BEST IELTS General Reading Test 136

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BEST IELTS General Reading Test 136

GENERAL READING TEST 136 – PASSAGE – 2

GENERAL READING TEST – 136

READING PASSAGE – 2

Starting a family restaurant business: advice for entrepreneurs

Preparation Television chefs may make running a restaurant look easy, but experts advise prospective business owners to prepare a comprehensive business plan before hanging out their sign. Modeling the overall expenses of a restaurant’s first year by asking for quotes from food vendors, electricians, and staffing agencies can help novice owners understand how much is required to make their dream restaurant a reality.

Time Frame

A restaurant owner’s familiarity with the food service industry will often define the turnaround time from idea to execution. Owners who choose to hire a head chef may need longer to research and interview potential candidates or to wait for the chef’s existing contract to finish. The right location may require additional time for a lease to become available, especially in a dining district that is fashionable. Owners should also plan for construction, hiring, design, and testing phases, budgeting to ensure their companies don’t run out of cash flow before servers can start taking orders.

Potential

Business owners without experience in the food service industry often make the mistake of believing their own passion for a particular style of food will translate into a successful new restaurant. In reality, many owners have to wait until they establish enough rapport with their customers to put some unusual specials onto the menu. Small restaurants must work even harder to please diners since they must rely mostly on word of mouth and critics’ reviews instead of expensive marketing campaigns.

Features

Experts often categorize restaurants as either quick service, mid-scale or upscale. When dreaming about their ideal food service business, entrepreneurs often think about mid-scale restaurants. However, quick service restaurants often prove the easiest to start. Quick service no longer means just ‘fast food’, especially with a variety of concepts that minimize launch and training times. Upscale restaurants often prove trickier to get started, requiring more hands-on expertise and enough added value to warrant higher prices.

Benefits

New restaurant owners surveyed for articles appearing in the Boston Globe and the New York Times all cited the desire to ‘work with their hands and see more direct results from their labor than they enjoyed in their previous careers. Small restaurants can benefit from strong word of mouth, especially when they cater for a specific market, like lunch-hour rush or pre-theater dinner. When choosing a concept, prospective restaurant owners should be able to explain why diners will prefer their establishment.

Questions 14-20

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text above for each answer.

Starting a restaurant business

Preparation

Create a (14)……….. .

Use information from suppliers to calculate total annual (15)…………… .

Time Frame

The time needed depends on your familiarity with the industry.

Allow extra time when employing a (16)……………. or when renting premises in a (17)………….. location.

Potential

Don’t offer unusual specials until you have regular customers. This is very important for restaurants which can’t afford to run (18)………….. .

Features

The simplest food service businesses to open are (19)………… restaurants.

Benefits

New restaurant owners enjoy manual work. It’s easy for (20)………….. restaurants which meet a particular need to get customer recommendations.

Read the text below and answer Questions 21 – 26.

Five characteristics of successful jobseekers: What does it take to actually get the job you want?

Crafting the perfect curriculum vitae (CV) is vital, and making the right preparations for the interview goes without saying. And of course, for certain positions, having a particular skill may be a necessity. But apart from that, what will really make a difference? The answer may be simpler than you think. In fact, there might be one key change you can make to dramatically improve your chances of success: master your mindset. Skill set is about what you can do, and mindset is about what you see, think and believe. Used correctly, it can make any one of us stand out from the crowd.

With technology developing at an unprecedented rate, nobody can predict the skills needed to succeed in five or ten years’ time. When we asked over 800 employers, 96% of them chose mindset over skill set as the key element they seek when employing (and retaining) staff.

Based on these findings, here are the top five characteristics of successful job seekers: 5. 72.56% of employers highlighted accountability as an essential characteristic when looking for new employees. The individuals who demonstrate accountability most effectively are those who go beyond the confines of their job description, take responsibility for things that go wrong and/or attempt to make improvements in any way they can.

4. Perhaps unsurprisingly, adaptability was chosen as essential by 75.12% of employers surveyed. Those candidates who can genuinely display the flexibility and ability to rise to any challenge they face, and respond positively to it all, will automatically increase their employability.

3. Whatever industry you’re in, having a sense of trust in others around you is vital for a harmonious workplace. Perhaps that’s why 90.93% of employers chose trustworthiness as their next essential characteristic when hiring.

2. 91.4% of hiring managers think that honesty is the best policy. Although honesty is inevitably linked to accountability and trustworthiness to a certain degree, adopting it as an integral part of your mindset, and being able to practically display it is crucial. It doesn’t have to be too hard-hitting, just a few words to show that you have morals should be more than enough.

1. Finally, according to our research the most important trait for successful jobseekers is commitment. In fact, 92.09% of all employers said that this was absolutely essential for all team members and potential hires. Being dedicated to one’s work undoubtedly has an exceptionally powerful effect. If it’s there, it engenders trust and earns respect. When it’s missing, it’s almost impossible to replicate or attain belief from any level of the business.

Questions 21-26

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.

21. It is obvious that having appropriate skills, producing an excellent ………… and preparing well for the interview is essential for getting a job.

22. A majority of employers said they valued ………… more than skills when they recruit staff.

23. Employees who do more than their ………… specifies are considered to be accountable.

24. Employees who are able to react well to every ………… are demonstrating adaptability.

25. For a friendly atmosphere, it is necessary for colleagues to have ………… in each other.

26. The highest proportion of employers felt that it was essential for their staff to have ………… .

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