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Level 2 Business and Economics: External Influences 2

Case Study 2: Social Influences

Cater2U are a business that provide school meals. They are based in the east of England and have had a contract to supply schools with catering throughout the Norfolk area. Cater 2U spent time carrying out market research to find out exactly what sort of meals children wanted to eat at school. They have been proud of the fact that their food is well received by children in the schools they operate in.

The market research told them that children liked meals which included chips, burgers, chicken in breadcrumbs, fish fingers, beans, pizza, jacket potatoes, biscuits, cakes, donuts and baguettes. The market research appeared to work because they experienced very little waste and pupils and parents thought the food provided value for money.

A large burger and chips (with salad!)

Changes in society can affect businesses in different ways. The debate over healthy food is one example of a case where social changes and political change can affect a business. Copyright: Ingrid Müller, from stock.xchng.

Then along came Jamie Oliver! The TV programme 'Jamie's School Dinners' raised the issue about the quality of food that was available for students in schools across the country. Of course, it was not just Jamie Oliver who caused the problems, as there had been growing concern for some time over the problems of obesity, especially in children. Cater2U had watched the legal cases in the United States, in which claims had been made against firms such as McDonalds over the quality of their food.

McDonalds restaurant front Person chowing down on a big burger!

McDonalds - responsible for social change? Should a business such as this be held responsible for people being overweight? Copyright: Byron Solomon and Les Powell, both from stock.xchng.

The parents of two girls had taken McDonalds to court, claiming that the food that McDonalds had served had contributed to making their daughters grossly overweight. The parents lost their case but it sent messages to businesses involved in food production and selling throughout the world that attitudes were changing.

In the UK, there had been new initiatives to encourage people to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables each day. The Jamie Oliver programme created outrage amongst many parents and the authorities. As a result, new rules were put in place in September 2006 regarding the provision of school meals. These rules included the following:

  • No crisps, chocolate or fizzy drinks to be served with school meals
  • Meat used in school meals had to be of a certain standard and quality
  • At least two portions of fruit and vegetables must be served with every meal
  • Fried food to be served a maximum of twice a week

Tasks

  • In groups of three, produce a list of five ways in which you think Cater2U will be affected by the change in views about healthy eating. Write your list down on five separate sheets of paper labelled 1 - 5.
  • Spend five minutes discussing the relative importance of the five things you have identified. Arrange the sheet of paper into an order, starting with the most important effect first, going down to the least important effect.
  • For each effect, write a three line comment on how you think Cater2U could deal with the effect.
  • Present your ideas and the order to the rest of the class. From the class discussion, write down the five most important effects of the change in social attitudes to a business such as Cater2U.
  • Produce a poster with a weekly menu showing the daily choices of meals that Cater2U could provide that meet the new guidelines laid down by the government.
  • Ethical responsibility refers to the responsibilities of businesses to their customers and other stakeholders in terms of whether their business acts in a moral or the 'right' way. Do you think that a business like Cater2U should provide the sort of food its market research tells it children want to eat or should they encourage a healthy diet by serving healthy food?

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