Watch and Listen

1. Watch the video. Circle the correct answer.

1   _____ coffee shops are growing quickly in England.

      a Starbucks      b Caffè Nero

2   Caffè Nero opened its first American shop in _____.

      a New York     b Boston

3   Gerry Ford _____ this coffee chain.

      a started          b bought

4   Ford’s coffee chain uses an _____ model.

      a American      b Italian

5   Ford wants his customers to spend more money on _____ in his coffee shops.

      a food              b coffee

2. Watch again. Work with a partner and circle the correct answer.

1   Starbucks and Caffè Nero / Costa Coffee are two of the biggest coffee chains in the world.

2   Caffè Nero is a British / an Italian company.

3   30% of its sales are in food / drinks.

4   Caffè Nero is always busy for lunch / dinner.

5   A food consultant helps the company at its coffee shops / headquarters.

6   It is important to the company to sell cheap / quality food and coffee.

3. Choose the best summary for the main idea of the video.

a   Gerry Ford tries to sell sandwiches and biscuits that people will like.

b   Gerry Ford’s company has a successful business model.

c   Gerry Ford’s company doesn’t try to copy other big coffee chains.

Answers

1

1 b   2 b   3 a   4 b   5 a

2

1 Costa Coffee   2 a British   3 food   4 lunch

5 headquarters   6 quality

3

b

Audioscripts

Food in coffee shops

Narrator:   Starbucks and Costa Coffee are two of the biggest coffee shop chains in the world. But in England, Caffè Nero is growing quickly and has now opened up its first American stores in Boston, Massachusetts.

Gerry Ford:   We didn’t look at Costa or Starbucks and try to mimic them at all or do anything similar. And, for better or for worse, we kind of marched to our own drum.

Narrator:   Gerry Ford started Caffè Nero in London, but his stores use an Italian model. Coffee is the most important item, but coffee shops only really do well if they can get their customers to spend money on food, like sandwiches and cookies.

Gerry Ford:   The driving force is the core product of coffee and the craftsmanship and the quality that goes into that, but the food sort of complements that. We have 30% of our sales, um, are in food, which is higher than either of the other two major brands and higher than most local independents.

Narrator:   Lunchtime at Caffè Nero stores is always busy. At the London headquarters, food consultant Ursula Ferrigno helps Caffè Nero give their food some real Italian favour. But what kind of food do customers want the most? In the end, this British company has found a successful business model selling Americanized Italian food and good quality coffee.

Listening 1

1. Listen to a conversation between a university professor and a student about her project. Complete Alika’s notes on the outline of her research. Listen for numbers and words related to numbers.

How people waste time at work

–   Internet and online use: almost 1_________ of all workers wasted time surfing internet or writing personal 2_________

–   3_________ % spent time talking to colleagues

–   4_________ % took longer coffee and lunch breaks

–   5% texting friends

Why people waste time at work

–   1/2 not happy in their 5_________

–   1/3 thought they didn’t 6_________ a good enough salary

–   not enough money for holidays and nice 7_________

–   8_________ % have to work too many hours

Effects on companies

–   Workers don’t work hard; productivity goes down, so company makes less money than it wanted to and can’t pay workers higher 9_________

2. Listen again. Write T (true) or F (false) next to the statements below. Then correct the false statements.

___ 1   Alika has finished her research project.

             _______________________

___ 2   She read more than 100 different reports.

             _______________________

___ 3   Alika looked at why people like or dislike their jobs.

             _______________________

___ 4   People waste time at work by surfing the internet, talking to other people and taking long breaks.

             _______________________

___ 5   Alika says that productivity depends on how well workers do their jobs.

             _______________________

3. Listen again and look at the bar charts. Then write sentences showing how people wasted time at work (1-4) and the reasons for wasting time (5 and 6). Make sure your sentences match the data in the charts.

1   _______________________

2   _______________________

3   _______________________

4   _______________________

5   _______________________

6   _______________________

Answers

1

1 half   2 emails   3 31.5   4 15   5 jobs   6 earn

7 clothes   8 19   9 salaries

2

1 F; Alika has not finished her research project.   2 T

3 F; She looked at how people spend and waste their time at work and why they don’t work hard at their jobs.   4 T

5 F; She says productivity depends on how hard people work or how fast workers make things or provide services.

3

Suggested answers:

1 5% of people wasted time at work texting friends and making plans for after work.

2 15% of people wasted time at work taking long coffee and lunch breaks.

3 31.5% of people wasted time at work talking to colleagues.

4 48% of people wasted time at work surfing the internet or writing personal emails.

5 33.5% wasted time because they didn’t earn a good enough salary.

6 19% wasted time because they had to work too many hours.

Audioscripts

Prof. Gould:   OK, Alika. Should we look at your project now?

Alika:   Yes, OK.

Prof. Gould:   You’ve done a lot of reading for this, which is great. I can see you wrote a lot of information down.

Alika:   Yes, but I haven’t finished yet – I ran out of time. But I read as much as I could – about 103 different reports. I took part in the discussions on this with students from my study group. I studied the way people work.

Prof. Gould:   Good. Can you tell me what you learnt?

Alika:   Well, I looked at how people spend time at work. I was interested in how people wasted time and why they didn’t work hard at their jobs; I mean, the reasons why they didn’t focus on their work. I found out a lot of interesting information. For example, almost half of the workers wasted time on the internet. They were surfing the internet or writing personal emails. It was 48% of workers, in fact. 31.5% also said they spent time talking to colleagues instead of working. And a little under half that amount, 15%, said they took longer coffee and lunch breaks than they should. Only 5% said they spent time texting friends and making plans for after work.

Prof. Gould:   Good. And did you find out the reasons why?

Alika:   Yes. Approximately half said they didn’t work hard because they weren’t happy in their jobs.

Prof. Gould:   I see.

Alika:   And about a third, 33.5%, thought they didn’t earn a good enough salary. They said they didn’t have enough money for holidays or nice clothes. They had just enough money to get by, so they didn’t work as hard as they could. Some people, about 19%, said they had to work too many hours.

Prof. Gould:   So, what are some effects of people not working very hard?

Alika:   Hmm… if people aren’t working hard, companies don’t get what they are paying for.

Prof. Gould:   Can you give me some examples?

Alika:   Well, when people don’t work hard, productivity goes down. Because productivity depends on how fast workers make things or provide services, if workers are not working hard, the company doesn’t make a profit. Then they can’t pay higher salaries.

Listening 2

1. Listen to the conversation. Complete Sam’s notes about advice that the consultant gives him.

Advice for business

Problem: Workers are not 1__________ at work – they don’t work hard

Solutions: 2__________ once a month

                    3__________ a brighter colour

Result: Workers will be happier, work harder

Problem: Need to cut costs; spending too much money

Solutions: Use less electricity; 4__________ parts

Result: Make a better 5__________

Problem: Having trouble reaching new customers

Solutions: Add 6__________

Result: Get new customers

Problem: Old and messy website

Solutions: Hire a 7__________

                    Colour important: Colour can make the website 8__________

                    Colour can prevent customers from leaving the website before buying things

                    Website needs to look 9__________ and 10__________ to use

Result: Get more online sales

2. Listen to the first part of the conversation again. Number the phrases in the order you hear them.

a   Was it useful _____

b   Exactly! But there are things you think will cause you to lose money _____

c   Oh, yes _____

d   Well, when we looked at the company’s strengths and weaknesses _____

e   What is making you stressed about that _____

 Useful … Yeah, it was _____

Answers

1

1 happy   2 (organize) social events   3 paint the walls

4 find cheaper   5 profit   6 online sales

7 professional web designer   8 pop out (a bit more)

9 well organized   10 easy

2

a 1   b 5   c 3   d 6   e 4   f 2

Audioscripts

1

Joe:   Hi, Sam. Good to see you again.

Sam:   Hello, Joe.

Joe:   So, last time we met we talked about your business goals. Was it useful?

Sam:   Useful? … Yeah, it was. You really made me think! But now I have a lot of stress about losing money.

Joe:   Oh, yes? What is making you stressed about that?

Sam:   Well, I realized how many weaknesses a business can have! One careless mistake and I could lose a lot of money.

Joe:   Exactly! But there are things do think will cause you to lose money?

Sam:   Well, when we looked at the company’s strengths and weaknesses, we talked about the quality and happiness of my workers, the costs of running the business and reaching new customers to help grow the business. Each of these areas could be a way to help make money, or a way to lose money if you don’t have a good plan.

Joe:   Wow – that’s great! Those are all important to think about. Is there anything else?

Sam:   And what else was there? Oh, of course, customers!

Joe:   Well, that gives us plenty to talk about today! So, let’s think about what you can do for your employees. You said that your workers were unhappy and not working hard enough. Keeping your employees happy will make them more likely to work hard for the business. Try organizing some social event once a month during work hours. That could be a good first stop! Also, maybe you should paint the walls a brighter colour. The office is really dark and people feel like they’re in a cave. Brighter colours can help make people happier. And happier employees will also work harder.

Sam:   Oh, OK. Well, that’s good to know.

Joe:   You also have to cut costs. You spend far too much money on electricity every month. Turn off the lights and computers at the end of the workday. You should also find some cheaper parts for your products, which are still well made. It’s a tough job, but I can help you find them.

Sam:   I see. That would be great!

Joe:   If you spend less money, you can make a better profit. You have some excellent adverts. But you mentioned that you are having trouble reaching new customers and growing your number of customers is really important for a successful business. So if I were you, I would try adding online sales to get more customers.

Sam:   Yeah, I like that idea. I have a website already, but it looks pretty old and messy.

Joe:   But there are things we can work on. If you want to sell online, you should start by making sure that the website doesn’t look messy. If you don’t have the skills to make it look neat, hire a professional web designer! You want a neat, clean website. It isn’t something you want to be careless with.

Sam:   I see. Well, I would like to have a lot of black on the website. I think that colour is professional and serious-looking.

Joe:   I understand. But I think if you want to make the website attractive, it needs more colour. More colour could help the design pop out a bit more and prevent customers from leaving the website before buying anything.

Sam:   Uh-huh … That’s good idea. I actually like blue, too. I think someone else told me about colours people prefer, but I forgot.

Joe:   Yes. It’s easy to forget to think about something as simple as colour. The web designer you hire might have some good ideas about which colours to use. So, for our next meeting, you should create your website design and bring a plan. You could think about how it looks, as well as what it says. You don’t want it to look … well, you would want to be sure it looks well organized and the best it can be. It should also be really easy to use. Next time we’ll go over your design and see how to make it better. We will also think about hiring a good web designer to make your website look great and be easy to use.

Sam:   OK, great! I’ll do that and bring it in next week.

 

2

Joe:   Hi, Sam. Good to see you again.

Sam:   Hello, Joe.

Joe:   So, last time we met we talked about your business goals. Was it useful?

Sam:   Useful? … Yeah, it was. You really made me think! But now I have a lot of stress about losing money.

Joe:   Oh, yes? What is making you stressed about that?

Sam:   Well, I realized how many weaknesses a business can have! One careless mistake and I could lose a lot of money.

Joe:   Exactly! But there are things you think will cause you to lose money?

Sam:   Well, when we looked at the company’s strengths and weaknesses, we talked about the quality and happiness of my workers, the costs of running the business and reaching new customers to help grow the business. Each of these areas could be a way to help make money, or a way to lose money if you don’t have a good plan.

Joe:   Wow – that’s great! Those are all important to think about. Is there anything else?

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