Day 150 - 07 Jul 95 - Page 08

     
     1        with the new store?
     2        A.  No, none at all.
     3
     4   Q.   What sort of store was that in terms of location and
     5        business?
     6        A.  That was a city centre store, and probably had business
     7        midway between Newcastle and Nottingham, I guess, looking
     8        back on it.
     9
    10   Q.   Then where did you go next?
    11        A.  Well, in December of 84 I became the store Manager in
    12        Leicester.  I was the -- obviously, I got promoted to First
    13        Assistant going down to Worcester to help them open.  So in
    14        December of that year I became the Restaurant Manager in
    15        the Leicester restaurant.
    16
    17   Q.   I am sorry to ask you again, but what was the location of
    18        that restaurant?  How busy was that one?
    19        A.  Right, that was again our first city centre restaurant
    20        in Leicester.  That was the busiest of all the restaurants
         that I had had previous experience of; it was very busy.
    22
    23   Q.   I know that Leicester is very much a multi-racial town?
    24        A.  Right.
    25
    26   Q.   It is one of the biggest communities of Asian/English in
    27        this country?
    28        A.  Right.
    29
    30   Q.   So was that reflected in the store at Leicester?
    31        A.  In terms of the crew we recruited?
    32
    33   Q.   In terms of anybody there?
    34        A.  Absolutely.
    35
    36   Q.   So, as Store Manager, what did that job involve you doing?
    37        A.  I guess the best way to put it is it is almost running
    38        your own business, so not only are you responsible for the
    39        recruitment, training, the retention of staff, you are also
    40        responsible for making sure the ordering is correct,
         anticipating business, completion of the financial
    42        records.  So finance, profit, training people, operations,
    43        virtually absolutely everything that you would need to do
    44        to run your own business, or run your own restaurant in
    45        this case.
    46
    47   Q.   So would it be sensible to say that inevitably involved
    48        some interaction with the crew on a day by day basis?
    49        A.  Oh, it would have to without a shadow of a doubt.
    50 
    51   Q.   What were you personally trying to achieve as Manager? 
    52        What would you say your goals were as a Manager? 
    53        A.  I wanted to have probably everybody in the team proud
    54        of working in the Leicester restaurant and proud of having
    55        me as their Restaurant Manager probably, if I was to try to
    56        summarise it.
    57
    58   Q.   Did you care about the crew?
    59        A.  Yes.
    60