Critical Reasoning

Pans Across America Baking Company sells breads, bread products, and cakes through multiple channels
including cafes, supermarkets, its PAB online division, and its PAB catering division. For the past three years,
PAB catering and online revenues have grown modestly. This result is surprising given a sharp, industry-wide
slowdown in bread consumption due to low-carb diet crazes that have negatively affected total Pans Across
America revenues markedly.

Which of the following resolves the apparent discrepancy presented above?
A. The recent introduction of Wi-fi internet access to Pan Across America cafes has increased both the number of visitors and the duration of their visits.
B. Compared to three years ago, Pans Across America online and catering revenues have increased.
C. Pans Across America is heralded for its partially baked bread products that many large sandwich chains purchase for use in their offerings.
D. Profit margins at both PAB catering and PAB online are much higher than those generated by the company through cafes and supermarkets.
E. Last years' attempt at marketing Pans Across America cafes as a coffee and bread destination on the basis of strong online coffee sales proved profitable.

Please help me solve this paradox question.

Hi april24.

In the question you presented, I don't see any answer choice that clearly somehow resolves the seeming paradox described in the prompt. Also you posted this in the morning, and by late at night nobody has given you any kind of answer or explanation.

I am pretty sure that the reason nobody has answered is that this question is not well constructed. So maybe there is not much one can do to help you answer it, other than telling you that it is not really answerable.

What you need is an answer choice that somehow explains the increase in revenues in the two areas, and there is not one that clearly does that.

Possibly one could narrow the answer choices down and pick one, but it won't really be a great answer. If I had to answer this question, this is what I would do.

A) This seems to indicate that people are spending more time in the cafes. Could it be that while using the wifi in the cafes they purchase PAB products online and order catering services? That's a stretch, and going beyond what can be logically inferred from an answer choice is not a good practice for getting right answers to CR questions, but there may not be any other way to answer this question.

B) This answer choice merely repeats that the revenues have increased without providing any reason for the increase.

C) Are the chains buying online? I doubt that's what this answer choice is getting at, and also the sandwich chains would not be purchasing catering services. So this one is pretty much out.

D) Profit margins do not increase revenues.

E) While there may be some convoluted way this could be connected to greater sales at the online division, I just don't see any way this could explain the increased sales at the catering division.

So if anything, maybe choice A is the OA, or maybe the non explaining choice B is the OA, which B should not be, but really there is no good reason to pick any of them.