Day 204 - 15 Jan 96 - Page 49


     
     1        Manager?
     2        A.  Yes.
     3
     4   MR. MORRIS:   (Pause) We are just checking the PRs.
     5
     6   MS. STEEL:   If you just turn to the performance reviews of
     7        Ray Coton -----
     8
     9   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Pale blue 2, on the very top, the one with
    10        a 2 in a green flag, right at the back, divider 32; and if
    11        you look about two-thirds way through the bundle or halfway
    12        through, you will see page numbers stamped at the bottom.
    13        A.  Yes.
    14
    15   MS. STEEL:   If you could turn to page 40, which is a
    16        performance recrew carried out by you on Ray Coton, it says
    17        "due on 1st November 1988"?
    18        A.  Yes.
    19
    20   Q.   In the "profit" section on page 40, it says: "Since the
    21        interim performance review, efforts have been made in this
    22        area.  Food cost has levelled out dramatically.  This has
    23        been your bug bear at the beginning of the year.  The
    24        general profit and loss results are quite good.  Areas of
    25        concern remain: food at 29.66 for the year so far."  That
    26        is percentage, is it not?
    27        A.  Yes.
    28
    29   Q.   And you have set a target of 30 per cent, have you not?
    30        A.  I cannot remember.
    31
    32   Q.   Would it have been less than that?
    33        A.  I honestly cannot remember.  Percentages fluctuate
    34        according to the raw product prices.
    35
    36   MR. MORRIS:  Would your concern have been that he was not
    37        reaching the target that had been set; is that what that
    38        basically says in that paragraph?
    39        A.  I would say it says that the food cost is higher than
    40        would be expected, given the product mix and the --
    41        however, stores were performing, perhaps.
    42
    43   Q.   But, in fact, compared with the ones we looked at earlier
    44        on which said the food cost were 30 per cent for you, for
    45        maximum profitability, you were setting targets then higher
    46        than you yourself were being set when you were Manager?
    47        A.  Yes.  The reason for that could have been, for
    48        instance, say the price of beef goes down, then obviously
    49        the average Company food cost percentage could be a lot
    50        lower one year than it could be another.  So, for instance, 
    51        say you had very low beef costs, very low lettuce costs and 
    52        the raw items coming into the restaurant were lower, 
    53        through both seasonal and annual changes, then obviously
    54        what could be a good food cost one year could be a pretty
    55        poor one the next year.  So, for instance, I think this
    56        argument with the Company, the average Company food costs
    57        is fluctuated between 27 and almost up to 32 per cent on
    58        occasions, dependent on the cost of the raw items coming
    59        into the restaurant.  So what might be an easy target one
    60        year of, say, 30 per cent might be a difficult one the next

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