Business, Society, and Planet: David's Kitchen Ethical Case Study

This case study presents a scenario where John, a passionate chef at David's Kitchen, discovers unethical practices within the restaurant, such as using expired ingredients. John faces several ethical dilemmas: truth versus loyalty, individual versus community, short term versus long term consequences, and justice versus mercy. He grapples with whether to remain loyal to the restaurant and ignore the unethical practices or confront David, the owner, and risk his job and the jobs of his colleagues. The script explores conversations between John, David, and other employees, highlighting the tensions between ethical conduct and business pressures. Ultimately, the case raises questions about the importance of professional ethics, CSR, and sustainability in the food industry and the challenges employees face when confronted with unethical behavior in the workplace. Desklib provides access to similar case studies and solved assignments to aid in your learning.

BUSINESS, SOCIETY AND PLANET
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Script Development
Overview
John stands as a precisely enthusiastic and dedicated individual when the story relates to trend of
food preparation. He has immense consideration, attention and interest towards Italian items.
While he remained a kid, his parents commonly carried him to have delightful dinner on
weekends at different restaurants as well as got instigated to reveal interest in culinary activities.
However he came to be enthralled by the foodstuff; he had consumed in a restaurant known as
David’s Kitchen. In the contemporary stage, John has been functioning in food and beverage
industry for many years and his conscientiousness ultimately worked while he was employed by
“David Kitchen”. David’s Kitchen is regarded as one of the renowned eateries in Sydney that
focus on customary Italian dishware. A small number of months have passed since John started
working in David’s Kitchen and in recent times acquired the update from his co-employee that
the cafeteria has been ensuing unethical performances. This sort of facts upset him and
persuaded him to enquire about his future in professional matters as David’s Kitchen motivated
him to perform the role as a chef.
Characters:
David (Owner and head chef)
John (chef)
Michael (Employee)
Alice (Employee)
Act 1
The scenario
Inside the kitchen room, David, the proprietor as well as the head chef, John, Michael and Alice
are conversing among each other on business matters and arrangement of products.
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David: Put all the raw vegetables in the baskets and keep the items properly in the store room.
The ingredients should be appropriately preserved since the substances need to be cautiously
protected from being hampered or spoiled.
Alice: We are there at your service. In fact it’s our duty to fulfill the goals of the organization.
David: Well said! I feel honored to hear your words.
Michael: The chicken and meat are also needed to be stored. I am putting these items in the
freezer.
David: The market is extremely competitive and hence I bought these raw products in bulk
quantities from the wholesale market. I got them in discounted rates.
John: Thus, you grabbed the offer so that it benefits you…and of course it will be great
advantage for the organization.
David: Yeah! Everyone tries to grab the opportunities. The business must be upgraded with
perfect planning.
John: Sure! We need to be active and sincere in our jobs
David: I am fortunate to have diligent members in our team. The business can be effectively
monitored through the cumulative efforts.
Michael: Just hard work would not help us to move ahead. We need to be tactful in our activities.
The dishes must be well prepared to please the customers.
David: Correct! Consumers are the leading targets. We must try to build up huge strength of
customers and fulfill their expectations.
[He moves away from the scene for some official works with the suppliers of grocery items and
attends a meeting with other stakeholders…like technical persons associated with the
machineries and equipment, as well as revenue and commercial sales tax officers of the
Administration].
[Others carry on their conversation]
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John: Obviously! Our customers are the ones who would appreciate and honor our services if we
provide appropriate forms of dishes to satisfy their desires. After all, they are paying for our
distributions and deliveries of foodstuff which they order.
Alice: You are absolutely correct. We are here to prepare delicious dishes as per the demands of
the public and presently there is innumerable fast food as well as other forms of restaurants that
are ready to provide suitable patterns of food for consumption. If we fail to meet the standard, a
large section of our regular consumers will plan to shift towards other lucrative cafeterias.
Act 2
David walks in the store room and directs the laborers to arrange all the stuffs in proper
order...although these items were kept in their respective places by the employees. He pays
money to the boys who worked for him. David is an intelligent person and behaves in decent and
polite manner with everyone. Truly speaking, he knows how to interact with different types of
person in professional and personal life. He tries to maintain a balanced life with proper
regulation of liabilities. He monitors the activities of everyone very skillfully and treats them
with courtesy. He works to manage his business proficiently and deals with the customers as per
their attitudes and behavioral approaches. He intends to satisfy the tastes and whimsies of
customers as far as possible. In this viable market, he knows how to retain his marketing and
production strategy in order to have competitive advantage and hence, he adopts some unethical
means which is not acceptable for John.
[John moves to the store room and finds that some ingredients of foodstuff have already passed
their expiry dates, but look like afresh as they are stored in cool place in safe guarded manner
John is suffering from ethical dilemma which is heartwarming his psychological stress. He is
much upset about his future career and the procedures of food-preparation].
John: There are different types of organic and inorganic stuffs whose dates are over for safe use.
Hence they should not be utilized in any sort of preparation of dishes. It might harm the people.
Alice: We know but what to do...We cannot say anything to David as he is the proprietor and
pays us for our duties….Where will we go…if he does not keep us anymore here?
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[John is fronting an ethical predicament which signifies Truth versus Loyalty since John
hesitates to take decisions. He cannot come to any conclusion whether to be loyal towards the
restaurant and ignore the unethical practices or to be truthful to his consciences and morals by
confronting David before the issues becomes exposed to the public. It is correspondingly
individual versus community as he is utterly confused whether he will raise objections against
David or remain detached for the sake of other employees].
John: It does not mean that you have to follow unethical processes of working strategy. In fact
we should make him understand the ill-effects of this immoral and unhealthy system …It is the
matter of humanity and nothing should be done at the cost of social, legal and ethical injustice
caused to mankind.
Alice: We all understand this…but we are helpless. In this contemporary professional culture, a
job is very difficult to acquire…even if you are efficient in work and have career experience.
Moreover, if we go against him, he might not give any certificate of knowledge and
understanding.
John: We should try to make him realize his inaccuracies and attempt to face every sort of
situations boldly and honestly. Business development relies on professional ethics as well. It’s
everyone’s duty to look after this matter. In fact, we must take care of the patterns of preparation
as well. The spectators intend to compare the similar items available in other restaurants.
Michael: It’s our pleasure to do something for the audience who prefer to have lucrative items.
The market would capture the most suitable form of clients for the commercial growth.
John: We must devote our precious time in preparing unique categories of nutritive components
to attract more and more customers…
Michael: We have the reputation of a first class grade in serving our traditional cuisines…Once
the people get accustomed to the type of food we provide, they won’t go to dine in other
cafeterias…and moreover, our unit performs excellent roles in this profession for many years.
John: That is alright…but in this competitive marketplace, we need to be alert in performing our
jobs…people are now a day very health conscious…they prefer palatable dishes which are
beneficial for diet.
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Alice: It’s true. We should be preparing food items carefully so that we can draw more
consumers and accept their feedbacks accordingly. We need to identify the consumer’s
preferences and modify our processes of making the items that fit their purpose. Of course, we
also require identifying our loopholes, if any, and amend them accordingly.
John: It’s our prime duty to follow the decorum of food industry and obey the legal, moral and
environmental laws. [He undergoes the dilemma of Short term versus Long term….if the
problems linger for a short period; the effect might remain for a long duration which might
cause the closing of restaurant]
Michael: There are some persons who do not want to confess their mistakes even if they know
they are doing wrong tings… We are bound to remain quiet and do not shout at their
objectionable behaviors, just to maintain the discipline and peaceful atmosphere.
[The last ethical dilemma John is facing is regarding Justice versus Mercy He is mixed up
whether to challenge David regarding the dishonorable practice and request him to discontinue
the unscrupulous acts and show mercy or let him carry on unprincipled behaviors].
Alice: What is said is known to all …but people sometimes become a puppet at the merciless
hands of destiny. Sometimes, people are persuaded to act in unjustified manner owing to
intimidating pressures from higher authority at their occupational place or due to poor economic
or social conditions. These people commit sins knowingly as they are bound to save the lives of
their family members or other causes.
John: Every person is not alike….we need to acknowledge and follow professional ethics.
Michael: Professional ethics is usually followed by most of the organizations but there are many
functional establishments which try to escape from the legal bindings and deviate from the path
of loyalty.
John: This is not correct. You cannot every time cheat the customers or the company you are
connected to perform your roles. A dishonest act will not every time save you. What is disloyal
has to be accepted and even the culprit himself/herself knows this well. We cannot make
shortcuts to achieve success.
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Michael: You cannot always accuse a person for not following the ethical and social guidelines
of the communal system. Sometimes, miserable or wretched conditions of life…or some
untoward incident compel the human beings to bend from the lawful acts.
Alice: The social and ethical obligations check us from performing unscrupulous
acts….however; we need to adjust ourselves as per the behaviors of people surrounding us.
John: Still we need to be careful about our duties. Hard times do not continuously remain in
anyone’s life. Self-discipline, reliability and promptness in action are essential in fulfilling the
responsibilities of an ideal person.
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