Home Grown Boys My Life

-These young businessmen...

-Would you do 15?

-You're getting a raise!

-Are on a mission to prove...

Children can do grown-ups' jobs.

-But is their deadline...

-Hoo-hoo!

-Way too tough?

It ain't good enough for them!

In the heart of London's busy King's Cross,

in the middle of a construction site,

six ambitious lads are running an unusual business from a skip bin.

They call themselves the Home Grown Boys.

The Home Grown Boys are a group of young boys

who, basically, meet up every holiday,

and we put together some veg,

or some fruit, and try to sell them

to different people.

These young entrepreneurs are, Abel, the wheeler dealer.

Tevin, the quiet achiever.

Chelsea, who raises the price.

Malique, the grafter.

Yon, well he doesn't say very much.

And cool-headed Abel.

Our plan this year is to grow

and sell more stuff, and to make more money.

Like all canny businessmen, they keep their running costs low.

The land is free from the King's Cross developers,

rainwater is used to water the plants,

and they even produce their own compost.

Last year the boys only made £40, just over a fiver each.

This time round, they are determined to make at least ten times that,

growing themselves a nice juicy profit.

I think the Home Grown Boys ARE going to succeed,

because we're working extremely well with our fruits and veg,

and everyone cheers the others on.

The boys clearly have big business dreams,

but can they turn them into reality,

in the six weeks of their summer holiday?

The first step for tomorrow is,

we need to meet up,

and we really want to have a meeting about what our key roles is

individually, and put it together in a brainstorm.

Convening in their boardroom,

Abel chairs this year's Annual General Meeting.

We can't sell everything, because some things...

The only item on the agenda is a possible £100 grant

from a local charity.

It's crucial they pull together,

and deliver a killer pitch to secure this money.

Without it, they can't invest in the seeds and seedlings

essential to kick-start their business.

-Any ideas?

-Cucumber.

Beetroot.

It was here, cos we had to get organised,

and have a brainstorm,

because we have a deadline for the pitch.

We've just found out. A one week deadline.

What we were trying to do was prepare it,

see what products we'll need.

Just get everything sorted, so that we can be prepared.

To get prepared, the boys must thoroughly research the market.

They must go out and find customers.

by talking to big businesses in the King's Cross area.

Although only a short bike ride from their homes,

it's a very different world to what they are used to.

The area the boys live in is

a typical inner city estate,

which has the problems of an inner city estate. High levels of crime,

high levels of unemployment.

This particular area has one of the highest levels

of absentees from school.

Steve Griffiths runs the local youth project.

He's known the boys for five years. and will mentor them

for the six weeks they have to pull off their big ambition.

For the boys, this environment is their playground.

They invent games, they make games up.

Sometimes those games can be very mischievous.

For the Home Grown Boys to be involved in this business,

has steered them away #from negative behaviour,

anti-social behaviour.

And hopefully they'll make good cash to split between them

at the end of the summer.

So, with only four days to go before they pitch for a grant

to kick off their business,

the boys split up for their research.

First, Abel and Chelsea boldly enter Kings Place,

home of the Guardian, a highbrow national newspaper.

-It's down here, isn't it?

-Yep.

Meanwhile, Malique and Tevin are up early, at lunchtime,

-and visit a trendy cafe.

-My name's Malique.

-Hi, I'm Niven.

-My name's Tevin.

-Nice to meet you.

-Hello.

-Hello, I'm Chelsea.

-I'm Stefan.

-I'm Abel.

You have a list of stuff you're selling?

-Chives.

-We've got chives.

-Carrots.

-Yes.

-Cress.

Basil,

and different varieties of lettuce.

Bring some stuff down, we'll look at it.

You have to be reliable. Deliver it in the morning.

Six o'clock.

As Malique and Tevin recover from the shock of a 6.00am delivery,

Chelsea charges in with an offer Stefan can't refuse.

-I think we could sell you bigger tomatoes cheaper than that.

-OK

-Have we a deal?

-We got a deal.

-We'll be back in five weeks, yeah?

-OK.

The next day Chelsea and Abel go international,

blagging their way into a meeting with Eurostar.

OK, nice to meet you guys.

Abel and Malique approach a small cafe grocer,

in the heart of St. Pancras, where Malique gets straight to the point.

What do your customers buy from the shop?

They want something simple, they would be familiar with.

Back in Business Class...

I think one of the biggest challenges...

The boys realise they can't feed over 3000 hungry travellers a day,

so scrub Eurostar off their client list.

With confidence running high, Malique and Tevin

brave one of London's poshest restaurants, the Gilbert Scott.

Kate Moss, Sarah Harding and Jude Law have grazed here.

Undaunted, the boys mosey through the dining room

to meet Head Chef, Olly.

Would you buy from Home Grown Boys?

If the price is right, the quality's there,

and you can provide the quantities we need,

there's no reason why not.

After a busy couple of days researching who to sell to,

the boys still need to find out what can be grown within five weeks,

so they hit the internet at their youth project hub.

But Malique seems to be more interested in what's growing

-on Abel's head.

-You call them "peps", but they're really peppers.

They're a bit smooth here,

but as you get to the back, it's a bit rough.

They'll be very spicy, so do not touch that bit.

That's a no-no.

Hiya, guys.

Time is running out. The boys have to know what they can grow,

to have a chance of winning their grant in two days' time.

So they hook up with gardener Paul.

We've a range of crops which are very fast-growing.

This pitch is very important to our group, because we have worked

exceptionally hard.

-This is basil.

-If we can persuade them to give us the money,

we can work to our best abilities, and make money, and profit.

This one's called Moroccan mint.

It's what they use for mint tea.

You could harvest this, and use it for making mint tea.

I've got SOME fears, because some of my friends

are not as committed.

At the end of the day, they'll feel bad for themselves,

knowing that they could have done what we done,

and what we achieved will be very heartbreaking.

Only a day to go before the pitch,

and mentor, Steve, meets the boys at their favourite cafe,

to check on their preparations.

The boys are very excited about the pitch.

They've worked hard.

I think there's definitely a concern that the group could say things

they're going to struggle to fulfil.

At the moment, their focus is, "Let's get that money

"to start off this program".

I think they'll pull it off.

Also, they think they can spend quite a lot in the cafe.

HE LAUGHS

If their business works out,

they'll be able to spend as much as they like

on milkshakes, chips and beans.

Finally, the day of reckoning. Global Generation,

the charity offering the possible £100 pounds, has assembled,

Nicole, second in command,

will expect the boys to present a clear marketing strategy.

Jane is co-founder of the charity, and a formidable negotiator.

And Zak specialises in advertising and marketing.

These three will decide whether the Home Grown Boys will get the grant

they desperately need to kick-start their business dreams.

If they aren't impressed, all the boys' hard work will be wasted,

and their plans for the business will be over.

OK. It's fantastic you've come here today to pitch to us.

Give us your best, and we'll give back to you.

All right, over to you.

We went to a couple of businesses, for our preparation.

Me and Tevin went to the Eurostar, and talked to Jann.

Me and Tevin went to Gilbert and Scott.

He would prefer receiving fruit and veg from us.

On the back, we'll be selling mint tea,

and looking at a barbecue event.

We have a start-off of £150.

Our target is £500.

But we have to take away the rent, and the stock.

Hopefully, everyone's committed

100 per cent.

I think we'll get over our limit, and be very successful.

So, we need that £150 to start up our business.

You speak about wanting to do an event, a barbecue.

I wondered how you plan to market that.

How will you get people to come to that?

Because we're very local, and we know a lot of people,

we're going to tell our friends,

and hopefully they'll tell their friends to come.

We want to prove to you that children can do grown-ups' jobs.

I'm 100% sure that we will turn up on time.

You've got to prove your commitment to us still,

but you know that, and that's a good challenge going forward.

We will invest in you, and you should know that when we came in here,

we were only going to give you £100, but you've upped it -

now we're going to give you the whole hog -

we're going to give you £150.

'I was actually quite impressed. I wasn't expecting'

that much commitment and enthusiasm from them.

The biggest problem for them to do all of this

'is getting out of bed and coming.

'You know, it's a reasonable amount of money, and we've never done that'

with a group of young people before.

If THEY can come through on it,

it's a really great example for others to follow.

The boys have only five weeks to triple their grant.

On top of fresh veg, they are banking on a new product -

home-made organic mint tea to sell directly to the public.

The finale of their push for profit

will be a barbecue at the end of the growing season.

But now, they need to start gardening. If they don't grow, they'll have nothing to sell.

Last week, we got £150,

and now me and Abel are starting to grow our first vegetables.

Paul taught us how to grow them and plant them.

Get them all out of here first and lay them loose on the surface.

We've got two beds, two outside and two inside.

It's warmer inside and safer, but outside, whereas it rains,

it's kind of dull as well. There is obviously

a disadvantage because of the animals and birds eating our crops.

'While Malique and Abel plant carrot seedlings,

'Tevin and Chelsea get a crash course in sowing radish seeds and basil.'

If you grew it from the seed,

it would take longer, but seedlings will grow quicker.

The radish was one of the quickest things to grow from seeds.

Hm...OK. So the lads haven't taken everything Paul says on board,

but at least they realise they need to work fast.

We need to get all our crops ready so we can sell them...

and make money.

That's going to be the best bit, selling to other businesses,

cos everyone likes the money, and we know we're going to get 100% profit.

The boys know it's essential to keep a close eye on their investment

if the plans are to grow within four weeks.

If the seedlings dry out, they will die,

turning hopes of 100% profit into dust.

We planted the radish from seeds and I'm impressed it's grown so fast.

This is the first time I've done it

and I'm looking forward to harvesting it.

I think we should be harvesting in about three weeks.

These are our basils.

As we have heard, every chef uses basil a lot in their sauces.

For us, basil will be a good seller.

This is the polytunnel, and these are the crops we are going to sell.

Lettuce, basil, radish,

more basil, cucumber, courgette...

and this is other plants we grew - radish...

these are just more carrots.

Under pressure to produce healthy crops, the boys pay great attention

to watering anything that looks like it needs a good soaking.

At last! After three weeks of digging, planting and watering,

the crops are ready to sell.

But there's a problem - no boys.

They're still in bed.

If they don't turn up, all their hard work will have gone to waste.

Eventually, they arrive.

To catch the lunchtime trade, the boys must be out of here within two hours.

They must get a move on!

First, they need to design a logo to attract new customers.

It represents Home Grown Boys, and the buildings in yellow are the buildings from King's Cross.

We're thinking of putting more ideas into it,

a sun in the corner or something.

A "sun in the corner" should be the least of their worries -

today they will be testing a new product...mint.

I'm harvesting it cos I'm going to make mint tea out of it and sell it

at The Rotunda near the Guardian.

Today we are picking radishes.

-We're going to sell them to Rotunda.

-I'm harvesting basil and beetroot.

With a basket full of fresh crops, the boys load up the veg-mobile

and roll out.

Running late, they put the pedal down.

With a final shove from Chelsea, they make it in time for the lunchtime trade,

ready to test out their new product. But will anyone buy it?

Excuse me? Excuse me? Would you like to buy mint tea?

Do you want to buy some mint tea?

'A passer-by finally succumbs to Chelsea's charm,

'kicking off their first sale.'

Chelsea, man, keep selling.

'The mixture of fresh Moroccan mint, hot water and sugar is a hit!'

We've made £18.50 profit so far.

'As the lunchtime trade dries up, the boys head into the nearby

'Rotunda restaurant to try and sell their goods to the top man.'

-Lovely. When did you guys get these?

-We picked them today.

-Great stuff, and carrots, as well?

-Yeah, baby carrots.

-The basil's fresh?

-Yeah.

-Nice little baby beetroots.

-Guys, how much do you want for the basket?

-£20.50.

-£20.50?

Excellent price.

-We came to The Rotunda today to...

-..sell our veg baskets.

'We got £20.50, which is pretty good.'

Combining the takings from their mint tea sales

and the veggie basket, the boys have made £39 quid,

but they still have a long way to go.

As confidence grows in the garden, time is running out.

They now have just two weeks to turn their crops into cash.

Basically, I'm taking out the small radishes

so the big ones can have space and they can breathe.

These radishes aren't ready yet, but hopefully you can sell them radishes.

Today, I've been picking out baby carrots.

These are quite popular

and we are hoping that they will sell as well as they did last time.

This is chard. We haven't sold it before, but we are going to...

hopefully, people will buy it off us.

Last time, we used this mint in the mint tea.

It sold very well, so we're going to try and do it again,

and hopefully the same outcome.

This time, they've got a space for a stall

right in the middle of St Pancras Station.

Their sales strategy is to lure in weary passengers

with their refreshing mint tea.

Once the public fall victim to their charm,

they'll then flog 'em a super-priced bag of veg.

Abel hasn't sold anything yet

and is keen to show off his slick sales patter.

Excuse me, do you drink mint tea?

Do you drink mint tea?

His bold and determined approach to sales soon pays off, and the tea starts flowing.

We do half a small cup for £1, a full cup for £1.50

and if you want a big cup, it's £2.

How many are there?

'Sold some of the baby carrots to the couple over there.'

So far, I think we're doing quite well, actually.

I think we've got, like, £20, I don't know. I'm not counting.

I think we have, like, £20. That's quite good.

Just for you. Just for you.

With the mint tea business booming, top salesman Abel tries to

boost sales even further by trying a new technique of...shouting.

Come and get your mint tea!

We've got some radish over here! We've got some onions!

Organically made!

Not to be outdone, Malique steps up,

convincing customers they are getting a good deal.

It's £4, basically a special offer that we do.

We've got thyme, raspberries, the lot!

You get a mint tea for £1 cheaper.

Mint tea? Would you like some mint tea?

-Abel, you're getting a raise, 50p!

-Organically grown!

A veggie patch is normally £3, but the mint tea is £2 originally.

-Would you like a mint tea?

-Where do you grow it, then?

-In our garden.

ALL: 20...what's that?

We've just had a count out of how much profit we made.

We made £49 from selling mint tea and our veggie packs,

-which were quite successful.

-I didn't think we'd make any money

because people were just walking past.

They were doubting us, innit,

because they think our quality ain't good enough for them.

But since that one woman came, our business has gone up and up and up

and we got more and more money.

However, the boys still need to shift the last of the day's stock,

otherwise it will go to waste.

Chelsea and top sales dog Abel decide to chance it

in the posh Gilbert Scott.

-Olly?

-Hiya.

-We're here to sell you some vegetables. I hope you buy them.

-What we got?

-Onions, radish, rosemary, carrots...

The quality is nice...

'As a seasoned professional, head chef Olly is definitely no pushover.'

-Just this here?

-£10.50.

-Just this?

-Yep.

-Would you do 15?

'And after intense negotiations, he makes his final offer.'

-I'll give you £12, and that's the lot.

-Thank you.

With profit from veg sales only hitting £100

and time running out, the boys seem to have forgotten something.

The barbecue is a big event for them.

They need to make up the rest of the money for their target

and I'm a bit concerned.

I think the work they're putting in isn't equal

to the amount of money they want out of it. Something needs to change.

Equally concerned, Global Generation,

who put up the seed fund, arrange for the boys

to meet a top marketing firm for some much-needed advice.

Today, we're at the marketing company

just planning out what we're going to do for the barbecue.

So your biggest story is you've got a goal to raise £500.

The barbecue's important to us

because it's one of the events that's going to make us a lot of money.

If you got 30 people and each paid £3.50 each,

you'd make £105.

'We came up with good ideas, like jerk chicken.'

We also decided to create posters

because, um... at bus stops mainly

because a lot of people go there.

The HGB 400, boys.

The marketing team, I though they were very intelligent people.

They made us realise the barbecue is something different.

They showed us it was more of a big business opportunity

and they made us realise the amount of effort you put into it

will come out in the outcome.

So if you don't work hard, you don't make a profit.

As the holiday enters its final week,

the boys have only five days left to hit their target.

It's crucial they market this barbecue event

if they are to have any hope of attracting paying guests.

Hello, this is Chelsea.

And we're going to have a presentation.

Our target is £500, so this barbecue is very big.

The way we're doing it is we're selling tickets

at the price of £10.

How many tickets would you like?

-'How much are the tickets?'

-It was £15, but for you we'll do ten.

-'You giving me a three-course meal?'

-'OK. What do we do, just turn up?'

-'All right, thanks.'

-Thank you.

-Bye.

-'Bye.'

-'Bye.'

-Bye. Safe.

Safe.

This is a leaflet about our event that's happening on Friday.

We are the Home Grown Boys, a group of youths that have a business

that involves us selling organic produce to other businesses.

There is going to be food and there's going to be a presentation

and we've got a picture of a guy with a long nose cooking burgers.

How can you pit in there?

The barbecue is tomorrow.

The pressure to get everything sorted is starting to show.

When you tie it, there's going to be space.

-We're going to use this for a different part.

-Exactly.

Their mentor Steve Griffiths steps in to help with the big push.

Write "cheese"!

In a battle against time,

Malique goes for a dangerous manoeuvre

which could have lost him more than his bit of bunting!

Where did it go?

They eventually get everything ready.

Now, it's just a nervous wait to see if anyone will turn up.

Today is the big day, it's the barbecue. Bert's preparing the food

and Steve's preparing the presentation that we have to do.

On our menu at the barbecue today, we have chicken,

we've got salad,

we've got bread and cheese and we've got veggie burgers.

Today has been really tough in terms of getting it all together,

in terms of getting the information out there,

and really selling what they're doing today.

It's about selling themselves, and I think they now realise that

because what they're doing is quite special.

All up, the boys pull in 25 guests.

Their investors happily tuck in.

Even some of their customers turn up and the lads flog them more veg!

These are the Home Grown Boys.

They've all got a little bit they want to say to you about...

In just six weeks, they have achieved so much.

We've been very successful...

They liked the organic produce...

We've been introduced to new produces, like radishes, carrots...

We want to thank Global Generation for giving us this opportunity.

Thank you.

They've also proved they have commitment, determination

and can turn up on time.

Today, I thought it was a good day. We made £260.

So we made a good profit.

But despite their hard work,

they are just over £100 shy of their target.

But some of the Home Grown Boys aren't going to give up that easily!

With the weather turning and the others back at school,

Malique and Abel decide to go it alone, for one last push.

Today, we're harvesting our crops. Carrots, basil, radishes.

We're trying to meet our goal of £500.

It worked before, so third time lucky -

they head back to the familiar territory of St Pancras Station.

-Do you want to buy mint tea?

-Want to buy some mint tea?

Would you like to buy some...

And yet again, the mint tea is a winner!

Have you grown the mint?

Yeah, we grew it back in our garden.

Um, we got £17.60

and I don't know what's happening next. We're just living the dream.

Next, we're going to go back to the garden to get more produce,

then we're going to go to the Guardian.

In one final big push, the two Home Grown Boys

make a determined effort to sell the last of their summer crops

to head chef Stefan.

That's beautiful.

And after close inspection, he makes the boys an offer.

I will pay £25 for the whole lot.

Is that a good price for you guys?

Thank you very much, thanks to you. You've done a good job.

I think as a group, we are all pleased

of our outcome.

And I think we made £82.50 each, which was a success.

It fell a bit short of expectations, obviously, but we're still happy

because...JD.

The highlight would probably be selling the mint tea,

because at the beginning, when we were making it ourselves,

the mint tea was what made us.

From both sales, we got £70 out of mint tea.

I think the fun bit was selling at St Pancras, for me.

Cos it was so funny the way everyone was shouting out

everyone was just having a laugh. I think that was the best bit.

Organically made!

The advice I'd give to young people is to stay committed

and boost each other's confidence,

cos happy work means easy work, is what they told me.

That's what you have to do as a young businessman.

And this is a shout out for Steve Griffiths.

He's ugly but he's mega.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd