Sponsors
Week 1
Team name: Broughton Moor Healthy Helpers
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We are planning to sell our smoothies in the final weeks of trading, with the run-up focussed on promoting our cause and learning/developing our business skills.
This week, Clary from Orian helped us complete our business plan, we allocated key roles to people who put themselves forward for interview and Isabelle, our Creative Manager, designed our logo to go on to our posters and signs.
We made a list of the different tasks we need to complete including researching smoothie recipes, creating a profit and loss sheet and working out which fruit will be most cost effective to use.
What did you learn this week?
Those who chose to be interviewed were nervous but glad we took the opportunity. We learnt to recognise our strengths and not be disappointed if we weren't given a key role but enjoy the experience.
We're also realising that we have to be organised and always consider cost when making recipes!
What did you find difficult this week?
Some of us found it hard having an idea that wasn't always voted for. We all suggested business names and recipe ideas but understand that lots of factors go into big decisions in business.
Our fantastic logo created by Isabelle
Our team leaders, responsible for considering their specialty at our meetings
Pioneer handing the donated cups to Orian
The grand unboxing in School!
Week 2
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week, we planned our smoothie recipes based on a poll in School. We asked other children as well as our families what their favourite fruits are and then discussed which of these would be most cost-effective to buy.
We have settled on 3 flavours; Coronation smoothie, exotic smoothie and sunshine smoothie. We're having a taster session with Orian on 12th May to test our recipes then we will be on to selling the following week! We also received a generous donation of takeaway cups from Orian's supplier, Pioneer Foodservice. This means our £50 seed fund can be put towards fruit we need.
What did you learn this week?
The importance of market research and analysing cost. We all love cherries and raspberries but when we looked into buying these, we decided bananas and strawberries would be cheaper and just as delicious. Asking our friends about their favourite fruits gave us direction in deciding on our recipes.
What did you find difficult this week?
Working out the price of each smoothie was hard. We compared to other smoothies in shops but they are all sold in different sizes and some big brands seem very expensive!
Week 3
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We have been very busy this week, working in teams to finalise our profit and loss spreadsheet, getting creative making decorations for our stall and also making a special 'Coronation crown sleeve' for our smoothie cups.
We wanted to make sleeves to add extra 'pizazz' to our smoothie and offer them to customers for a small additional price of 25p each. We also finalised our pre-order form to go out to parents next week with lots of information about how to order and what's in each of our special themed smoothies.
Clary from Orian visited and we went through our checklist of tasks too!
What did you learn this week?
The importance of communicating to customers, not only promoting our smoothies but being clear about why we are selling them and how they can support us.
We also discussed our stand and how we need to make it attractive and enticing on our selling days.
What did you find difficult this week?
We checked the allergies of children in our school which meant we had to cut out ingredients we had planned to use which made us sad but we know it's better to be super safe.
Getting creative with our special 'crown smoothie sleeves'
Our long list of tasks is now full of ticks :)
Tasting our different delicious smoothie recipes
Logo stickers for use on everything from cups to bunting!
Week 4
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We have been preparing everything we need for our sales to begin next week. We sent out our pre-order forms to parents in book bags and via email which have already started to come back!
We are selling our special Coronation Special smoothie on Wednesday 17th as well as crown sleeves for the cups as an added extra so we have been finishing these off as well as organising our posters and signs for the stall.
Clary visited us and we had a smoothie taster session, to check our recipes and make any final changes. This was really important to do so we can promote genuinely to customers.
What did you learn this week?
We made changes to the making process to make sure the texture and taste was just right. We added blending time to make sure there was no pulp left and to make drinking through straws easier. We also decided to use less banana in our coronation special. Therefore, product testing is crucial!!
What did you find difficult this week?
Thinking of everything we need for our stall. We considered the big things first (like cups/labels) but kept overseeing smaller things like a box for our takings, change for customers and cloths.
Week 5
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week we made and sold our smoothies for the first time!
We had to make sure we had everything in place the day before selling day. Clary came in and we split into teams to finish our tasks. We decided who would be making the smoothies behind the servery and had a team finishing posters to display on the selling table. Another team made decorative bunting to make the stall really attractive. We had lots of vital information on our labels including; smoothie ingredients, our logo and a message telling customers to consume their smoothie on day of purchase and a team put these on the cups.
What did you learn this week?
We sold our smoothie on Wednesday and held a 'lessons learnt' workshop on Friday with Clary. We took feedback from customers on board that some would have liked to 'try before they buy' and we needed to communicate the final pre-order number to Clary on selling day to make sure we had enough fruit.
What did you find difficult this week?
We found selling quite stressful as we had a mix of customers who had ore-ordered smoothies and those who wanted to buy on the day. Ticking names off and counting money quickly required multi-tasking.
Our selling team ready to give customers their 'Coronation Special' smoothies. The team members behind them are busy puring the fresh smoothie into cups.
Our Bright Stars Classroom display to explain our business journey
Week 6
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We had our second week of selling smoothies - this week's special flavour was Totally Tropical and we sold even more than last week!
Our deal of one smoothie for £1.50 or 2 for £2.50 went down really well, especially with parents and grandparents who bought their smoothies on the day rather than using a pre-order form.
Orian loaned us their smoothie bike this week, so we offered customers a turn on the bike and free sample of smoothie which was a really good idea as a lot of people tried it and were then determined to buy a full size - mission accomplished!
What did you learn this week?
We learnt how a good value deal can help to boost your profits and also that engaging with customers and giving them a chance to try out your product worked wonders in terms of extra sales!
As well as being fun, the bike was a good tool for telling people about the importance of a healthy lifestyle
What did you find difficult this week?
We switched around team members to give people a turn helping in the kitchen and on the taster table with the bike. Some of us admitted to feeling overwhelmed and stressed doing a different job.
Week 7 - half term
Our Sunshine Smoothie selling stall and our Sales team!
Teams working together - the smoothie makers and selling team had to have good communication when it got really busy
Broughton Moor Healthy Helpers video
Week 8
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We had our final selling week and our final flavour was 'Sunshine smoothie' which we matched well to the weather! As well as selling on Wednesday, Clary came in on Friday to say a big well done and we also totted up our final profit and created a video for the judges explaining our business. We now have a total balance of £202.50 and are really pleased as we are a small school and still managed to quadruple our seed fund and triple our total profit!!What did you learn this week?
Clary and Mark from Orian both commented on how smooth our selling day went which means we must have learnt a lot about how to prepare and be organised. We knew everything we needed to get ready and everyone took on their roles really well.What did you find difficult this week?
Some people were off school poorly on selling day and others had to step in helping in the kitchen and on the stall which was unpredictable and a bit stressful but we managed together.For pupils to answer:
In one sentence please tell us what bright stars has meant to you?
Bright Stars has given us all loads of confidence and inspired us to create our own businesses when we are older. We really enjoyed working together and we won't ever forget being the Healthy Helpers!
For teachers to answer:
Can you tell us the impact this programme has had on your school?
The children have absolutely loved it and it's rare that lessons and skills like the ones they have learnt over the past 8 weeks come up in our normal class work. It's been great to see the children embrace Bright Stars and run with the smoothie idea. They have all gained confidence during the competition and should be really proud.
Please provide your business plan.
Please provide your marketing plan.
Please provide your finance report/template.
