When it recently acquired former rival Holly Farms, Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyon Foods,Inc.became the largest producer and marketer of pre-cooked chicken products in the United States.Before buying Holly Farms,Tyson's chicken production was strained as it attempted to keep up with the demands of its booming food-service business and the public's increasing preference for chicken. However,in addition to gaining Holly Farms' pre-cooked chicken operation,Tyson has also inherited some of the same problems Holly Farms had with this type of product.
Over the last few years,as more health-conscious consumers sought diets lower in calories and cholesterol,the demand for chicken steadily rose. Because of this,and the growing demand for food that could be easily and quickly prepared at home,Holly Farms executives believed that their line of pre-cooked chicken products would be a great success. They did not anticipate the extensive distribution problems they would encounter.They also underestimated the high costs and waste involved with selling prepared foods.
The highest costs associated with pre-cooked chicken are distribution costs.One supermarket analyst refers to the distribution of fresh foods as a distribution “nightmare.”He contendsthat there is no way that fresh food producers can adequately support their products at the retail level.
Perishable prepared foods are expensive to produce(labor costs are tremendous),relatively expensive for the consumers to buy, and subject to spoilage loss.The biggest problem with pre-cooked chicken is its short shelf life.Grocery retailers are accustomed to ordering food products long in advance, warehousing the products, and then placing them on shelves as shelf-space availability dictates.Grocers who did not make proper adjustments when handling Holly Farms products began to lose much of the chicken to spoilage because it was stored too long in warehouses.So even though consumers seemed to like the products,quite a lot of supermarkets began to discontinue carrying them.
Holly Farms was trying to sell a popular consumer item that many supermarkets did not like.Also,since many supermarket chains areexperimenting with their own versions of prepared chicken,some are not anxious to cooperate with Tyson in ironing out the distribution problems.
Tyson will need extensive interaction with retailers in orderfor its pre-cooked chicken line to be successful.Tyson may need to explore more advanced cooking technology that will enable its chicken products to have longer shelf lives.Tyson officials may have to rethink the entire distribution process set up by Holly Farms.
What can be a suitable title of the passage?
A、Tyson Foods'Acquisition of Holly Farms.
B、Distribution of Holly Farms'Pre-cooked Chicken.
C、Holly Farms'Pre-cooked Chicken.
D、The Importance of Distribution in Pre-cooked Chicken.
【正确答案】：B
【名师解析】:题目的主要内容讨论了Tyson Foods在收购Holly Farms之后，面临的问题，特别是与Holly Farms的预煮鸡肉产品相关的分销问题。文章强调了预煮鸡肉的高成本、易腐烂性以及超市分销的挑战。选项B "Distribution of Holly Farms' Pre-cooked Chicken" 直接指向了文本中讨论的核心问题，即Holly Farms预煮鸡肉的分销问题，这是Tyson Foods在收购后需要解决的主要问题。因此，选项B是最适合的标题。其他选项要么过于宽泛（如A和C），要么只强调了分销的重要性而没有明确指出与Holly Farms预煮鸡肉的直接关联（如D）。
