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ROLL-PLAY? NO – THE WORKING REALITY OF A SANDWICH BAR

 

1. Read the text. Six paragraphs have been removed from the article.

Sonya and I wanted to start a business of our own, rather than work in a big company environment. We considered a number of different businesses but felt there was a gap on many High Streets for a quality sandwich shop – an alternative to the standard fast food choice of McDonald’s or Burger King.

We did quite a lot of research, such as questionnaires and pedestrian counts, building up as much information as we could. We weren’t fixed in terms of where we wanted to set up, as the ideal location was all-important, so we visited Leeds, Bristol, and Portsmouth as well as Southampton.

1. _______________________________________________________________.

We had just a few thousand pounds between us so it was a matter of approaching the banks. The Midland Bank agreed to lend us £30,000 under the Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme, where part of the loan is guaranteed by the government. We also secured £5,000 from a business trust.

2. _______________________________________________________________.

We had fixed ideas about what we wanted to sell. The baguettes had to be just right: not too thin and not too big. We decided right from the start that our French bread would indeed be French and we’d get it from a distributor and part-bake it. We were ready to open in December 1995, well into the Christmas season and typically a very good month for business. We opened right from the start with four staff.

3. _______________________________________________________________.

Gradually the business pulled round and we got into a routine with our systems, which are vital for any fast-food operation. There tend to be some very busy periods during the day. You certainly don’t want queues. And you need staff who work well together.

4. _______________________________________________________________.

We offer a variety of breads from sun-dried tomato to white farmhouse and if you take into account our salad toppings as well as fillings we offer 44 million combinations of sandwich.

5. _______________________________________________________________.

The daily routine involves staff coming in at 7.30 a.m. to start doing the preparation. The more work that can be done in advance, the more time you can save when the shop gets full of people. And then by 8 a.m. we are open for the breakfast trade.

6. _______________________________________________________________.

We close at 6 p.m. (7 p.m. on Thursday) but some nights we have to work late. Sonya and I are now working on opening a new shop in Southampton, and also further expansion.

I think where we’ve succeeded is that we’ve never compromised on what we offer. We are a sandwich bar and have never ventured into selling jacket potatoes or chips. It’s our intention to open other outlets and possibly franchise the concept and become a national operation. We have the energy, and time, on our side.

 

2. Choose which of the paragraphs A – G fit into the gaps. There is one extra paragraph which does not fit in any of the gaps.



A. Once we had the money organized we had to find a place. The site we chose was a former clothes shop which made it ideal because it already had the right kind of floor and lightning. The lease was typical of properties in the area at between £30,000 and £35,000 and we had to put in an oven, counter, upstairs preparation area, tills, fridges and freezers, making our start-up costs around £50,000.

 

B. The first day, however, was a real trial. We took £200, less than even half of what we need to break even, and we had the prospect of the less busy January and February season approaching.

 

C. The busy time is obviously the lunchtime but that can extend to 3.30 p.m. Our business continues longer than many sandwich bars where that lunch-hour trade is the be-all and end-all.

 

D. Our families were incredibly supportive and helpful. My father, a carpenter by trade, helped out with the shop fitting, while Sonya’s aunt was a fund of useful ideas for sandwich fillings and types of bread. She was so enthusiastic she wanted to help out in the shop but we felt that at 86 she was better off at home.

 

E. Other preparations that we felt were important included trying to gain some practical experience. Sonya had worked in a small Gloucestershire café and I had spent two months in McDonald’s.

 

F. Getting the right people was very important and we rejected about nine out of ten people. It is important to build an efficient team who can work together in a friendly way, and deal politely and efficiently with the public.

 

G. However, people are generally still conservative in this market. Our biggest sellers are chicken, cheese, ham and tuna. More exotic fillings such as marinaded red pepper and goat cheese have fewer takers. Four or five types of bread are very popular.

 

UNIT 7 ENVIRONMENT

Level A 2

 

POSTCARDS FROM THE NORDIC COUNTRIES

 

1. Last summer Jim, Tim and Nina went for a holiday in the Nordic countries. Read the postcards they sent to their families and try to guess where they have been.

Hallo. We are in a very exciting country. We have been on a ride on some nice horses. The horses were quite small, but they were not ponies. We have seen glaciers and a geyser. Tomorrow we will go for a bath in a spa located in a lava field. We are in 1. _______________ Love Jim, Tim and Nina.   a. Denmark. b. Finland. c. Iceland. d. Norway. e. Sweden.  
Hallo again. We have travelled by airplane and have arrived in a nice country that is a big contrast to where we came from. Here are no mountains or glaciers, but fields and nice beaches. It is quite windy here, and we can see modern windmills in many places. Tomorrow we plan to visit Tivoli for some fun after we have seen the little Mermaid. We are in 2. _______________ Love Jim, Tim and Nina.     a. Denmark. b. Finland. c. Iceland. d. Norway. e. Sweden.  

 

 

Hallo once more. This is the most fantastic holiday. Today we have walked on a glacier. It was really great, but a bit hard. Yesterday we were on a boat trip on the deep fjord, but it was too cold for swimming. We visited a copy of a Viking village where some people had dressed up as Vikings. They even had a small Viking ship. We are in 3. _______________ Love Jim, Tim and Nina.     a. Denmark. b. Finland. c. Iceland. d. Norway. e. Sweden.  
Hallo. The wind sighs through the birches in the land of Emil and Pippi. We visited their “hometown” where we met several of their friends, like Karlsson-on-the-Roof and Ronia the Robber's Daughter. They are not real of course, but characters from children literature. We are in 4. _______________ Love Jim, Tim and Nina.   a. Denmark. b. Finland. c. Iceland. d. Norway. e. Sweden.  
Hallo. Our holiday comes to an end soon, but we have one more country to visit, the home of the Moomins and Nokia phones. This is the country of thousands of lakes and islands, and large forests. In the capital we saw the Sibelius monument. It looked like a funny organ. We are in 5. _______________ Love Jim, Tim and Nina.   a. Denmark. b. Finland. c. Iceland. d. Norway. e. Sweden.  

2. Read the postcards once again and match each postcard with the country mentioned above.

A. B.

This postcard is from … This postcard is from …

C. D.

This postcard is from … This postcard is from …

E.

This postcard is from …


Date: 2015-04-20; view: 1162


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