Day 208 - 24 Jan 96 - Page 65
1 paragraph: "Quality falls into three main areas which you
2 should be looking at". Then it says, second paragraph:
3 "The first is the quality of the raw product, and probably
4 the most abused aspect of this is the muffin secondary
5 shelf life which has been reduced to 48 hours on removal
6 from the freezer". Are they saying that there is a
7 recognition of a general problem about shelf lives being
8 abused -- not saying necessarily you, but that has been a
9 problem at that store or is that a problem in the Company
10 as a whole?
11 A. I do not know. I do not think it is at our store.
12 But, I mean, because it used to be three days from the
13 freezer, but that went down to two. So, I do not know if
14 means from other stores. I do not think it is do with our
15 store. When we take muffins out, we always date them as
16 well, as with the buns, so they would have a date when they
17 have got to be used by in any case and a time.
18
19 Q. When this was done for you, this thing about it being
20 probably the most abused aspect regarding the quality of
21 raw products, did you talk to, is it, Jane Jarvis at this
22 time?
23 A. No, it was Alan Charlesworth.
24
25 Q. Sorry. Alan Charlesworth, did you talk to him about what
26 that meant in 1993 when you got that?
27 A. To be honest, I cannot even remember the pay rise --
28 PR, to be honest.
29
30 Q. Right. What do you understand him to be saying there then?
31 A. I will just read it through again.
32
33 Q. Yes.
34 A. I assume he is just saying to make sure that you do not
35 get too many muffins out because the shelf life has been
36 put from three days down to two. So I assume he was just,
37 sort of, saying, keep an eye on the quality and make sure
38 that we do not ------
39
40 Q. Does that ring true to you, that there seems to have been,
41 in terms of the Company, a problem with the three day limit
42 that buns were turning, you know, going off or something?
43 A. Yes, could possibly -- yes, it could possibly be that,
44 yes. Perhaps they are not as fresh as they would like
45 them, yes.
46
47 MR. JUSTICE BELL: How easy is it to forecast Breakfast trade
48 compared with the rest of the day?
49 A. It is quite easy. It is, sort of, it is a steady
50 thing. It, sort of, like picks up as time goes on. The
51 more we have been doing breakfast, the more we have been
52 doing increased business and it has steadily increased.
53
54 Q. I understand that, but it does not go up and down ---
55 A. No, it does not.
56
57 Q. -- from day-to-day.
58 A. Not like with on a main menu, no. It is more of a
59 steady .....
60
