-God, it's going to be amazing.

-It'll be awesome!

I reckon with the team we've got and the strength we've got,

it's going to be hard to stop us. Bring it on.

I've had a lot of fun

and I've definitely learned I do have some selling techniques in me.

It's been the best experience of my life. I'll remember it forever.

The Penny Pinchers are going to be back!

And we're going to take the business world...

-By storm!

-Woo-hoo!

Working under pressure is part and parcel of being in business

but the thing to remember is this -

when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

That's exactly what our winning team did today

and it's well worth remembering

if you want to trade your way to the USA.

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

Yee-ha!

It's the grand final.

-Team Synergy and Streetsmart Sellers head to America.

-Yeah!

But who will be crowned Britain's best young traders?

-Let's go for it.

-We've got a 100 bill!

Ka-ching!

Come and buy your delicious cookies!

-They're all gone?

-They're gone.

High five.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd