Day 122 - 05 May 95 - Page 40


     
     1        is that you think is appropriate?
     2        A.  Well, I am saying the industry.
     3
     4   Q.   Yes, but the catering industry is much wider.
     5        A.  Yes, I can mention some of them.
     6
     7   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Can you remember now?
     8        A.  Yes, the restaurants I checked?
     9
    10   Q.   Yes.
    11        A.  Yes.  I compared with Pizza Hut, Burger King, Wimpey.
    12        At that time there were chains called Wendies, Little
    13        Eater, Happy Eater, Little Chef, so they were the
    14        restaurants I checked against.
    15
    16   MS. STEEL:   So you did not go to -----
    17
    18   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is your answer, is it not?  They are
    19        all -----
    20        A.  The main High Street operators.
    21
    22   MS. STEEL:   Can we break now?
    23
    24   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, certainly.  2 o'clock.
    25
    26                        (Luncheon Adjournment)
    27
    28   MS. STEEL:  So, Mr. Nicholson, you only check the wages in the
    29        restaurant chains?
    30        A.  No.  No, I did not say that. You asked which people in
    31        the industry I checked.
    32
    33   Q.   Right, within the industry, it was only the restaurant
    34        chains that you checked?
    35        A.  Generally speaking, yes.
    36
    37   Q.   Right, so you do not in fact know what the wages are across
    38        the catering industry; they could be higher, much higher
    39        than in the chains in the catering industry?
    40        A.  I would be surprised.  The odd individual restaurant
    41        may have conditions higher than is normal, but I would have
    42        thought most restaurants of -- we are all fishing in the
    43        some pond, so I would have thought our conditions of
    44        service were fairly general and ours were to the better
    45        end, considerably to the better end, of the industry as
    46        I knew it.
    47
    48   Q.   Are you suggesting that all the other restaurants chains
    49        were illegally paying below the minimum wage?
    50        A.  No.  Their total package, in my opinion, did not meet 
    51        ours. 
    52 
    53   Q.   In the catering industry, in general, outside of chains, by
    54        and large it is standard practice for the workers to be
    55        able to keep tips which are provided by customers, is it
    56        not?
    57        A.  I do not know.  We disapprove of tipping in our
    58        restaurants.
    59
    60   Q.   Yes, so in your restaurants the workers cannot supplement

Prev Next Index