A beverage company is contracted to supply a restaurant with 500 liter

Question

A beverage company is contracted to supply a restaurant with 500 liters of sparkling water per week, and any additional purchase costs 1.25 times the regular rate per liter. If the company supplied the restaurant with 660 liters of sparkling water last week, how much did the restaurant pay for sparkling water last week?

(1) The restaurant paid $200 more for the purchases of sparkling water last week, than it did the previous week.
(2) The restaurant paid $200 for purchase beyond the first 500 liters.

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Adit_ · Answer

Statement 1:
Previous week's spending has nothing to do with last week, no relation whatsoever. There is no mention of atleast amount of litres sold previous week.
NOT SUFFICIENT

Statement 2:
Now this actually says 1.25*Rate = 200

Therefore once we find rate we can find the entire total 
SUFFICIENT.

Answer:  B

Dereno · Answer

The rate for the 500 litres of water be $x.

For every additional litre beyond 500 litres, we pay $y per litre.

(660-500) = 160 litres * $y

Moreover, y = 1.25*x

Total amount = $x + 160*$y = $ 201x

We need to find the total amount. ( if we get to know x or y, we can find total amount).

Statement 1:

The restaurant paid $200 more for the purchases of sparkling water last week, than it did the previous week.

Previous week data is not known. Hence,  Insufficient  .

Statement 2:

The restaurant paid $200 for purchase beyond the first 500 liters.

Amount for extra 160 litres, we are paid $200. So we can find y.

Hence,  Sufficient

Option B

Navdeep2000 · Answer

Let C be the cost of sparkling water it costs the restaurant to buy a liter of it.

Accordingly, as per the given, we are asked to find this : 
 500C + (660-500)(1.25C) OR 500C + 160(1.25C)

In simple terms, we just need the value of C to ascertain the overall cost of sparkling water.

(1) The restaurant paid $200 more for the purchases of sparkling water last week, than it did the previous week.
 We don't know how much the restaurant "overall" paid the previous week. So, it's impossible to compare and find C here.  Not sufficient

(2) The restaurant paid $200 for purchase beyond the first 500 liters. 
 It means that 160(1.25C) = 200 
 We can solve for C here and accordingly find the total cost. Hence, Sufficient.  Option B

Edskore · Answer

Good question — and the existing replies get to the right answer (B), but I want to flag the common trap in Statement 1, because it's the kind of thing that trips people up under time pressure.

Setting up the problem first:

Let r = regular rate per liter ($/L).
- First 500L costs: 500r
- Each additional liter costs: 1.25r
- Last week: 500L at rate r + 160L at rate 1.25r = 500r + 200r = 700r total

So the question reduces to: can we find r?

Statement 1: "The restaurant paid $200 more last week than the previous week."

Here's the trap. Many students immediately think: "well, the extra 160L must have cost $200 more than the base contract amount, so 200r = $200, so r = $1." That gives a clean answer — but the reasoning is wrong. Statement 1 compares last week to the previous week, not to the base contract. We have no idea what the previous week's purchase was. If the previous week was also exactly 500L (no extras), then the $200 extra = 200r → r = $1. But the previous week could have been 550L, or 480L, or any other amount — the statement doesn't tell us. Multiple values of r are consistent with Statement 1. Not sufficient.

Statement 2: "The restaurant paid $200 for purchases beyond the first 500 liters."

This directly tells us: 160 × 1.25r = $200 → 200r = $200 → r = $1.

Once we have r, total cost = 700r = 700 × $1 = $700. Solved definitively. Sufficient.

Answer: B

The takeaway on Data Sufficiency tiered-pricing problems: always set up the algebra before evaluating statements. The moment you write "700r," it's obvious you need one thing — the value of r. Statement 1 introduces a second unknown (previous week's total), while Statement 2 gives you a direct equation in one unknown. Any time a DS statement makes a comparison to an unspecified prior period, that's a red flag for insufficiency.

(Kavya | 725 on GMAT Focus Edition)

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Explanation:  
 
Let the regular cost of sparkling water per liter be C.
Cost for the first 500 liters of sparkling water = 500C
Cost per liter for any additional sparkling water beyond the initial 500 liters = 1.25C 
Cost for 660 liters of sparkling water = Cost for the first 500 liters + Cost for 160 additional liters = 500C + (160 x 1.25C) 
  We need to find whether the value of 500C + (160 x 1.25C)     can be determined.  
 
 Statement (1) 
 
The restaurant paid $200 more for the purchases of sparkling water last week, than it did the previous week.
 
Since   no information about the number or the cost of purchases in the previous week is provided  , it is NOT possible to determine with certainty the amount paid by the restaurant for sparkling water last week.   Hence, Statement (1) is insufficient   . 
 
 Statement (2) 
 
160 x 1.25C = 200
 
Since   it is possible to determine the exact value of C,   it is also possible to determine the exact amount paid by the restaurant for sparkling water last week.   Hence, Statement (2) is sufficient   . 
 
  B is the correct answer choice.

A beverage company is contracted to supply a restaurant with 500 liter

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GMAT Data Sufficiency (DS) Questions

A beverage company is contracted to supply a restaurant with 500 liter

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