Case Problem

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"T HE P OSSIBILITY " R ESTAURANT C ONTINUED

In "The Possibility" Restaurant case problem in Chapter 2, Angela Fox and Zooey Caulfield opened a French restaurant called "The Possibility." Initially, Angela and Zooey could not offer a full, varied menu, so their chef, Pierre, prepared two full-course dinners with beef and fish each evening. In the case problem, Angela and Zooey wanted to develop a linear programming model to help determine the number of beef and fish meals they should prepare each night. Solve Zooey and Angela's linear programming model by using the computer.

1. Angela and Zooey are considering investing in some advertising to increase the maximum number of meals they serve. They estimate that if they spend $30 per day on a newspaper ad, it will increase the maximum number of meals they serve per day from 60 to 70. Should they make the investment?

2. Zooey and Angela are concerned about the reliability of some of their kitchen staff. They estimate that on some evenings they could have a staff reduction of as much as 5 hours. How would this affect their profit level?

3. The final question they would like to explore is raising the price of the fish dinner. Angela believes the price for a fish dinner is a little low and that it could be closer to the price of a beef dinner without affecting customer demand. However, Zooey has noted that Pierre has already made plans based on the number of dinners recommended by the linear programming solution. Angela has suggested a price increase that will increase profit for the fish dinner to $14. Would this be acceptable to Pierre, and how much additional profit would be realized?