Grocery Food

VP

Let’s see, whose turn is it to start this time? Oh, it’s Mike. Go ahead.

Mike

Now we are getting into my stronger departments. You know I fired the grocery manager last year. The new manager has increased sales by $402,000. I’m really good at finding talented people and putting them in the right spot. This shows I should be the next district manager. I think I can find better store managers for our weaker stores.

Jack

We reduced our total expenses by 25% last year in the grocery department. Can you beat this?

Mike

Don’t be silly! I said we increased our sales. Of course, our expenses will be higher. Your statistic is irrelevant.

Andrea

Hmmmm. Mike didn’t mention total sales, . . . didn’t mention total profits. . . . I don’t think he’s that strong in grocery. . . . . maybe I can gamble to score a point . . . . Mike, what was your total sales in grocery-food?

Mike

$2,582,000! Can you beat that?

Andrea

Unfortunately not! But I was close.

VP

Jack, you shall proceed.

Jack

I think I’m going to concede the best grocery-food department to my colleagues. ….. ….. My store’s grocery department needs to get modern display shelves before it can show some decent profits. I told the former district manager about this many times. When I become district manager, I’ll be in a position to allocate some of our company’s store improvement budget towards my former store. Then those new shelves will be built—and profits will roll in for the next store manager.

VP

Andrea, you are last in this round.

Andrea

I have one of the smaller grocery food departments in the chain. If I only had more area, I could offer more products to sell, which would increase sales in this department. But despite this, I still have an area sales of $2,270 per square meter.

Mike

I have to admit that having a (big) floor section helps sales and I can’t match your area efficiency. But I would be interested in knowing if you increased your overall profits in the grocery-food department?

Andrea

Yes, I sure did! By 4.4%!

Mike

Nice try! My increase was more than three times your increase.

VP

Jack, do you wish to challenge Andrea?

Jack

Like I said before, I have conceded this department. I have no statistic I can spin to my advantage.

VP

This concludes the grocery-food round. Mike is the clear winner. The score is now two-and-a-half for Andrea; two for Mike, and trailing is Jack with one-and-a-half. There are still four points up for grabs.

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