Guess the Business: Logos and Figures Quiz
Twenty UK companies, three clues each: a money figure, a founding fact and a product hint. Teams shout, bluff and groan as the answers land. The founding stories (a penny bazaar, a shed in Scotland, a market stall in 1919) stick in students' heads far longer than any slide.
How to run it
Each round has three clues, revealed one at a time. Guess correctly after clue 1 = 3 points, after clue 2 = 2 points, after clue 3 = 1 point. Teams write their answer on a mini whiteboard after any clue, but once written it is locked for that round.
Read clue 1 (the money figure), pause for early gamblers, then clue 2 (founding fact), then clue 3 (product). Reveal the answer with maximum drama. Twenty rounds takes about 20 minutes at pace; cut to 12 rounds for a shorter slot.
If a team locks in a wrong answer early, any other team that answered correctly on the same clue gets a bonus point. This punishes wild guessing just enough.
Close by ranking the revealed companies by revenue on the board. Students are always shocked where the famous brands actually sit (a beloved bakery chain vs a supermarket giant). Discuss: why is fame not the same as size?
🖨 20 quiz rounds with answers (figures are approximate, from 2023-25 accounts)
| # | Clue 1: money | Clue 2: founding fact | Clue 3: product | Answer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Revenue around £70bn a year, the UK's biggest retailer | Started in 1919 as a market stall in the East End of London | Supermarket with a Clubcard | Tesco |
| 2 | Revenue passed £2bn in 2024 | Founded in 1939 in Newcastle, delivering by bicycle | Sausage rolls and steak bakes | Greggs |
| 3 | Revenue over £11bn | Began in 1981 with one shop in Bury, Greater Manchester | Trainers and tracksuits | JD Sports |
| 4 | Revenue around £300m | Founded 2007 in Fraserburgh, Scotland by two friends and, famously, a dog | Craft beer, including one called Punk IPA | BrewDog |
| 5 | Revenue around £600m | Started in 2012 in a garage by a 19-year-old pizza delivery driver | Gym leggings and hoodies sold online | Gymshark |
| 6 | Revenue around £13bn | Began in 1884 as a penny bazaar stall in Leeds | Food halls and knitwear; initials only | Marks & Spencer |
| 7 | Revenue around £9bn | Founded in Dublin in 1969 under the name Penneys | Very cheap fashion, famously no online delivery for years | Primark |
| 8 | Revenue around £7bn | The founder built 5,127 prototypes before the first product worked | Bagless vacuum cleaners and hand dryers | Dyson |
| 9 | Revenue in the hundreds of millions | Founded in 1999 after festival customers voted with empty bottles in a YES bin | Smoothies with chatty labels | Innocent Drinks |
| 10 | Revenue around £2bn | Founded 2013 by a banker who did the first deliveries himself | Restaurant food delivered by bicycle couriers in teal jackets | Deliveroo |
| 11 | Revenue around £3bn | Founded in 2000; its name is an acronym of As Seen On Screen | Online-only fashion, no physical shops | ASOS |
| 12 | Revenue around £1.5bn at its recent peak | Founded 2006 in Manchester, selling fast fashion online | Owns brands like PrettyLittleThing | Boohoo |
| 13 | UK revenue around £18bn | German-owned; opened its first UK store in Birmingham in 1990 | Discount supermarket with a famous middle aisle | Aldi |
| 14 | Revenue over £1bn | Founded in London in 1971 by two Italian brothers; bought by Coca-Cola in 2019 | High street coffee, flat whites and Coffee Club points | Costa Coffee |
| 15 | Revenue around £18bn in 2024 | Born from a 1904 meeting between an engineer and a car dealer in Manchester | Jet engines (the cars are a separate company now) | Rolls-Royce |
| 16 | Revenue around £2.5-3bn | Founded 1856 in Basingstoke by a 21-year-old draper's apprentice | Trench coats and a famous check pattern | Burberry |
| 17 | Revenue over £30bn | Started in 1869 as a small dairy shop on Drury Lane, London | Supermarket with a Nectar card | Sainsbury's |
| 18 | Revenue around £880m in its 2024 financial year | Founded 2015; once raised £1m of crowdfunding in about 96 seconds | A bank with no branches and a hot coral card | Monzo |
| 19 | Revenue around £365m | Founded 2004 by two friends convinced that if most of a gin and tonic is the tonic, the tonic should be the best part | Premium mixers in glass bottles | Fever-Tree |
| 20 | Revenue passed £1bn in 2023 | Launched in London in 1986; the name is French-ish for ready to eat | Baguettes and coffee subscriptions | Pret A Manger |
Variations
- Reverse round: give the answer first and have teams write down an estimate of the revenue; closest wins.
- Draw the logo: after each reveal, one team member sketches the logo from memory in 20 seconds for a bonus point.
- Homework spin-off: each student builds one three-clue round about a local business for next lesson's community edition.
Teacher tips
- Say figures slowly and let them sink in. Around seventy BILLION pounds lands differently when you pause after billion.
- Figures are rounded on purpose: tell students accounts change yearly and estimation is a real business skill.
- Rounds 4, 5 and 9 set up Dragons' Den: Would You Have Invested? beautifully if you run that activity next.
The Business School is a live simulation where your class runs rival firms for a full lesson — pricing wars, hiring, crises, negotiations. Free teacher demo, no installs, students join with a PIN.