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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 1981)
Page 6 THE BATTALION MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1981 Features Sales good despite beef scandal United Press International DALLAS — Texans have been notorious beef-lovers since the first cowpoke poked his first lon ghorn steer down the Chisholm Trail. Texans like beef singed over mesquite, barbecued exotically or ground into hamburger patties. Yet Texas this summer was the center of a scandal that rocked the international meat industry. Au stralian meat headed for a Dallas fast-food restaurant distribution center was found to contain horsemeat. Later shipments were halted when kangaroo meat was identified. Hamburger sales across the nation took a nosedive. Enjoy the Holidays with Hillel and Rabbi Krauss from Dallas Kol Midre Services 8 p.m. Wed. Oct. 7. Then sing along with “Sharing of Melodies”. Yom Kippur Services 10 a.m. Thurs. Oct. 8. After wards, Break-the-fast meal for student mem bers. Hillel Jewish Student Center 800 Jersey 696-7313 But did Texans shy away from their burger habits? “Not on your life,” said Glen Potter, assistant manager of a north Dallas Burger King re staurant. “As long as there is a beef cow somewhere, Texans will eat beef. Our business has never been better since that kangaroo story broke loose in Australia.” Potter also said local burger business in general has been hop ping. “This place alone increased hamburger sales 8-10 percent.” Federal inspectors said they found all the bad beef before it made it to consumers, but the publicity did its damage. “We at Jack-in-the-Box feel we were unfairly blamed for the scan dal,” said Kurt Gustafson, zone operations manager for Texas Jack-in-the-Box restaurants. “We were the ones who first discovered and reported the bad beef in Dal las. and we never used any. However, our name has been link ed to the business ever since.” Gustafson said sales at the com pany are picking up steadily, de spite an initial dip when the story broke. He declined to give any figures. positive effect on our business,” said Dan Gabriel, assistant mana ger of a west Dallas McDonald’s. “We have 35 people on our staff and they are busier than ever. Maybe the news started people thinking about hamburgers. Who knows?” Even so, he said sales are pick ing up steadily, despite taking an initial dip. He declined to give any figures though. “We’re building back up. After all, in Texas people like beef, probably more than in other parts of the country. We’re very opti mistic we ll be back to normal pretty soon. There’s no question that Texas in particular will con tinue to be a prime market for us. ” Some food businesses even fi gure all the hoopla stoked custom er appetites. “I’d say the bad beef story had a 1 litV’t 1 & ii BATTALION CLASSIFIED PULLS! Call 845-2611 “People keep eating hambur gers, especially Texans, ” said Ran dy Thomas, assistant manager of a southeast Dallas McDonald’s. “Business has been pretty steady.” “Business seems to be running about as it always does,” said Joe Aue, night manager of a Kip’s Big Boy in Dallas. “We sell a lot of hamburgers now. And we sold a lot then.” Aue added that if customers are talking about the bad beef story, he hasn’t heard about it. Wendy’s restaurant owner Har ry Avery said his customers joke with him about horsemeat, but they also continue to order ham burgers. “Our business is doing just fine,” he said. “Were selling 11,000 to 12,000 hamburgers a week. That’s up 8 percent in the past few weeks. The publicity cer tainly didn’t hurt us.” As Jack-in-the-Box’s Gustafson put it: “This is Texas — and when it comes to beef, it’s a forgiving and a forgetting public.” ENGINEERING MAJORS We’re looking for new sources of energy. Morticians mai at cheap burial United Press International SAN ANTONIO — At age 16, James Reveley started pick ing up corpses to put in the back of ambulances and hearses. Eight years later he learned to despise the funeral business that he had hoped to make a career. But Reveley, now a practic ing San Antonio dentist, re mains a licensed Texas morti cian, often to the dismay of other funeral directors. It’s not Reveley s dental practice that concerns tradition al funeral directors, but his fun erals offered at about one-third the cost of a traditional burial. “They’re not crazy about me,” Reveley said. “If the other funeral directors thought I was just telling people about crema tion, they’d feel safe because there’s only a limited market for that. But I’m selling cheap fun erals and that digs into their back pockets.” Reveley, whose funeral homes in Austin and San Anto nio offer a funeral service for about $450, said most custom ers choose funerals which cost about $700. Although Reveley’s funeral home offers a “full-service” fun eral, he says, "If somebody wants a big, fancy open display, with all the flowers, expensive caskets, hearses — we just tell them they might want to go somewhere else. We don’t do Itht f any embalming or makeup. “I’m not trying to badmouth funeral directors, but I’m tell ing people they have an alterna tive.” have a full-scale funeral. Now Reveley ’s funeral hoi are busy, mostly through rals by friends and someai tising. He said he is considei offering his cut-rate hu homes nationwide. Reveley does not believeli traditional funeral industry!; been consumer oriented, esA cially in price disclosure [Ap I, cies and sales techniques Hpve has testified before a HouseKy^ Representatives committeeq^ the Texas Legislature abo! abuses by the funeral indui Reveley’s opponents ha eluded anonymous telepk callers with death threats J the more conventional Tea Funeral Directors Associate The TFDA says ReveleyU testified before the comm™ only to seek free publicityi| himself. Johnnie Rogers, TFDAsd attorney, said, "He (ReveW tries to make everybody belieij we re the bad guys and, then fore, the only place to go (la funeral) is to him. I certaiai don’t question his ability and!>l lent in knowing where togow make hay for his own priviai interest.” Reveley denied he ispronw* ing his business by fighting™® funeral industry. Hesaidhtjlfl consumer oriented in both dental and funeral businesses I "People just don’t want* talk about funerals,” RevelfB I Reveley said he became dis enchanted with traditional fun eral services after working for several funeral homes and seeing funeral directors push expensive caskets and services onto bereaved families. “I drove a lot of limousines to cemeteries and I kept hearing people in the back seat saying, ‘This is terrible. Don’t do this type of thing for me when I die.’” said. "Funeral directon ml personify’ themselves as ‘gnflr r 1 counselors, ’ but they’re raw 1 ® 5 just trying to make a sale, jty"* ' “When you buy a car, youc™ acn kick the tires and start the 0 gine. But just try to intellige:TV 811 1 ly choose a casket.” Reveley has advocated tin the Federal Trade Commissaf °‘ require telephone price disckM^ c sure of funeral services — a m °° £ quirement funeral industryoi cials label as another intrusi her Reveley said his cut-rate fun eral business was slow at first. He said bereaved families were afraid about “what the neigh bors would think” if they did not by government into prival business. B^ ani “As soon as the funeral diiJ; ctors throw out the words, eral intervention, everybody:®^ ^ against it,” Reveley said. “iM" e the FTC wants is funeral dwK e Q ctors to do what any other b® th< dustry would do for their coni f| The MSC Arts Committee cor dially invites you to view an ex hibit of wood graphics by local artist A Un ft rest wssa |toni tl ' s Aqua Waltu Juhree Bassett October 5-0ctober 31 Public reception 5-6 p.m. Tuesday October 6, 1981 in the MSC Gallery. \ r * Intelligent, ambitious college graduates with fresh ap- proaches, who can meet challenges, ac cept responsibility and act boldly. For them, the future is bright with a fast-paced, total- energy company. A future with Transco. Transco Companies Inc. Our business is energy — exploration, production and transportation. We're a young, aggressive company. An engineering trend setter A multibillion dollar New York Stock Exchange listed corporation Transco is growing fast. And you can too. We pay our people to think creatively and turn thoughts into profitable recom mendations. Our training programs are excellent. And as far as advancement, if you've got what it takes, you could find yourself in management be fore you know it. Opportunities to grow quickly, salaries at the top of the industry scale and in novative thinking bring out the best in our team members. For more information on A AUDITIONS ifor local and outdoor PERFORMERS Call 696-9535 Transco, contact your place ment office. Then sign up for an interview when our repre sentative visits your campus, October 26,1981. Transco Companies Inc. For Information or drop by the Basement Cubicle in the Student Programs | Office RO. Box 1396 Houston, Texas 77001 An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/H