Apprentice maker mulls making “MyPy” and “Special Stars” real food brands
The makers of BBC reality show The Apprentice are preparing to make two food brands, created in the tasks in this year’s series, real-world companies.
British pie brand MyPy and biscuit brand Special Stars have been trademarked by the programme’s creators in preparation for bringing them to market.
The Apprentice is produced by Talkback Thames, a division of Fremantle Media, which also makes programmes such as The X Factor and Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
MyPy was invented by the eventual winner of the show, Tom Pellereau, and runner up Helen Louise Milligan, in the penultimate episode of this year’s series. The restaurant focused on British ingredients and featured explorer Christopher Columbus on its brand identity – an error, as Columbus was Italian.
The pie chain managed to win the team their fast food task against Mexican food restaurant “Caracas”, scoring an average 7/10 for customer service, quality of the product and brand longevity, to the opposition’s 4/10.
Fans of the programme even set up a MyPy Facebook group in July, calling for The Apprentice’s producers or outside investors to make the fast food pie restaurant idea a reality.
Special Stars, also created by Helen and her team in an earlier episode, was a children’s biscuit brand, with the slogan “any time is treat time”. Despite questions raised by supermarket buyers about the health messages of the brand, Special Stars received an Apprentice record order of 800,000 units from one supermarket outlet, thought to be Asda.
Separately, former Apprentice contestant Stuart “the brand” Baggs has trademarked his own name, to make his infamous catchphrase a reality and become a registered “brand”. Baggs plans to sell merchandise and is using the trademark to protect his intellectual property ahead of appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
