Day 202 - 11 Jan 96 - Page 35


     
     1        year in which we are into, which we are going on the best
     2        indicators at the time; thereafter, consultation with the
     3        managers of what we can achieve is our target.  However,
     4        throughout the year, things happen, so competitors'
     5        restaurants open close by and volume drops; then targets
     6        are readjusted.  This is a way of evaluating how well the
     7        restaurant performs financially.  However, it is not the
     8        absolute -- it is our target, it is our budget that we are
     9        aiming to achieve, but it is not -----
    10
    11   Q.   That refers to the table where two out of the five stores
    12        have failed to achieve their targets?
    13        A.  Yes, and it is in my assessment that the other two
    14        could have achieved that with better financial control.
    15        However, if there were other circumstances there that may
    16        have meant they have done a very good job, despite having
    17        two competitors open close by.  Therefore, I am pleased
    18        with that figure.
    19
    20   Q.   Moving on to people development, referring to
    21        Mr. Skehel: "Despite your reputation as a bit of a tyrant,
    22        I believe we have taken some commendable initiatives in the
    23        area for management development."  Then the next paragraph
    24        down: "You have tied most of your managers down well with
    25        golden objectives, although I hope you have learned through
    26        your mistakes with Mike Buckley."
    27
    28        Do you know why Mr. Skehel at this time had a reputation
    29        for being a bit of a tyrant?
    30        A.  I think Neil is very dedicated towards his job and
    31        pursues things very assiduously and he is an extremely
    32        competent person to have working for you; and I think it
    33        just shows how frank the reviews are, really, that we can
    34        sort of point this out to him.  It is just simply that he
    35        sees a task and goes after it and tries to achieve the
    36        result.
    37
    38   Q.   Which gets him a bit of a reputation?
    39        A.  And, as you can see, because of that, assessing
    40        Mr. Skehel's performance is something that I saw was worthy
    41        of note and worthy of action, as was the issue in
    42        Colchester of quality blindness.  So it was something that
    43        was incumbent upon me to point out.  Unfortunately, all
    44        employees that you have are not perfect, each have
    45        weaknesses, and that is identifying an area for Neil to
    46        work upon.
    47
    48   Q.   That concludes with regard to crew turnover.  "You still
    49        have a long way to go to reduce it....."
    50 
    51   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, it finishes over the page. 
    52 
    53   MR. MORRIS:  Sorry, I apologise -- "to reduce it to beneath 100
    54        per cent in the stores." It then it goes on about how he
    55        got four grade As on training audit -- presumably for four
    56        different stores, does that mean?
    57        A.  Yes, yes.
    58
    59   Q.   Right.  So, despite stores reaching grade A on training
    60        procedures ---

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