This well oiled machine had been hard won but not without mishap.
Bulk orders of 5000 jiffy bags would last ten days and the “Afternoon Crew” made up of various friends, mums and school gate buddies (and the ever willing but frequently exasperated family members) waited excitedly for them to arrive so they could get on with the orders.
Emma’s phone rang - the delivery guy wondering what Industrial estate Marvling Bros was on.
Emma assured him he was on the right road as a huge lorry crammed its way into suburbia.
The delivery guy was further thrown into total confusion as he was greeted by a cheering throng of mothers who were themselves thrown into confusion when they saw two huge shrink-wrapped palettes.
‘Where’s your forklift?’ The bewildered delivery guy asked pathetically.
You had to feel for him. He bore it well, as the distinctly forkliftless gang started carrying them into Emma’s living room and Hayley’s Prius was filled to spread the load and Emma’s youngest son was unceremoniously evacuated out of his bedroom with boxes piled up on his bed.
There had been a few rather heated conversations with Notonthehighstreet as orders began to become almost impossible to fulfil with this skelton crew of mums and mates and Emma and Hayley decided life was just too short and agreed sales would stop at the end of November.
As orders reached 3000 a day there was a nasty period when the Marvling Bros Paypal account was frozen for a few days due to ‘suspicious activity’ as the incoming and outgoing payments rocketed in a matter of days.
To compound matters, two inspectors from the Inland revenue introduced themselves one day on Emma’s doorstep and a whole morning was spent convincing them it was a kosher business
“‘Let me get this straight – you’ve made over £60,000 selling chilli in matchboxes for a fiver?”?
They left with a matchbox of “Hot Stuff” a piece!
The road to success is a mazy one, full of ups and downs and twists and turns.
Then it all came to a head when Emma announced that the next big consignment of tiny bottles would not arrive until after Christmas.
It seemed that the end was in sight for our plucky heroes.
