Innocent_smoothies_intermediate.pdf

(439 KB) Pobierz
340769640 UNPDF
Smoothie makers tread familiar path to lucrative deal
Level 2 Intermediate
smoothie – a blended, chilled sweet drink made from fruit,
see http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/things_we_make/
1
Key words
Match the key words from the article with their meanings. The paragraph numbers will help you.
corporation additives lucrative ideal izzy halo niche operator
environmentally-aware investment turnover enlightened meddling
1. Something that brings in a lot of money is __________________. (title)
2. Someone who is __________________ has attitudes that are considered modern and reasonable. (para 1)
3. A __________________ is a circle of light around the head of a holy person. (para 1)
4. An __________________ is your idea about what is good and right that you try to follow in your life and
behaviour. (para 2)
5. A __________________ drink has bubbles of gas in it. (para 2)
6. Someone who is __________________ thinks about the effects of their actions on the world around them.
(para 3)
7. A __________________ is a large company or business organization. (para 5)
8. A __________________ is a business that works in a very specialized market. (para 6)
9. An __________________ is money used in a way that may earn you more money. (para 6)
10. If you are __________________, then you are interfering and not leaving something alone. (para 8)
11. The value of the goods and services that a company sells in a particular period of time is its
__________________. (para 10)
12. __________________ are substances that are put into something in small amounts, especially food, in order to
make it last longer, look more attractive, or improve it in some way. (extra info)
2
Company quiz
Skim-read the article to ind out what these ethically aware companies produce and which global
corporation they belong to.
ethically-aware company
what it produces
sold out to / bought out by ...
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2009
NEWS LESSONS / Smoothie makers tread familiar path to lucrative deal / Intermediate
340769640.018.png 340769640.019.png 340769640.020.png 340769640.021.png
Smoothie makers tread familiar path to lucrative deal
Level 2 Intermediate
Smoothie operators Innocent tread
familiar path to lucrative deal
Like other niche brands, Innocent must convince
customers it hasn’t sold out
Chris Tryhorn and Mark Sweney
7 April, 2009
run the beauty business – sold to the French
cosmetics group L’Oréal in 2006.
6
The reason that these niche operators choose
to sell up, apart from making millions from
businesses they have created from nothing, is
that they need the power of the big companies
if they want to grow further. Innocent is using
Coca-Cola’s investment to increase its sales
in Europe.
1
For a company that tries “to do business in a
more enlightened way” – and even has a halo
in its logo – to go into business with one of the
world’s corporate giants might look like they have
made a deal with the devil.
7
Craig Sams, the founder of the organic chocolate
company Green & Black’s, said his company had
done well since it sold up to Cadbury in 2005.
“Overall it’s worked fantastically well,” said Sams,
who remains in place as president and continues
to offer advice to Green & Black’s owners.
“They have had the resources to really support
the brand and take it to places. It’s all very
well to say if we spent half a million pounds on
marketing we could increase sales by £2m – irst
you have to have the half a million pounds.”
2
The founders of Innocent, the ethically-aware
smoothie business that yesterday sold between
10% and 20% of the company to the US drinks
group Coca-Cola for £30m, are certain that their
ideals will not be crushed as a result of the deal
with a company best known for its less than
healthy izzy drinks.
3
“Every promise that Innocent has made,
about making only natural healthy products,
using better, socially and environmentally
aware ingredients, packaging and production
techniques, giving money to charity and having
a point of view on the world will remain,” co-
founder Richard Reed yesterday. “We’ll just
get to do them even more. The founders will
continue to lead and run the company; we will be
the same people in the same ofices making the
same products in the same way.”
8
Sams advised Coca-Cola not to put its name
over the Innocent product range. Reed said there
was little danger of Coca-Cola meddling with
the Innocent brand. “They absolutely buy into
the brand, the people, the system. It’s a minority
investment in Innocent, which will remain a
standalone company.”
9
Innocent was started ten years ago. The three
founders – Reed and his Cambridge University
friends Adam Balon and Jon Wright – came
up with the idea on a snowboarding holiday in
February 1998 and tried out their smoothies at a
music festival later that year, using £500 of fruit.
4
Innocent joins a long line of companies that have
started small and built a loyal following because
of their values-led approach, who then sell up to
global giants.
10
The company now sells two million smoothies a
week and their turnover is expected to be £105m
to £110m this year.
5
Ice-cream maker Ben & Jerry’s was one of the
irst to sell up to a corporation, when it was
bought for £175m by the consumer goods
group Unilever in 2000. Four years later it
admitted: “We are beginning to look like the rest
of corporate America.” British sandwich chain
Pret A Manger sold a minority stake to the fast
food group McDonald’s in 2001. The Body Shop
– whose founder, Dame Anita Roddick, often
spoke out against the big corporations that
Green & Black’s – Cadbury Schweppes
Set up in 1991 by Craig Sams and his wife
Josephine Fairley, the company produced
organic and Fairtrade chocolate. In 2005 it was
bought out by Cadbury Schweppes.
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2009
NEWS LESSONS / Smoothie makers tread familiar path to lucrative deal / Intermediate
340769640.001.png 340769640.002.png 340769640.003.png
Smoothie makers tread familiar path to lucrative deal
Level 2 Intermediate
Ben & Jerry’s – Unilever
All-natural ice cream company founded in 1978
by Jerry Greenield and Ben Cohen. Bought by
Unilever in 2000.
Pret A Manger – McDonald’s
Pret was founded in 1986. It says it doesn’t use
additives, uses recycled packaging and tries to
buy organic. A third of the company was sold to
McDonald’s in 2001.
The Body Shop – L’Oréal
Founded on an ethical basis by Anita Roddick,
the company was sold to L’Oréal in 2006.
Roddick said at the time: “Having L’Oréal come
in and say ‘we like you, we like your ethics, we
want to be part of you, we want you to teach us
things’ – it’s a gift.”
© Guardian News & Media 2009
First published in The Guardian , 07/04/09
3
Comprehension check
Are these sentences true (T) or false (F) according to the article? Correct any false sentences.
1.
Innocent produces ice cream.
2.
Their logo is an angel with a halo.
3.
Innocent use only natural products and packaging.
4.
The company is a charity.
5.
The company was founded in Cambridge in 2000.
6.
The founders met on a snowboarding holiday.
7.
Their initial investment was in fruit.
8.
Innocent is expected to make millions of pounds in 2009.
4
Language: Prepositions
Write in the correct prepositions and then check your answers by reading back through the article.
to in x2
by
into
of x2 on
with x3
1.
do business _______ an enlightened way
2.
go _______ business _______ a corporate giant
3.
make a deal _______ the devil
4.
give money _______ charity
5.
have a point _______ view _______ the world
6.
it was bought _______ Unilever
7.
increase its sales _______ Europe
8.
little danger _______ Coca-Cola meddling _______ the Innocent brand
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2009
NEWS LESSONS / Smoothie makers tread familiar path to lucrative deal / Intermediate
340769640.004.png 340769640.005.png 340769640.006.png 340769640.007.png
Smoothie makers tread familiar path to lucrative deal
Level 2 Intermediate
5
Discussion
Do you think that it’s ok for eco-friendly companies to sell out to global corporate giants?
6
Webquest
Research one of the companies in task 2. Find out what has happened since they sold stakes to a global
giant. Have there been any changes to their product range, their work ethics, their share prices, etc?
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2009
NEWS LESSONS / Smoothie makers tread familiar path to lucrative deal / Intermediate
340769640.008.png 340769640.009.png 340769640.010.png 340769640.011.png 340769640.012.png
Smoothie makers tread familiar path to lucrative deal
Level 2 Intermediate
KEY
1 Key words
3 Comprehension check
1. lucrative
2. enlightened
3. halo
4. ideal
5. izzy
6. environmentally aware
7. corporation
8. niche operator
9. investment
10. meddling
11. turnover
12. additives
1. F: Innocent produces smoothies (fruit drinks).
2. T
3. T
4. F: The company donates money to charity.
5. F: The company was founded in 1999 at a
music festival.
6. F: The founders met at Cambridge University.
7. T
8. T
4 Language: Prepositions
2 Company quiz
1. do business in an enlightened way
2. go into business with a corporate giant
3. make a deal with the devil
4. give money to charity
5. have a point of view on the world
6. it was bought by Unilever
7. increase its sales in Europe
8. little danger of Coca-Cola meddling with the
Innocent brand
ethically-aware
company
what it
produces
sold out to / bought
out by ...
Innocent
smoothies
Coca-Cola
Ben & Jerry’s
ice cream
Unilever
Pret A Manger
sandwiches
McDonald’s
The Body Shop
cosmetics
L’Oréal
Green & Black’s
chocolate
Cadbury Schweppes
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2009
NEWS LESSONS / Smoothie makers tread familiar path to lucrative deal / Intermediate
340769640.013.png 340769640.014.png 340769640.015.png 340769640.016.png 340769640.017.png

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin