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.

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