Copyright dailyrecord
Lanarkshire The Apprentice star Reece Donnelly has admitted it was a "struggle" when his new business venture, Skinny Coffee, quickly started going viral on social media when it opened in July. Reece, from Rutherglen , who was on the hit BBC show in 2023, opened up the doors to Skinny at Uddingston train station after spotting a gap in the market after having a massive lifestyle change at the start of the year, becoming much more health-conscious himself. He sees Skinny as the Scottish answer to Joe and the Juice, and reveals the shop sold three times the projected matchas they expected on opening day, selling 1200. The reality star, who now owns three businesses, has also shared how using products from fintech company SumUp has helped have "everything" in one place. And Reece has revealed that Lord Sugar reached out to him days after opening, to ask "what the hell" he was doing and congratulate him on his new venture - but he is still waiting for a visit from the business mogul. Speaking in a recent chat with SumUp, Reece shared how he brought Skinny Coffee to life, saying: "The concept was pretty clear - we wanted it to be a healthy place in a nice area in Glasgow. "We’ve opened in Uddingston, which is very similar to somewhere like Cheshire. "We wanted to capture a market. We got straight to taste testing, working on our favourite items and then got a chef involved. "As soon as the chef had signed it off, we started sampling. We sampled at work places, went and spoke to gyms, PTs, then it was branding and marketing it. "A massive part of it was being able to streamline the process. Both myself and my business partner own other businesses, which is where SumUp has saved the day. "We wanted a one-touch app system; it controls our stock, sales, staff, rotas, out payments, staff timesheets. "So, for me, it was a complete yes. We’re a very modern business and it really fitted the brand. SumUp had everything in one place, which is great." Revealing some of the challenges his business has faced, Reece added: "Bumps in the road are something you have to expect. It’s our fault. "When you decide to put your business on social media, you have to expect to be sold out. You want people to come through the door, but you also want them to have good service and good products, so you have to find that balance. "Unfortunately, when it's too busy and the queue gets too big, the stock goes down and so does the level of service. "We really had to mitigate how many people we had coming through our doors in those earlier days. We’re a small unit, we have 16 tables. "We were seeing 2000 people a day to start with, so we had to learn to manage expectations. "You want people to really love what they get, so we really struggled with it. "How do we make this viral, but not too viral? How do we give a good product but make sure we have enough of it? "We really struggled in the first six weeks. We struggled to get enough stock, to get enough staff. You just need to ride the wave and know at the end of the queue there are customers happy to wait. "Social media definitely has its pros and cons, and the first six weeks taught me a lot." When SumUp asked Reece how his experience on The Apprentice shaped his experiences in business and led to the opening of Skinny Coffee, he responded: "I mean, I think when you’ve done The Apprentice , you can do anything. "If you can stick it out in the boardroom with Lord Sugar and Karen Brady, opening a new business and rolling it out is a walk in the park. " The Apprentice definitely taught me how to work with a variety of different people from different backgrounds and with different views and opinions. "I think it taught me so many life skills; it taught me my work ethic is great, but also how important it is to listen to other people. "I was very tunnel vision when I first started in business but now I really want to hear everyone’s opinions." Reece added: "I would love to see Lord Sugar come to Skinny. He actually reached out to congratulate me and say, what the hell are you doing. "He reached out about two weeks in just to ask what I was doing." For more information on SumUp and its coffee, visit https://www.sumup.com/en-gb/point-of-sale-overview/coffee-shop/ *Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here . And did you know Lanarkshire Live had its own app? Download yours for free here .
