Day 155 - 14 Jul 95 - Page 55


     
     1        I recall Friday nights were quite busy, Saturday
     2        lunch-times were quite busy, and for the sort of volume of
     3        Friday nights, you know, you needed, you had 15 staff
     4        working, I upped those up to 25.  Saturdays was about 25.
     5        I upped those up to 40.
     6
     7   Q.   Tell me if I am wrong, but you say that after about a year
     8        or so sales began to increase something like six to 10 per
     9        cent a year, so it was not as if sales doubled or anything
    10        immediately you got up to double the number of staff?
    11        A.  Six per cent of a 1.5 million pound restaurant per year
    12        is quite a significant amount.
    13
    14   Q.   What I am trying to understand is that if you doubled the
    15        number, or nearly doubled the number, of staff did you also
    16        change the balance?  We talked about Friday nights and
    17        Saturday nights, they were not meeting the requirements.
    18        Did you also change the balance between part-time and
    19        full-time that existed previously?
    20        A.  No, because a lot of that was determined by their
    21        outside activities.  I could have had 100 part-time staff.
    22        There was no need to do that or if it did happen I was not
    23        aware of it.
    24
    25   Q.   So was part of problem in the previous regime that they did
    26        not have enough part-timers to cover high periods, high
    27        volume periods?
    28        A.  It was a combination of not having enough staff full
    29        stop and, as I have stated before, the availability.  If
    30        you have 60 staff and only 7 can work Sundays or Friday
    31        nights, then that is a problem.
    32
    33   Q.   You said that by November/December 86, the systems that you
    34        set up started to get put in place, and then by the
    35        following year, I think it was December/January 88, you
    36        said, December 87/January 88, you were actually seeing the
    37        full benefits of your ----
    38        A.  I had actually seen it for the whole of the year.
    39
    40   Q.   You said, "it was OK by beginning of 1988" is what I have.
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is not what I understood.  I thought it
    43        was the end of 86 you were saying.
    44
    45   MR. MORRIS:  You said you got your systems in place but that
    46        does not mean to say you get the full benefit.
    47
    48   MR. RAMPTON:  I understood the effect of his evidence was that
    49        1987 was throughout an excellent year which is why he got
    50        Manager of the Year that year. 
    51 
    52   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  You started to see benefits about the 
    53        beginning of 1987 which was after 10 months and it was in
    54        proper working order throughout 1987 to early 88?
    55        A.  Yes.
    56
    57   Q.   Is that right?
    58        A.  I meant the whole year.  1987 was a very successful
    59        year for me.
    60

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