Englisch BHS, Maturatraining mit Audio-CD
69 Tapescript The supermarket weatherman (CD 02) Announcer: You are going to listen to an interview with Tony Cook, who works for a big chain of supermarkets. First you will have 45 seconds to study the task below, then you will hear the recording twice. While listening, choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D) for questions 1 – 7. Put a cross in the correct box. e
rst one (0) has been done for you. Aer the second listening, you will have 45 seconds to check your answers. (45 sec pause, acoustic signal) Presenter: My guest on Food Matters today is weatherman Tony Cook, who works for Williamson’s supermarket chain. Now tell us Tony, what is a weatherman doing working for a supermarket? Tony: My actual job title is Head of Fresh Food Demand Planning. Correctly forecasting the weather can mean the dierence between a great trading weekend and a disastrous one for supermarkets – especially before a bank holiday. Presenter: So you have to predict whether you need to be stocking up with burgers and sausages for the barbecue or getting in plenty roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Tony: Exactly. And if I get it wrong and we can’t meet the demand, we’ll have lots of unhappy customers. I spend a lot of time studying weather charts and spreadsheets, but really it’s human experience, rather than computers, that tells us what we should be putting on our shelves at any given time. Williamson’s have a team of highly experienced people working across the country and I couldn’t do without their help to predict demand three days in advance. Presenter: Only three days to make your
nal decision about what to order – that seems to be leaving it rather late. Tony: We can switch production at short notice. We have our own factories and slaughterhouses, so we can process the raw product into whatever the weather demands. Warm sunny weather means people will be eating outdoors, so we increase our orders for picnic food like quiches and sausage rolls and salads. Cold weather and it’ll be meat for pies and stews. Presenter: e British weather is notoriously unpredictable – how do you cope with that? I mean you can have a month’s rainfall in one place and nothing at all a few miles down the road. Tony: Well it’s not just the likelihood of rain and the number of hours of sunshine that I have to consider. If there’s a north wind it can feel pretty chilly even if the sun’s shining. And then I have to take past trading
gures into account, not to mention regional variations. Presenter: Sure – are there other factors that in¥uence what you decide to stock? Tony: De
nitely – celebrity chefs. You’ve heard of the Delia eect, when everybody wanted cranberries and sundried tomatoes because Delia Smith had recommended them in her Christmas cookery show? Now everyone wants pork belly – it’s a cheap cut consumers wouldn’t normally buy. But Jamie Oliver slow-cooks it and it tastes fantastic. Now it’s one of our best selling lines. Presenter: Yeah, I saw him doing it on TV – I keep meaning to try it. How long have you been with Williamson’s, Tony? Tony: I started with them 25 years ago as a shelf stacker while I was still at school, got taken on full-time and worked my way up. I’ve never done a business degree, but I’ve picked up a few formal quali
cations along the way, including a certi
cate in meteorology. But most of what I know about supply and demand I’ve learnt on the job. Presenter: Oen the best way! What sort of hours do you work? Not 24/7 like so many supermarkets these days I hope … Tony: Well I did once have to sort out a problem with a delivery of Christmas turkeys in the middle of the night. ankfully that was a one-o. But I normally do a 12-hour day, though in fact in an emergency I’m contactable at any time, which is OK. Presenter: Is that the most challenging aspect of your work? Tony: Not really – I’m used to it. ere’s a very
ne line between making sure that the customers can
nd everything that they want on the shelves and avoiding surplus stock. at’s the tricky bit. If I see customers leave the store with everything that was on their shopping list and we’ve got a minimum of food wastage, then everyone’s happy – me most of all! Presenter: And so is everyone else – anks for coming in, Tony. Now moving on … [fade out] (15 sec pause, acoustic signal, track replays, 45 sec pause) Nur z Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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