Special Order Nature's Garden, a new restaurant situated on a busy highway in Pomona, California, specializes in a chef's salad selling for $7. Daily fixed costs are $1,200, and variable costs are $4 per meal. With a capacity of 800 meals per day, the restaurant serves an average of 750 meals each day. (a.) Determine the current average cost per meal. Round your answer to two decimal places. $Answer (b.) A busload of 30 Girl Scouts stops on its way home from the San Bernardino National Forest. The leader offers to bring them in if the scouts can all be served a meal for a total of $150. The owner refuses, saying he would lose $0.60 per meal if he accepted this

Average cost per meal = Variable cost per meal + Fixed cost allocated to one meal sold = $4 + Total fixed cost/ Number of meals sold per day = $4 + 1,200/750 = $5.60.

b.

Price per one meal as per the leader of the Scout = 150/30 = $5

As the selling price is $0.60 lower than the average cost per meal ($5-$5.60), the owner has come up with the loss of $0.60 per meal served under the Scout leader's suggestion.

However, his calculation is not reasonable, because among the $5.60 cost per meal, there is a factor of allocated fixed cost equals to $1.6 per meal which will incurred regardless of the suggestion being accepted or not.

Given his restaurant does not run at full capacity, his profit per one meal from accepting the offer should be calculated as Price per one meal as per Scout leader offer - Variable cost per one meal = $5 - $4 = $1.

Explanation: