The following is a memorandum written by the director of personnel to the president of the Cedar Corporation.

“It would be a mistake to rehire the Good-Taste Company to supply the food in our employee cafeteria next year. It is the second most expensive caterer in the city. In addition, its prices have risen in each of the last three years, and it refuses to provide meals for people on special diets. Just last month three employees complained to me that they no longer eat in the cafeteria because they find the experience ‘unbearable.’ Our company should instead hire Discount Foods. Discount is a family-owned local company and it offers a varied menu of fish and poultry. I recently tasted a sample lunch at one of the many companies that Discount serves and it was delicious – an indication that hiring Discount will lead to improved employee satisfaction.”

The memorandum written by the director to the president of Cedar Corporation suggests changing the company, which supplies food to their employee cafeteria in the coming year. It lists the difficulties faced by the employees from the food supplied by the Good-Taste Company to support its reasoning. The memorandum also suggests an alternative of hiring Discount Foods which serves good food and will improve employee satisfaction. However, the reasons behind this change need to be thought over again in order to reach to a good and logical decision.

The first reason mentioned in the memorandum is about the Good-Food Company being the second most expensive caterer in the city. Going by this we can assume that this company is amongst the best caterers in the city. It is only if a company provides quality products that it can be one of the most expensive in the city. One does not mind paying a higher price for good quality food, instead of going for cheaper and unhealthy food. The memorandum says that the prices of this company have risen each year for the last three years. However, there is no record that tells us that the other companies have not increased their respective prices. If the prices of other caterers have also increased then it would not make a difference if they change the caterers.

Further, the rise in prices can be because of many reasons which have been ignored in the memorandum. The rise is prices could have been because of the increasing inflation due to which they are bound to increase their prices. Hence, the Cedar Corporation should reconsider the suggestion given by the director before making any decision.

This company does not provide meals for people on special diets. Considering that there are very few people on special diets, the demand for such food may not be much because of which the company cannot provide such meals. The memorandum, however, does not say anything about the Discount Foods providing any such meals because of which this change must be made. Although Discount Foods have a variety of fish and poultry foods, there can be other special demands of employees, like vegetarian food, or food with lesser salt and fries etc. which may not be fulfilled by this company. The director also says that there have been complaints from at least three employees about the cafeteria and their experience has been ‘unbearable.’ However, in which way has their experience been ‘unbearable’ has been left to one’s imagination. It is likely that the experience of these three employees has nothing to do with the food provided by the Good-Food company and they have been engaged in a brawl or argument with the staff of the cafeteria. Hence, it cannot be taken as a logical and strong reason to change the caterers.

Although Discount Foods offers a wide variety of fish and poultry food which is also delicious, this cannot lead to the conclusion that it will improve employee satisfaction. While caterers must provide good food to keep their customers happy, a lot depends upon the type of services extended by them as well. It is likely that the local food company is not able to provide food timely. It is also possible that they are not able to deal with the increase in demand and compromise on the quality instead.

By considering the discussion given above it can be seen that the reasons mentioned in the memorandum by the director are not enough to support his suggestions. The argument in the memorandum loses weight because it has no explanation for the discussion given above. Therefore, before making the change of caterers, the president of Cedar Corporation should give a logical thought over all the aspects related to it.