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505-555 Level|   Weaken|                              
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Last year a chain of fast-food restaurants, whose menu had always cent 21 Feb 2022, 10:43
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anikageeti
Doesn't option D simply generalize a situation or provide an opinion rather than sticking to the question's passage?
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To correctly answer this question we have to answer the following question:

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

The argument supports the following conclusion:

the chain would be more profitable if it dropped the sandwich.

Now, here's choice (D).

(D) When even one member of a group of diners is a vegetarian or has a preference for low-fat food, the group tends to avoid restaurants that lack vegetarian or low-fat menu options.

The implications of choice (D) are that, if the chain drops the vegetarian sandwich, it may lose the business of entire groups of diners that include a member who is vegetarian or prefers low fat food. Thus, even though the passage say that sales of the sandwich itself are not profitable for the chain, (D) indicates that it is quite possible that the chain would NOT be more profitable if it dropped the sandwich.

So, (D) does just what we need - it weakens the case for the conclusion - and thus (D) is the correct answer to the question.
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Last year a chain of fast-food restaurants, whose menu had always cent 05 Apr 2024, 21:12
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Quote:
Last year a chain of fast-food restaurants, whose menu had always centered on hamburger, added its first vegetarian sandwich, much lower in fat than the chain’s other offerings. Despite heavy marketing, the new sandwich accounts for a very small proportion of the chain’s sales. The sandwich’s sales would have to quadruple to cover the costs associated with including it on the menu. Since such an increase is unlikely, the chain would be more profitable if it dropped the sandwich.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Although many of the chain’s customers have never tried the vegetarian sandwich, in a market research survey most of those who had tried it reported that they were very satisfied with it.

(B) Many of the people who eat at the chain’s restaurants also eat at the restaurants of competing chains and report no strong preference among the competitors.

(C) Among fast-food chains in general, there has been little or no growth in hamburger sales over the past several years as the range of competing offerings at other restaurants has grown.

(D) When even one member of group of diner’s is a vegetarian or has a preference for low-fat food, the group tends to avoid restaurants that lack vegetarian or low-fat menu options.

(E) An attempt by the chain to introduce a lower-fat hamburger failed several years ago, since it attracted few new customers and most of the chain’s regular customers greatly preferred the taste of the regular hamburger.
abhigulia3006
I believe option A also significantly weakens the argument due to the phase "many of the chain's customers". This shows that the reason the sandwich sales are low is due to the fact that many customers have not tried it as yet. By showing that most of the customers who have tried the sandwich are satisfied with it, we are given a reason to be optimistic that sales will improve as more customers try the sandwich and thus make the chain more profitable.
Regarding choice (A), it's easy to read this option and think, "Oh good! This is evidence that sales will improve as more customers try the sandwich!"

But the passage SPECIFICALLY tells us that an increase in sales is unlikely. So we don't care what portion of the customers have tried the sandwich. We can't contradict the given information, so (A) must be eliminated.

As for choice (D), of course it is possible that this scenario only applies to one vegetarian per year. But think about the author's argument:
  • The sandwich’s sales would have to quadruple to cover the costs associated with including it on the menu.
  • Such an increase is unlikely.
  • Therefore, the chain would be more profitable if it dropped the sandwich.
If we are TOLD that sales will probably not increase, why would we want to keep it on the menu? Choice (D) gives us a very good reason to keep it on the menu. Even if sales of the vegetarian sandwich do not increase, simply having it on the menu MIGHT attract groups that would otherwise avoid the restaurant.

The author's argument is based on sales of the sandwich itself. Choice (D) suggests that there are other benefits to having the sandwich on the menu. This certainly does not PROVE that keeping it on the menu will be profitable. However, it certainly weakens the author's argument by suggesting that the author is failing to consider a potential benefit.

Choice (D) suggests that the author's argument is incomplete, so it is the best answer.

I hope that helps!
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Hi GMATNinja

Through the statement - "Choice (D) suggests that there are other benefits to having the sandwich on the menu. This certainly does not PROVE that keeping it on the menu will be profitable.", are we considering the possibility that having sandwiches on the menu might attract customers (for ex: group with one vegetarian member and 9 non-vegetarians) who won't try sandwiches but have other food items like hamburgers? This way, chain restaurants will be able to cover their costs by increasing sales of other food items mainly due to increased footfall (because of vegetarian preference), is this what you meant in the explanation?
 
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Last year a chain of fast-food restaurants, whose menu had always cent 11 Apr 2024, 10:08
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GMATNinja
Regarding choice (A), it's easy to read this option and think, "Oh good! This is evidence that sales will improve as more customers try the sandwich!"

But the passage SPECIFICALLY tells us that an increase in sales is unlikely. So we don't care what portion of the customers have tried the sandwich. We can't contradict the given information, so (A) must be eliminated.

As for choice (D), of course it is possible that this scenario only applies to one vegetarian per year. But think about the author's argument:


  • The sandwich’s sales would have to quadruple to cover the costs associated with including it on the menu.
  • Such an increase is unlikely.
  • Therefore, the chain would be more profitable if it dropped the sandwich.

If we are TOLD that sales will probably not increase, why would we want to keep it on the menu? Choice (D) gives us a very good reason to keep it on the menu. Even if sales of the vegetarian sandwich do not increase, simply having it on the menu MIGHT attract groups that would otherwise avoid the restaurant.

The author's argument is based on sales of the sandwich itself. Choice (D) suggests that there are other benefits to having the sandwich on the menu. This certainly does not PROVE that keeping it on the menu will be profitable. However, it certainly weakens the author's argument by suggesting that the author is failing to consider a potential benefit.

Choice (D) suggests that the author's argument is incomplete, so it is the best answer.

I hope that helps!

Hi GMATNinja

Through the statement - "Choice (D) suggests that there are other benefits to having the sandwich on the menu. This certainly does not PROVE that keeping it on the menu will be profitable.", are we considering the possibility that having sandwiches on the menu might attract customers (for ex: group with one vegetarian member and 9 non-vegetarians) who won't try sandwiches but have other food items like hamburgers? This way, chain restaurants will be able to cover their costs by increasing sales of other food items mainly due to increased footfall (because of vegetarian preference), is this what you meant in the explanation?

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­Yes, that's exactly right! The benefit of keeping the veggie sandwich is that whole groups of people would choose this restaurant to accommodate one vegetarian in their group. The restaurant can then profit off of the rest of the group buying hamburgers and other items.

I hope that helps!­
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Last year a chain of fast-food restaurants, whose menu had always cent 04 May 2024, 05:19
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Is this really a 505-555 level question. ? I think this easily falls into 605 level. Isn't it?
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Last year a chain of fast-food restaurants, whose menu had always cent 04 May 2024, 07:17
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Is this really a 505-555 level question. ? I think this easily falls into 605 level. Isn't it?
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­The difficulty level of a question on the site, after sufficient attempts, is determined automatically based on various parameters collected from users' attempts via timer, such as the percentage of correct answers and the time taken to answer the question. So, this is a 505-555 Level level question based on our statistics.
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Last year a chain of fast-food restaurants, whose menu had always cent 08 Dec 2024, 03:04
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AbdurRakib
Last year a chain of fast-food restaurants, whose menu had always centered on hamburger, added its first vegetarian sandwich, much lower in fat than the chain’s other offerings. Despite heavy marketing, the new sandwich accounts for a very small proportion of the chain’s sales. The sandwich’s sales would have to quadruple to cover the costs associated with including it on the menu. Since such an increase is unlikely, the chain would be more profitable if it dropped the sandwich.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Although many of the chain’s customers have never tried the vegetarian sandwich, in a market research survey most of those who had tried it reported that they were very satisfied with it.

(B) Many of the people who eat at the chain’s restaurants also eat at the restaurants of competing chains and report no strong preference among the competitors.

(C) Among fast-food chains in general, there has been little or no growth in hamburger sales over the past several years as the range of competing offerings at other restaurants has grown.

(D) When even one member of a group of diners is a vegetarian or has a preference for low-fat food, the group tends to avoid restaurants that lack vegetarian or low-fat menu options

(E) An attempt by the chain to introduce a lower-fat hamburger failed several years ago, since it attracted few new customers and most of the chain’s regular customers greatly preferred the taste of the regular hamburger.

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Vegetarian Sandwich

Step 1: Identify the Question

The word weakens in the question stem indicates that this is a Weaken the Argument question.

Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument

Add lo-fat veg sand

Low sales à need 4X to cover costs

Drop veg sand à increase profit

Step 3: Pause and State the Goal

On Weaken questions, the goal is to find a piece of information that would make the conclusion less likely to be valid. In this case, the author claims that it would be more profitable for the company to drop the vegetarian sandwich. What factors that are not discussed in the argument might influence profitability?

Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right

(A) The problem with the vegetarian sandwich is that few customers buy it, resulting in low sales. The opinions of customers who have tried the sandwich do not address the low sales.

(B) Whether consumers also visit competitors’ restaurants does not directly relate to whether the plan in the argument (dropping the vegetarian sandwich) will improve profitability.

(C) Trends in hamburger sales do not directly influence the plan in the argument to drop the vegetarian sandwich.

(D) CORRECT. This answer suggests that the vegetarian sandwich may influence the company’s profit beyond the sales of the sandwich itself. The availability of the vegetarian sandwich may attract groups of customers (with one vegetarian) who buy hamburgers, resulting in additional revenues. If the chain dropped the sandwich, on the other hand, then a group with one vegetarian would likely (according to this choice) not come to this chain at all.

(E) This answer is not directly relevant because it is about another product, not the vegetarian sandwich. If anything, this answer strengthens the argument because it suggests that new products do not increase sales.
­
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Responding to a pm:

Premises:

Last year a chain of fast-food restaurants, whose menu had always centered on hamburger, added its first vegetarian sandwich, much lower in fat than the chain’s other offerings.

Despite heavy marketing, the new sandwich accounts for a very small proportion of the chain’s sales.

The sandwich’s sales would have to quadruple to cover the costs associated with including it on the menu.

Such an increase is unlikely

Conclusion: The chain would be more profitable if it dropped the sandwich.


We need to weaken the argument. We expect the revenue to decrease but cost to decrease a lot more and hence we expect the profit to increase by dropping the veg sandwich.
We need to say why dropping the sandwich may be a bad idea for profitability. Why the revenue may decrease more than expected or cost may not decrease as much as expected by dropping the veg sandwich.


(A) Although many of the chain’s customers have never tried the vegetarian sandwich, in a market research survey most of those who had tried it reported that they were very satisfied with it.

Irrelevant. They are still not buying the veg sandwich enough to cover the costs of keeping it on the menu.

(B) Many of the people who eat at the chain’s restaurants also eat at the restaurants of competing chains and report no strong preference among the competitors.

No impact on our revenue or cost.

(C) Among fast-food chains in general, there has been little or no growth in hamburger sales over the past several years as the range of competing offerings at other restaurants has grown.

No impact on our revenue or cost.

(D) When even one member of a group of diners is a vegetarian or has a preference for low-fat food, the group tends to avoid restaurants that lack vegetarian or low-fat menu options

Correct. This tells us that the veg sandwich may be getting a lot more revenue than what we see on paper. In a group of 10, if 1 person is vegetarian and doesn't have a food option, the whole group of 10 will not visit the restaurant. So removing that veg choice, the restaurant foregoes the revenue of the entire group of 10 (9 of whom will eat high profit non veg items). Hence the revenue loss will be of 10 items, not just the one veg sandwich if veg sandwich option is removed (revenue loss will be far more than anticipated).

(E) An attempt by the chain to introduce a lower-fat hamburger failed several years ago, since it attracted few new customers and most of the chain’s regular customers greatly preferred the taste of the regular hamburger.

The lower-fat hamburger of the past has no bearing on the low fat veg sandwich and figures associated with it today. Ignore. The two situations are not even comparable. And even if we were to assume that they are comparable because both talk about low fat options, note that this will strengthen our conclusion. We are trying to find an option that says that there is value in the veg low fat option. This option says low fat options fail. So again, this is incorrect.

Answer (D)


Some other discussions on weaken questions:
https://youtu.be/55QgRwZmFRo
https://youtu.be/tnFX99OpyYs
https://youtu.be/XCBp62o70Eg
https://youtu.be/Nl9wXcDY-ps
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