PUPILS WANT A PIZZA THE ACTION

Posted 24 January 2002

PICK THE TOPPINGS, cook the pizza, open a shop and make some money! Running a pizza restaurant might sound simple, but schoolchildren visiting Harper Adams University College next month will discover just how difficult it can be.

Almost 50 students from schools in Newcastle and Stoke-on-Trent will visit Harper Adams, near Newport, Shropshire, to take part in an educational game of Pizza Panic!

In teams of four, students will have to bid for a location upon which to open a pizza restaurant and then run the business successfully for an entire game year. Their decisions on the shop fixtures and fittings, the menu, prices and health and safety will influence the performance of their business after each quarter of the game year.

Harper Adams' lecturer Pam Whitehouse, who will organise and run the Pizza Panic games, said: "After each quarter, the students make certain decisions, which are input to the computer and the computer works out their team's sales and profit.

"Teams will also have to design and make pizza boxes and leaflets and will be awarded extra marks for their creativity, teamwork and time management skills."

Every student that takes part in the Pizza Panic game will receive a gift from Harper Adams and thanks to the generosity of Safeway's Supermarket, prizes of pizza will be available for the winning team.

Pizza Panic takes place at Harper Adams University College on Thursday, February 7, 2002.