Day 072 - 12 Jan 95 - Page 57
1
2 Q. What are they? What is the official guideline that your
3 store is allocated for labour costs as a standard to aim
4 for?
5 A. There is not a standard to aim for.
6
7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Is there any guideline that you should try to
8 avoid going above X per cent of turnover, anything like
9 that or which might be interpreted as being tantamount to
10 that?
11 A. The only guideline that we have is the company produces
12 a budget for the oncoming year and that estimates on our
13 volume of sales, their estimate on how much we should
14 approximately spend on the labour accounts, but that is a
15 forecast.
16
17 Q. That is a budget for your restaurant, is it?
18 A. Yes, it is a forecast of approximately how much we will
19 spend on the different accounts in that year, oncoming
20 year. It is an estimation.
21
22 MR. MORRIS: How much was it for, say, last year?
23 A. The budget?
24
25 Q. Yes, the percentage that was attributable to in the
26 forecast or the budget, the thing to aim for, for crew
27 labour costs as a percentage of sales?
28 A. For the year I could not give you the exact figure.
29 I have those figures available but not with me.
30
31 Q. If I said something like 16 per cent or 15 per cent, would
32 that be a reasonable figure?
33 A. Yes, reasonable. It would probably be more towards 15
34 and a half, but I cannot give you an exact figure.
35
36 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The bracket you were given was 15 to 16, that
37 sounds realistic, does it?
38 A. Yes.
39
40 MR. MORRIS: I do not want to get documents out. The figures
41 are different depending on the turnover, are they not? The
42 more your turnover the lower the percentage of labour costs
43 as a percentage of net, is that correct? I mean you have
44 been in various stores, have you not?
45 A. Yes, I have been in two other stores, but I cannot
46 comment on other stores' budget, I have no budget. There
47 are obviously fixed costs in every single store.
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: 15 to 16 per cent of £1.6 million is about
50 £240,000. That sounds right, does it?
51 A. Yes.
52
53 MR. MORRIS: When you say "fixed budget", it is fixed by head
54 office or your immediate region?
55 A. Fixed costs?
56
57 Q. The percentage that is set down as a guideline to achieve
58 in the coming year?
59 A. It is not a guideline; it is a budget.
60
