Day 151 - 10 Jul 95 - Page 61


     
     1        probably nervous especially the higher the person is up the
     2        structure coming into the restaurant and you want to try
     3        and put people at their ease and not paint it in a negative
     4        picture.
     5
     6   Q.   You have said you have also got responsibility for 30
     7        franchise stores?
     8        A.  Right.
     9
    10   Q.   What are your responsibilities with regards to them? Are
    11        they the same?
    12        A.  They are probably -- I would like my responsibilities
    13        in the Company stores to be the same as the operators.
    14        Because they are an individually owned business we have a
    15        more hands off, there is not a formal relationship, so
    16        whereas my Operations people have got the opportunity to
    17        say to a manager: "Look, I want you to do X Y Z", with an
    18        operator you have to persuade them through logic and
    19        cognisant argument that what you are suggesting makes good
    20        sense, or I might say, "I have been to a restaurant in
    21        Glasgow where the operator there does something like this.
    22        You may want to have a look at it".
    23
    24        In terms of being the person to, if you like, protect
    25        quality service and cleanliness and those sort of operating
    26        issues, then I would certainly, if they were contravening
    27        those issues, have no lack of confidence about bringing it
    28        to their attention, but my relationship is formal but it is
    29        direct, obviously, as a company-owned restaurant would be.
    30
    31   Q.   How do you ensure that policies are carried out in the
    32        franchised stores?
    33        A.  I have a team of three field consultants and a field
    34        service manager, a field service manager reports to me, so
    35        in that respect I have a similar structure to the Company
    36        restaurants.  It is roughly one field consultant to about
    37        10 or so operators and restaurants.  The majority of my
    38        operators only have one restaurant, so because of the fact
    39        that there is a business person running the restaurant, the
    40        field consultant has a slightly higher average of
    41        restaurants under their "supervision", so to speak, in
    42        inverted commas, than an area manager will have.  Once
    43        again, they follow a broadly similar pattern in their
    44        requirements, accept once again they will not come in and
    45        do an audit as such for their own requirements that we
    46        might require within the Company.  They will do it as part
    47        of that business evolution hence my almost wish to have the
    48        same relationship with the Company restaurants as I have
    49        with the operators.
    50 
    51   Q.   I am not sure I understand that.  So the Company does not 
    52        keep a check on what the franchisees are up to in terms of 
    53        whether they are breaking the law or things like that?
    54        A.  Sure. I mean in terms of checking up and such, I would
    55        not care for the phrase, but in terms of the way you have
    56        put it, that they are there to ensure that the franchisee
    57        stays within the limits of the law, or stays within our own
    58        operating standards, then, yes, they are the same.
    59
    60   Q.   Right.  That would include personnel practices?

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