Day 005 - 04 Jul 94 - Page 12
1
Q. This supplier which you have put all this effort into, is
2 this not an area of company investment which he should
recognise you have the first option on?
3 A. Well, you will have to ask him.
4 Q. He could not just go to someone else?
A. Well, the potatoes that McCane grow for us are grown
5 to meet a certain specification - size, shape, solids
content; french fries start with a spec. which the McCane
6 people are to meet. If some potatoes grown in a field do
not grow to the right size, get too big or are odd shapes,
7 they have the latitude to sell them on the open market to
other people.
8
Q. I am trying to establish this bond of trust. He could
9 sell them to somebody else if he wanted to?
A. He will.
10
Q. He can say: "I will sell them to Burger King"?
11 A. He could sell those potatoes to whomever he wishes,
after he has fulfilled or takes out of them what is
12 required for our own consumption surely. If he suddenly
got angry with McDonald's and wanted to sell them
13 somewhere else in their entirety, I suppose he could do
that. That is a risk. The risk I take is that he will
14 become unenamoured with me; equally, his risk, I might
become unenamoured with him. But that is why we have no
15 contract; it works to our mutual advantage to put the hand
in the glove and work together.
16
Q. Even though you have invested your backing for what he is
17 doing?
A. I have not given him any money. He is the only party
18 who has put money into this venture. I have put nothing
into it, other than a promise to buy if he meets the
19 specification -- that is all.
20 MR. JUSTICE BELL: How is the promise to buy?
A. If the gentleman -----
21
Q. Just by word of mouth?
22 A. Word of mouth, that is all, a shake of the hand, end
of story. That is all it is, Sir.
23
MR. MORRIS: Helen is going to ask some questions.
24
MISS STEEL: I wanted to go back to the publication of the
25 pamphlet "Good Food, Nutrition & McDonald's"?
A. Right.
26
Q. Do you remember that? I do not know whether you actually
27 need to look at it at the moment, but you told us that at
the time the pamphlet was published you felt it was an
28 accurate reflection of what McDonald's position was?
A. Well, I said to you that the gentleman who said it,
29 one Robert Rhea, has been known to me for many years.
I worked for him for many years. If he put his signature
30 on something, he would have believed it to be fair and
accurate at that moment in time.
