Day 120 - 03 May 95 - Page 43
1 issue with us.
2
3 Q. Why should somebody running a restaurant chain in Ireland
4 need your advice on -- as an English person who has no
5 idea about the rate of pay in Ireland unless you look into
6 it specifically -- why should he be looking for your
7 advice, why cannot he work those things out for himself?
8 A. He can, but I did look into them, and I did make myself
9 knowledgeable of Irish rates of pay in the industry
10 generally, and I did discuss where he was with his rates of
11 pay.
12
13 Q. That is because McDonald's dictates to its franchisees?
14 A. No, we do not dictate.
15
16 Q. It sets down the conditions for them being allowed to have
17 franchises, and if they do not comply with those conditions
18 then they do not get their contracts renewed at the end of
19 it?
20 A. That is in compliance with our method of running
21 restaurants.
22
23 Q. Which includes personnel matters?
24 A. No, he is an independent businessman. He is not a
25 personnel man, and we will guide and advise him. We do not
26 tell where -- we do not tell any franchisee, in fact --
27 they may buy their products. We tell them from where they
28 may not buy their products, but if they can find a supplier
29 who we can approve.
30
31 Q. You have to approve them first?
32 A. The supplier.
33
34 Q. They cannot actually pick and choose who they want as their
35 supplier.
36 A. No, they can pick and choose and say: "Look, we do not
37 want to get our buns from Golden West. I have a baker here
38 in Dublin" -- which is what he did --"who can produce them
39 in as good a quality as Golden West, and I do not have the
40 transportation charges". So our purchasing people would go
41 over, our quality control people would go over, make sure
42 they do meet our standards as baker, and then approve them
43 as a supplier. From then on he can use that supplier.
44
45 Q. You could have said no?
46 A. We could have said no.
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Have you actually asked for a copy of the
49 franchise agreement between this company and-----
50
51 MISS STEEL: We did not really know they were going to try and
52 deny any responsibility and disclaim this.
53
54 MR. RAMPTON: I object to that most strongly. If the Defendants
55 would care to do so, I suggest they read the statement, for
56 example, of Mr. Stan Stein, and some of the documents that
57 go with it, then they will understand perfectly well what
58 the relationship between McDonald's and its franchisees is.
59 They would understand that if a franchisees steps, what
60 I might call " seriously out of line" the Corporation will
