Lesson 19 Negotiating a bank loan

BM = Bank Manager  JH = Jack Hopkins

BM: OK, well, I’ve got all the paperwork here for your loan application. Everything seems to be in order. Let’s just have a look at your business plan. Perhaps you could tell me about your ideas?

JH: Yes, of course. We plan to make fruit drinks, from 100 percent fruit – no extra sugar, or additives or “E” numbers. At the moment, we’ve only got a couple of flavors, strawberry and pear, but we want to expand our range to include more flavors.

BM: You say that you’ve got some flavors. Have you already started making and selling your drinks?

JH: Only on a small scale, but they are selling really well and we can’t keep up with demand.

BM: Right, so why exactly do you want a loan? Are you going to expand your range or increase your production?

JH: Well, both we hope.

BM: And how do you plan to sell the drinks? Direct to the public?

JH: No, we’re going to sell through other companies. You know, in cafes, snack bars, at outlets in airports and railway stations. We’ve already had talks with the catering company that runs the ‘Travel Snack’ chain. They’re going to stock our drinks in their main outlets.

BM: And are you going to be able to expand quickly?

JH: I think so, because we’re going to keep everything simple. We plan to use the same basic plastic bottles that we’ve used until now, and we’re going to use fruit that is easily available locally. Our production process is very simple, too.

BM: OK, what about your market? Who do you think is going to be your main market?

JH: So far most of our customers are young people – you know, students, teenagers, people who are interested in drinking something healthy and natural. So we’re going to consolidate that market. I don’t think it’s a good idea to change our strategy at the moment.

BM: What kind of marketing have you done?

JH: A friend of ours has designed a great website for us, and I think we’re going to focus on the internet for the moment.

BM: OK, so let’s look at these figures in more detail…

 

Vocabulary 词汇：

negotiate 谈判；交谈

bank loan 银行贷款

paperwork 文件

loan application 贷款申请

additive 添加剂

strawberry 草莓

expand 扩展

range 系列；范围

flavor 味道

scale 规模

café 咖啡厅

snack bar 小吃店

outlet 店面，门店，专卖店

catering 餐饮

chain 连锁店

consolidate 稳固

strategy 战略

marketing 营销

design 设计

figure 数字；图表