Picture Dragons’ Den meets Bake Off, and you’ve got the format of Aldi’s Next Big Thing (Channel 4, 2 April, 8pm). Led by Aldi managing buyer Julie Ashfield, a trio of judges select one of six artisan suppliers to win a coveted spot on the shelves.
Episode two showed some contestants were in the dark about Aldi’s expectations, or woefully ill-equipped.
The first duo of brothers pitching halal versions of forbidden meats – there’s lamb ‘ham’ and a wagyu beef pastrami – were certainly enterprising, if a bit naïve. Asked to churn out 20,000 packs per week, Aldi’s minimum order, they quickly stumbled. It was several-fold their current output.
Contestant two – Stormzy’s personal chef – was more on the delusional side. She seemed to think she simply had to whip up her mac ‘n’ cheese and factory production would magically follow.
Some interesting small brands made their pitch, all facing the prospect of scaling fast and reducing prices massively on their premium products. For example, we saw crab cakes that retailed at £7 a pack – roughly three times the rsp of Aldi’s most expensive ready foods.
Spoiler alert: crab cake lady won. A little more than halfway through, it became clear she was by far the most prepared, working to reformulate her product to cut costs and nailing a rebrand.
The show made for engaging viewing for anyone in the grocery industry. Would a regular human being watch it – and stay on for more episodes? It’s less certain.
1 Readers' comment