Storylines

Tom overreaches himself

Setting up January - October 2003

Tom's business was running in a small but healthy way - organic pigs based at Bridge Farm, supplying Bridge Farm pork and sausages to local businesses. Then a supermarket chain approached Tom. They were keen to take an order of his sausages - 300 kilos a week, a vast increase in production.

Enthusiastic Tom prepared a business plan, looked at premises and got quotes for equipment. He'd need finance of around £60,000. But Pat and Tony thought it was just too risky and refused to back the plan.

Undaunted, Tom decided to launch the sausages under his own name. He approached his grandmother. Peggy was prepared to support him by acting as guarantor for a bank loan, and gave him a gift of £10,000 towards expenses.

Despite his parents' anger, Tom pressed ahead, recruiting part-time help: a butcher to make the sausages, Neil Carter as pigman, and Neil's wife Susan to pack the products. With a lease on a business unit at Sawyer's Farm, the exciting world of Tom Archer Sausages began.

But initial sales were disappointing. Tom ran a series of in-store promotions, offering samples to shoppers, but they had no lasting effect. It was only when the supermarket dropped the retail price by 30p to £2.99 (cutting Tom's margins substantially), that sales improved.

The big expansion

September 2004 - July 2005

Over the next year, things remained reasonably stable. But Tom had big ambitions for his eponymous bangers, and persuaded the supermarket to expand sales into the East Midlands and the West Country. He recruited Jazzer to help Neil with the increased pig herd.

Tom's girlfriend Kirsty was concerned about the additional expenditure needed, but Tom was confident. He expanded into the adjacent business unit. Susan was unhappy about the extra packing work, until Tom promised her an alternative post as office manager.

Tom fell for the new supermarket buyer, Tamsin. He dumped Kirsty and they began a torrid relationship. But Tamsin was cold as ice when it came to business. Disappointing sales in the new areas meant that Tom had to step up the in-store promotions again, and Tamsin insisted on further discounts.

Tom had trouble financing the expansion. He had to switch feed merchants when they refused to supply him any more. He even asked Neil if he could pay back some of the loan Tom had generously given him when things were on the up. Shocked Neil could only offer £500. Eventually Peggy lent Tom £3,000 to tide him over this "temporary cashflow problem".

De-listed

August 2005

Tamsin ditched Tom for being too needy a boyfriend. Then, soon after, she hit him with the appalling news that the supermarket was ditching him too. In three months, he would lose 80 per cent of his business. He desperately tried to build up sales elsewhere, but the small amounts that customers such as The Bull and Grey Gables could take came nowhere near.

Angry Neil and Susan knew their jobs were almost certainly doomed. Tony couldn't resist "I told you so". He and Pat were appalled at the size of Tom's debts, and reluctantly told Tom he must bring a hugely scaled-down operation back under the Bridge Farm umbrella. Defiant Tom insisted he'd go it alone, even though he had no real chance of doing so.

Brian - to the rescue?