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AOTEAROA PURE ICE CREAM In spite of the seasonal nature of our business, the sale of ice cream is generally easy to predict from one quarter to the next. Because of this high predictability, decision making is centralized. The New Zealand home office experiments with and decides on the introduction of any new ice cream flavours. And I, as the US-based regional manager, make decisions, in consultation with our home office, on where to locate new stores or what existing stores should be expanded or closed. Presently we have stores in five areas of California: San Diego, Los Angeles, Monterey, Carmel, and San Francisco. I also decide, again in consultation with home office, on the menu prices. The company is in an expan- sion mode. We presently have 45 stores throughout Australia, Asia, and Europe and are planning on opening five more stores over the next 15 months. One of the stores is planned for Portland Oregon and the other for Seattle Washington. It is a truly exciting time to be part of the company. Ann Cotton, US Regional Manager Ann Cotton was the US-regional manager of Aotearoa Pure. She had worked in this role for the past three years, being instrumental in the opening of Aotearoa Pure's first store, which was the Los Angles store located in Venice Beach. Hector Rodrguez was the Los Angeles store manager. He managed the store with the help of two part-time employees. Each part-time employee worked an average of 20-25 hours per week. Hector described the last three months of operations as "frustrating," stating: This summer has been frustrating. There has been terrible weather as a result of the El Nio that has prevailed since May. An El Nio is a climate pattern defined by warmer-than-average Pacific Ocean water that brings wetter and colder weather to California. Some long-time residents say it was the worst summer that they can remember. Sunny southern California just didn't live up to its reputation. Instead it was cold, rainy, and at times downright nasty at least for southern California standards. Everyone knows ice cream sells best when the weather is sunny and hot. And furthermore, not only ...