Stacy Ennis eats lunch at a local restaurant two or three times a week. In selecting a restaurant on a typical workday, Stacy uses three criteria. First is to minimize the amount of travel time, which means that close-by restaurants are preferred on this attribute. The next objec tive is to minimize cost, and Stacy can make a judgment of the average lunch cost at most of the restaurants that would be considered. Finally, variety comes into play. On any given day, Stacy would like to go someplace different from where she has been in the past week. Today is Monday, her first day back from a two-week vacation, and Stacy is consid-ering the following six restaurants: Distance (Walking Time) Average Price
Sam's Pizza 10 $3.50
Sy's Sandwiches 9 82.85
Bubba's Italian Barbecue 7 $6.50
Blue China Cafe 2 85.00
The Eating Place 2 47.50
The Excel-Soaring Restaurant 5 89.00
a) If Stacy considers distance, price, and variety to be equally important (given the range of alternatives available), where should she go today for lunch?
b) Given your answer to part a, where should Stacy go on Thursday?