18.Responding to a customer request

Imagine that you manage a catering business. Two weeks ago, you met with Ellyn Jones to discuss the details of catering a reception for her parents' 50th wedding anniversary. The party is in another week. She indicated that her maximum catering budget for the party is $2,500, and she signed a contract that outlined a price of $25 per person for up to 100 guests. The contract provided for several "finger-food" stations, including a sushi bar, crudits, hot hors d'oeuvres, and a large cake in addition to punch, tea, and coffee. You special order the sushi from an out-of-town supplier to be shipped fresh just in time for the event. The rest of the items are available locally and can be prepared a day in advance. Today, Ellyn emails you with some bad news. Her mother decided most of the relatives won't like sushi and would like to replace that station with a chocolate fountain. In addition, she would like to increase the head count to 120. Your heart sinks when you read the message. With these changes, you will no longer be able to keep the price within Ellyn's budget. Not only will you have to pay a $200 cancellation fee if you cancel the sushi order, but renting the chocolate fountain and buying the chocolate, dipping foods, and skewers will cost $300 more than the sushi it is replacing. In addition, accommodating 20 additional guests will cost $500. These changes bring the cost of catering to $1,000 over Ellyn's budget. How do you respond? Decide what your message will be, which medium you will use, and how you will organize the message. Compose a draft.

1. Read the exercise carefully.
2. Refer to the ACE ModelAceModel.docxDownload AceModel.docxto think of possible solutions to this situation.
3. compose a professional business letter to the customer (see Appendix A for samples of business letters).
4. Refer to the rubric for other grading criteria to represent a creative and business professional document.