Question

Read My Compliments to the Chef, ER, Buyer on pg. 200 in the text.

Answer 1

1.“Hours vs. Ours” refers to pre-made food companies advertising of their products. This advertisement slogan simply suggests that if you decide to cook it yourself, it will take “hours” to prepare the meal. However, if you use “our” product, it will be ready to be served very quickly.

2.The main advantages of outsourcing for restaurants is reduction of food preparation cost, kitchen costs, and in most cases total cost of the dish served. Since the total cost of the dish is less, the restaurant can offer a lower price. In addition to reduction of cost, restaurants will be able to prepare the outsourced meal much quicker and consistently than if they were preparing it from scratch.

3.The disadvantages of restaurant outsourcing include possible reduction in quality and implicit “from scratch” food preparation expectations of the customers. In other words, if the customers find out that the meal they just ate was a frozen pre-made package, they may be disappointed.

4.Even though there may be an implied expectation of “from scratch” meal preparation in certain types of restaurants, as long as there is no explicit statement of fresh meal preparation, the restaurant outsourcing is not unethical. What counts is what the meal looks like and what it tastes like given the type of restaurant.

5.In effect, outsourcing increases capacity by freeing up resources that would otherwise be engaged