Day 196 - 06 Dec 95 - Page 23


     
     1        come up with different ways of trying to save money,
     2        increase the profit, and then they would be applied and you
     3        would be sort of under the same pressure as any other costs
     4        to actually achieve it.
     5
     6   Q.   Do you remember what the target for the food costs was set
     7        at?
     8        A.  Round about 29 or under I think is the figure that
     9        stays in my mind.
    10
    11   Q.   29 what per cent?
    12        A.  29 per cent or under, it is a figure that sits in my
    13        mind, but again that would be a figure that would be
    14        adjusted throughout the course of the year, not by a great
    15        deal, but it might be 28.5 one month, 29.5 the next, but 29
    16        is the figure that sort of sticks in my mind.
    17
    18   Q.   You said you saw Mark Davis water down, Mark Davis as Store
    19        Manager on page 4, water down shake mix -- well, does it
    20        apply to the shake mix, colas and double brewing the
    21        coffee?
    22        A.  What it was we were looking at ways of how we could
    23        improve the food costs, and one of he many measures that we
    24        came up with by doing things ----
    25
    26   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  When you say "we" who do you mean?
    27        A.  That would have been the Store Managers, Supervisor.
    28
    29   Q.   When was this?
    30        A.  I cannot remember exactly when it would have been, but
    31        it would have been at a Managers' meetings either held in
    32        the Colchester store or at one of the other stores where it
    33        would have been discussed within, say, the three or four
    34        Managers present and the Supervisor of ways that we could
    35        improve the yields.  If memory serves me correct on this,
    36        actually I think it originated from the Supervisor at that
    37        time which was Frank Stanton and actually came on down
    38        through that route.  That is the first time I actually
    39        became aware of the fact we were going to take these
    40        courses of actions.
    41
    42   MR. MORRIS:  Was Mark Davies at any of those meetings?
    43        A.  As the Store Manager at the time he would have been
    44        presents at those meetings, and as an Assistant Manager in
    45        the store at the time we did then start to water down shake
    46        mix, water down colas, double brew coffee, cheese slices
    47        were cut in half, smaller portions of lettuce were put on,
    48        smaller shots of ketchup, anything that would actually
    49        help.  Where you are dealing with like thousands of
    50        portions day, over the course of the day it builds up to 
    51        quite a sizeable saving.  All those measures were put in 
    52        force and used. 
    53
    54   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  There was actually nothing illegal in doing
    55        that or even wrong in doing that, as I understand it.  It
    56        is not like watering down something which has on the label
    57        that it has a certain percentage of certain ingredients in
    58        where watering it down makes it less than that?
    59        A.  Yes.  I did not personally see it as an illegal act.
    60        I saw it as a way of improving the profitability of the

Prev Next Index