Sponsors
Week 1
Team name: Team Gosforth
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We had our first Bright Stars meeting this week and shared our initial business ideas. Some of these included a car wash, berries in a box, personalised prints, resin keyrings and custom badges. We talked about what each idea would involve to get it to the selling stage and if the ideas were possible with the resources and time that we had. We also talked about how much we would have to spend and how much money we would have to charge - rough figures at this early stage.
What did you learn this week?
We learnt that we have to think carefully about what we spend on a product compared to what we sell the product to the customer for.
What did you find difficult this week?
We found it hard at first listening to each others ideas and not talking over each other. Some of us found it difficult to come up with realistic ideas that could be achieved in a school setting.
Leila came down to talk about our initial ideas.
Isaac made two samples of apple crumble.
Here are the logos we thought were the best.
Week 2
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week has been very busy. We firstly decided by vote on which charity we are going to support. We decided on Wasdale Mountain Rescue as it is local to us. We got our big list of ideas down to three and then voted on our favourite. We went with making crumbles. We then thought of possible business names. We decided on Crumble Crew. We quickly moved on to designing logos. Isaac, who first suggested crumbles, made samples for staff to try. It was apple but we are thinking to offer a different flavour each week. We looked into different containers that we can sell the crumble in.
What did you learn this week?
We learnt that it is important to get the name of our business right, something catchy that makes it clear what we are selling. Leila talked to us about logistics and to think carefully about what can be achieved. We also learnt about time management this week.
What did you find difficult this week?
Some of us found it hard to have to plan an idea that we didn't vote for. Creating logos was hard because we had to think of things that were eye catching but clearly showed our product.
Week 3
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week we have chosen our favourite logo and then asked Miss Pugh to help us turn it digital. She gave us three options. We travelled to Jacobs and sorted out everyone's job roles. We planned out the five flavours of crumbles we will do. We decided on the container that we will sell the crumbles in and that they will be cooked at home to make things easier. We will add cooking instructions and allergy information. We created an order form that will be sent out on Friday. Our first flavour will be apple. We have given a deadline for orders and hope to send them home on Wednesday.
What did you learn this week?
We learnt about the different job roles that we could have as part of our business and what we would have to do in those roles.
What did you find difficult this week?
We found it hard trying to decide how much the crumbles should be. We need to make a profit but don't want to charge too much so people won't buy them.
We visited Jacobs to choose our roles in the business.
This was our final chosen digital logo design.
The production team.
One of our happy customers.
Week 4
Tell us what you have been doing this week
Monday started with collecting up order slips that had been returned to school. We then had to check ClassDojo to see if there were extra orders on there. We had 21 orders. We made sure the ingredients we ordered on Friday had arrived. On Tuesday we counted the orders again. We had 10 more than the foil containers, so we had to order more of them. We sorted out with Kitchen Clare when we could use the kitchen on Wednesday to make the crumbles. The container order didn't arrive on time so some of the Crumble Crew waited another day to take their crumbles home so we didn't disappoint anyone.
What did you learn this week?
We learnt that our crumbles were popular! We didn't think that we would sell as many as 60. We learnt that we had to work in a team to produce the crumbles and that food hygiene and allergens are important. We learnt that it's important to keep counting the orders so we have enough ingredients.
What did you find difficult this week?
We didn't have enough foil containers, we ordered 50 but had 60 orders. We had to order more so that meant some people didn't get their crumbles on Wednesday.
Week 5
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This week our crumble was rhubarb. It wasn't as popular as the apple one last week but we did sell 38. The production team worked faster this week because this was the second time making the crumbles. We sent the order form out Friday again and the cut off for order was Tuesday morning. We had to make the crumbles on Tuesday this week because we were going on residential on Wednesday until Friday. We had to get the letter ready to go out after half term and have decided on Wednesday as the cut off for orders. We have lots of positive feedback from the apple crumble.
What did you learn this week?
We found out this week that the number of crumbles we sell will be different each week because of the flavours. We also learnt we have to fit business around the fun things we have to do because we had residential for three days this week. We brought forward crumble delivery day.
What did you find difficult this week?
We found it hard ordering the ingredients because we thought we would sell more because we did last week. We don't want to waste ingredients.
Getting our work-life balance right!
Week 6 - half term
Week 7
Tell us what you have been doing this week
We got back to school after half term and sent the order forms out for the week on the Monday morning. We made the cut off date Wednesday morning so customers had time to order. Our production time is 2pm on Wednesdays so we had a short time to order ingredients. This weeks flavour is pear. The production team are getting quicker at making the crumbles. Weighing the fruit is important so they are all getting the same amount in them. We use the same spoon each week for the crumble so this amount stays the same too. We remember to add the costs and amount raised on our spreadsheet.
What did you learn this week?
We learnt that the number of orders is different depending on what the flavour is which makes it hard to order ingredients.
What did you find difficult this week?
We found that not knowing how many orders we will get makes it hard to have the right ingredients and containers. We had 47 orders and only 49 containers left so we were a little worried.
The production team are speeding up.
Week 8
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This weeks flavour is summer berries. We had a discussion about whether we made it full berries or use apple to bulk it up to keep costs down. We asked our cook for advice. She suggested we go full berries. We had a count up on Wednesday morning and found we had 41 orders which was good because we had 50 containers. We ordered another 50 for the last week of crumbles. We will need another bag of crumble too.
We have also been thinking about making our video. We are going to ask for some feedback from our customers. We also thought about what we will spend our money on!
What did you learn this week?
We learnt that it can be hard to find production team replacements at short notice. We had to train two new people which took longer than last week.
What did you find difficult this week?
We found it difficult to agree on what we should do about the filling this week. We had to find replacements for the production team because some of them were orienteering.
Week 9
Tell us what you have been doing this week
This weeks flavour was Peach Melba. We weren't sure how popular it was going to be but we sold 42 which is about the same as last week. On our order form this week we asked for feedback because we would like to add this into our final video. We have made sure the spreadsheet was tidy ready for uploading. Laila came to school to help us with the filming of our final video. Nancy was in charge of putting all the recordings together and making the final video. We got it within two minutes and said all we wanted to day.
What did you learn this week?
We learnt that our customers have been very happy with our crumbles and they liked the variety of flavours. Some said they were very sad that it was coming to an end.
What did you find difficult this week?
We had to go to Carlisle Cathedral this week on the same day that we made crumbles so we had to make sure we were back for 2pm. We found remembering what we had to say for the video hard.
For pupils to answer:
In one sentence please tell us what bright stars has meant to you?
We have really enjoyed being able to run our own business and were pleased that our customers liked our product.
For teachers to answer:
Can you tell us the impact this programme has had on your school?
The programme has given the children an insight into what goes into running a business and the positive impact this can have on others.
Please provide your business plan.
Please provide your marketing plan.
Please provide your finance report/template.
Charity name/money donated to.
Wasdale Mountain Rescue (Registered Charity No 1170178)
Final profit (minus the £50 seed funding).
£500.12
Laila filming for the final video.
