Business Inspector

For her first venture, Hilary heads to Milton Keynes, where cousins Donna and Ann run an ailing floristry business. The pair embarked on a floristry course with dreams of making enough money to move the family to Spain. Four years on and the cousins are still working at an out-of-town enterprise park and are yet to make enough money to take a wage. With hardly any orders for their flowers, they spend most of their days slurping tea. The Business Inspector is gobsmacked to learn that Donna and Ann’s website does not even work. But there is worse to come when Hilary looks at their accounts and sees the company has lost thousands of pounds – yet Donna and Ann do not seem to understand or care. The business has survived thus far on hand-outs from relatives. Hilary’s first task is to order Ann’s mum to stop the flow of cash. Determined to find the girls a regular source of income, she then pushes them to win a big floral contract at Bletchley Hall, a posh local wedding venue. Can the girls come up smelling of roses? Also this week, Hilary visits Warwick, where gogetter Gary has been running an events company for the last 19 years. Gary believes that he is on the verge of greatness – he has created a series of elaborate, illuminated table centres that add glamour and style to any big event. He now wants Hilary’s help in setting up a franchise to market his products, so the mischievous Business Inspector secretly organises an event to see if Gary’s creations can float her boat. Hilary is wowed by Gary’s flashing table centres, but when they get down to business, she discovers that his creative juices are more impressive than his business sense. It seems that turning creative types into business dynamites is going to be an uphill battle for the Business Inspector...

This week on The Business Inspector, it’s all about pleasure and leisure, but sadly not profit. Jaas Patel is a young dynamic go-getter who dreams of chain of cocktail bars, whilst Derek Halpin has run his go-kart business for eight years but is in danger of losing it all. Both are in desperate need of Hilary’s keen business mind to pull them back from the brink. Premier Karting, once a booming business, is now feeling its age. Tired and rundown, it's literally months away from going bust; it needs help and fast. When Hilary meets Derek she’s shocked to discover he has sat back and allowed customer numbers to dwindle. He has lost money hand over fist, and is now down to financing the business with his life savings - even his home is on the line. Hilary’s first task is to get him and the team back in the driving seat, and bring business in. She mounts a massive campaign to get customers through the door, but will this be enough? Can Hilary teach this old dog new business tricks, and take Premier Karting back to its glory days? Meanwhile, over in St Albans, Mokoko’s cocktails may be hitting the mark, but the profits are hitting the floor. Hilary grew up in a pub, so she knows all about to make it work. She thinks Jaas is too niche and too nice to make the tough business decisions he needs to make. Behind the glossy exterior, all is far from well, and Mokoko is struggling to make any real profits. As she delves deeper, Hilary discovers that Jaas doesn’t control his own stock and, amazingly, isn’t pricing the drinks for maximum profit. The Business Inspector wastes no time in telling Jaas to get back behind the bar and in control of his business. What's more, with a new baby on the way, Mokoko has got to finally start paying its way.