Day 042 - 31 Oct 94 - Page 18


     
     1        decision.
     2
     3   MR. MORRIS:  Presumably, you would want to make that message
     4        known to consumers, potential customers?
     5        A.  Yes.
     6
     7   Q.   That you are, in fact, an alternative to, say, pub food or
     8        supermarket food, take-away sandwiches in a supermarket,
     9        for example?
    10        A.  We do not -- I am not aware of anything that we have
    11        done that kind of set ourselves up in quite that way, as an
    12        alternative to that.  You are correct in saying that we do
    13        wish to tell people what benefits we can offer; for
    14        instance, speed of service, convenience.
    15
    16   MS. STEEL:   So if Mr. Preston was quoted as saying that
    17        McDonald's had devised a product to be in competition with
    18        supermarket products, would that be wrong?  Would he be
    19        wrong?
    20        A.  It would depend on what the product is you are talking
    21        about and how it is intended to be used.  You can buy-----
    22
    23   Q.   Do you intend to-----
    24        A.  You can buy hamburgers at the supermarket.
    25
    26   Q.   No.  Do you intend to compete with supermarkets, or not?
    27        A.  What we intend -- when you say "do we intend to compete
    28        with supermarkets", we are not in the supermarket
    29        business.  We are simply supplying a particular food need
    30        to people, whether that be eating in our restaurants or to
    31        take away from our restaurants.  Now, if supermarkets --
    32        and some have -- choose to sell sandwiches, for instance,
    33        for people to go in at lunch quickly to buy them and take
    34        away, then supermarkets in that sense are in competition
    35        with us.  It is very much competing for how people use us,
    36        in the marketplace, not for the sale of a particular
    37        product.
    38
    39   Q.   So you agree now that you are in competition with
    40        supermarkets and pubs?
    41        A.  No.  What we -- our key -- actually, if you like, we
    42        are trying to be in competition with any quick meal
    43        occasion.  So if a public house, for instance, was to set
    44        up to one side a fast section, whereby they offered
    45        hamburgers etcetera, then they would become a key part of
    46        our competition, because they sell hamburgers quickly; as
    47        would supermarkets; as would, in fact, garages who sell
    48        hamburgers that you can heat up and eat quickly.
    49
    50        They then bring themselves, that little sector of 
    51        themselves, into the quick service restaurant market, and 
    52        that is where our key market lies:  quick service 
    53        restaurants.  That is where we are -- the minute someone
    54        says:  "I want something quickly.  I will go to a garage,
    55        because I can get a hamburger there very quickly", they
    56        become our competition, and it is that that sector we are
    57        competing for.
    58
    59   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It does not have to be a hamburger, does it?
    60        If they are thinking about getting something to see them

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