Exam Review

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Planning for a picnic

Cindy: So, Bob, how many people have said that they’re coming on the company picnic ?
Bob: Well, Cindy, we’ve got 35 definite and another 10 probable.
Cindy: Shall we say 50?
Bob: I think so. And we’ve fixed the date for…?
Cindy: 26th. The last Sunday in August.
Bob: Great! I hope the weather is good.
Cindy: Should be. Now, we have to decide where to order the food from and what kind of things we want.
Bob: Right. What’s our budget?
Cindy: We decided to go for £10 a head for food and £5 a head for drinks.
Bob: OK. I got some pamphlets from caterers. What do you think?
Cindy: The most important thing is to make sure there’s a variety of food. We don’t want people complaining that they don’t like anything.
Bob: We also don’t want food that could deteriorate in the sun-ice cream, that kind of thing.
Cindy: You’ve seen these pamphlets. What do you think?
Bob: Well, I thought Paris Kitchen looked good. The price almost exactly meets our budget and they seem to have a good variety.
Cindy: I don’t know. A friend of mine used them for her company and wasn’t impressed.
Bob: Really? What exactly didn’t she like?
Cindy: Well, the food… she said the food was good, but not quite the variety they’d expected. The drinks included some wine, which was apparently not very good.
Bob: Oh. Well, perhaps we need to consider this one… er … Company Caterers.
Cindy: Looks a bit pricey. Mind you, I’ve heard that they are very good.
Bob: Let me check the price. … Yes … £12 a head for food. That’s more than our budget. Do you think we could get a discount?
Cindy: Let’s see if it says anything in the pamphlet. … Yes, they do offer a discount for groups of more than 30. … 10% … does that help us?
Bob: 10% off £12 … It’s still more than we budgeted for.
Cindy: Hey, look at this one. Celebrations.
Bob: It’s a new company. I asked a few people about them, but no-one has any ideas.
Cindy: Well, let’s see. 9 poundsa head for food and five pounds a head for drinks. That’s fine. What kind of food do they have? It says here that they just provide cold meals for picnics. Well, that’s OK. … And they include vegetarian dishes…. We do have some vegetarian to take into consideration .
Bob: Well, it looks good to me. The only problem is their lack of experience. I mean, it’s a bit of a risk, isn’t it?
Cindy: Yes. If the food is no good, we’ll look incompetent.
Bob: Ah, look here. It says that we can visit their premises and try some of the dishes they offer.
Cindy: You mean we might get a free lunch? Shall we call them and arrange to go and see them?
Bob: OK. Which day? How about tomorrow?
Cindy: No. We’ve got that meeting. The day after tomorrow. Thursday.
Bob: Good. Time?
Cindy: 11?
Bob: Good. Right, what’s their phone number? 28 65 34 79. We also need to ask them whether they can deliver straight to the picnic site, don’t we?
Cindy: Yes. I don’t think that’ll be a problem, though. I mean, it’s on the outskirts of the city, but it’s not too far away. Does the price include delivery?
Bob: It doesn’t say, but the other companies include it, so they should. If they don’t., our budget still allows us to pay a small fee.