Jinnie’s Story, Book Seven – Chapter Thirteen

SuperBurger get in touch

WorthingGooner, Going Postal

Jinnie headed round the M25 towards the M23 to Crawley and was listening to the radio. There was a discussion going on about the German/Russian dispute and how it was getting worse. The presenter was saying that this was one war where we wouldn’t need to get involved. But one of the contributors was arguing that if the Russians were to take back the land they had lost to Germany and stop there that was true but what if they tried to grab the likes of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Norway or Finland which had been independent before they were seized by Germany in the 1940s, should we get involved?

The discussion went on, with it turning to should we get involved if the Russians or Germans invaded one of the nations, we had freed like Austria or Slovenia. As Jinnie arrived at DKL in Manor Royal the discussion was still going on, but it made Jinnie wonder if that was why Alan wanted her to ring him. Would she and her sister be required? She tucked it away in the back of her mind and headed into the office.

As always Ro had the coffee ready, and before Jinnie had got her PC booted up Ro had brought her a mug. Ro asked after Willie and was told he was much better and was being looked after by Izzy while his sister was at school. Jinnie told her how he had wanted to go swimming in Sir Nigel’s pool this morning but was disappointed as he was banned from doing anything strenuous for a month. He had marked on the kitchen calendar when he was allowed to go swimming again.

Ro went back to her office and Jinnie settled down to check her emails. She had cleared two when Brian tapped on her office door and walked in. Brian said, “Hello, it good to have you back.” “It’s good to be back,” replied Jinnie. “I hear you have been standing in for me, I hope it’s not been too tough.” “I can’t lie,” said Brian, “it’s been hectic, but Alice has been worth her weight in gold, as has Ro. I popped in to update you on a few things. While you were off we opened two more Dark Kitchens in the U.K. and have found sites for new ones in Newcastle and York. The new kitchen in Belfast is doing fantastic trade and Estates are looking for a second site in the city and one in Londonderry. I can’t remember if the board had agreed to go ahead with Cardiff before you were shot, but it should be the next to open followed by Exeter.”

“Gosh, you have been busy,” said Jinnie. “That’s not all,” continued Brian, “the board decided to go for a kitchen in Dublin, it’s in very early stages still. We have a site and design; Belinda has found a contractor, but we are waiting planning permission. We have hired a specialist consultant to guide us through the Irish planning system as it’s a bit different to ours. We need fire certificates, disabled certificates and all sorts. But I think we are getting there.”

“Why Dublin?” asked Jinnie. “The board was so impressed by the Belfast that they wanted to expand in Ireland,” explained Brian. “Estates looked at big towns and cities and that’s when they came up with Londonderry, Dublin, Cork and Limerick. I pointed out that Dublin, Cork and Limerick were in the Republic of Ireland, so they initially went for Londonderry and a second Belfast site, it is Britain’s 10th biggest city and can easily support two sites. But Dublin metropolitan area at a million and a quarter people could support maybe three or four kitchens and was just too good a prospect for the board to ignore.”

“If I’d been in that board meeting, I think I would have voted in favour of Dublin,” said Jinnie. “Have estates found any more sites in Ireland?” she asked. “As I said there is a second one in Belfast we are working on and one in Londonderry, but they are a long way from being firm. The Dublin site is considered a test by the board, and I don’t think they would back another in the Republic until the first one proves itself,” replied Brian. “That makes sense to me,” said Jinnie.

Brian continued, “We have also followed the Trattoria Trevi example, and gone for a kitchen in Port of Spain, Trinidad.” “That’s what I had planned in my head,” replied Jinnie, “but I was looking at a bigger investment, two kitchens in Port of Spain, three in Chaguanas, it’s very big, two in Fernando and that was just a start.” “The board looked at centres of population and decided that there was lots of potential for more but wanted to initially just dip a toe in the water as we have a lot of other kitchens being built. In addition, we decided to put this one under DKL (Caribbean) Limited management and they wanted to fund it locally.”

“OK,” said Jinnie, “but how are we doing financially, I know I can rely on you to be honest.” “Basically, the books are sound,” replied Brian. “We currently have a lot more coming in than we are committed to spend. The two kitchens in Barbados are flying and the Belinda’s Barbados refurbishment business is so busy Keith has asked to borrow Peter for another year!” “What do Peter and Belinda think?” asked Jinnie. “Peter’s keen, now his divorce is going through, he says he has nothing tying him to the U.K. and he loves the life and weather in Barbados. He is even looking to buy a house. Belinda is not happy, he was her number one site manager, but she won’t stand in his way. Keith has landed several non-DKL jobs on Barbados and is now competing with the biggest refurbishment contractors on the island. He has set up a subsidiary in Trinidad and hired a local crew.”

“With my Trattoria Trevi hat on, as you know, I want to start looking for sites for Auntie JoJo’s outlets in Jamaica next,” said Jinnie, “so I hope DKL will be following. Have you spoken to Estates about looking for kitchen sites there yet?” “No,” answered Brian, “I have been waiting for you to fire the starting gun on the island.” “I’m working from home tomorrow and it’s a Trattoria Trevi day,” added Jinnie. “I had planned to ask Brooke to get out to Kingston with someone from estates and snap up a load of sites for Aunty JoJo’s. There are over 600,000 people in Kingston alone, I reckon we start there with at least 10 outlets, before moving on Montego Bay, Spanish Town and Portmore. I reckon at least three branches in each of them, possibly a lot more. May Pan and Mandeville two each, then there are at least 10 towns with a population over 10,000. That’s well over 30 branches, and I want to roll them out quickly before the opposition realises what we are doing.”

“That’s extremely ambitious,” replied Brian, “have you costed it?” “Not accurately but I have done a guesstimate,” answered Jinnie. “What we have been talking about, based on Barbados costs, 30 outlets at say £100,000 each branch tops, so we are looking at £3 million over maybe a year. But we will be getting income from the first branch after a couple of months. If we can’t stretch the Trattoria Trevi group finances, I will put in £3 million as a director’s loan and not charge interest.” “Are you going to remortgage your house?” asked Brian. “No,” said Jinnie, “I have the money in my account right now, I could transfer it to the company tomorrow if it’s needed.”

***

Jinnie’s head was spinning. Jed had just left her after spending two and a half hours of teaching her about the DKL implementation of the SAP Enterprise System. It was very similar to the Trattoria Trevi system but subtlety different and she had struggled to get her head around it. Ro arrived with a fresh mug of coffee and a prawn salad sandwich for her lunch. Jinnie sighed and said, “Thank you, I really need this.” Ro said, “The postboy has just been in and brought in this letter for you. It was delivered by hand and is marked ‘Private and Confidential. To be opened by Dame Jinnie De Luca only.’ I thought I better bring it straight in to you. The post room say it has been through the X-ray machine and is safe to open.” “We have an X-ray machine?” said Jinnie. “Yes,” replied Ro. “After you were shot, a man who said he was from national security, and who Brian knew, checked out our security and supplied the machine and a sniffer machine which has a tube to insert in letters and packages and analyses the air inside. Jinnie made a mental note to ask Brian what he knew about this.

Jinnie slit open the letter and pulled a single sheet of headed paper from the envelope. As she half expected the letter was from SuperBurger Group PLC. She read,

‘Dear Dame Jinnie,

Following a discussion at Board level, we are delighted to invite you to immediately join our Group Board as a non-executive director. The Board meets fortnightly at 11 o’clock on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month at our head office in St John’s House, High Street, Crawley.

The Minutes of the last meeting will be sent to you as soon as they are prepared. The agenda of the next meeting will normally be made available to you 48 hours before the meeting.

The board looks forward to meeting you at our next board meeting.

Sincerely,

Sir Percival Holland

Chairman.’

Below the signature a scribbled note said, “Please ring me to arrange a chat about how you see this appointment progressing. I am in the office most days between ten and three. Percy.”

Jinnie read the note through a second time trying to decide, whether it was a friendly invitation or not. The main letter was purely formal and told her next to nothing, it was the scribbled note that screamed to her that SuperBurger were worried about her intentions. Jinnie buzzed Ro and said, “Please can you hold my calls and visitors, I have to make an important phone call.” “Right oh,” replied Ro, “I’ll shut your office door, that usually warns people off.”

Jinnie dialled the number on the scribbled note, and it was answered on the second ring by a posh voice saying, “Sir Percival’s office, this is his personal assistant speaking, how may I help you?” Jinnie replied, “This is Dame Jinnie De Luca, Sir Percy dropped me a note asking me to give him a call to come in for a chat.” Jinnie heard the personal assistant take a sharp intake of breath before saying, “I’m sorry, Sir Percival is an extremely busy man, please hold while I check his diary.” Jinnie heard the sounds of a keyboard before the assistant said, “I’m afraid the first appointment I can offer you is at 14:45 three weeks on Friday.”

Jinnie was getting annoyed at the job’s worth and asked, “I take it there will be two board meetings before then.” The assistant replied, “I can’t see the relevance of how many board meetings we have before then.” Jinnie thought ‘Got her’ and replied, “Well, as a newly appointed director of the SuperBurger Group, Sir Percy wanted a chat with me before the next meeting. But if you say he is too busy I will just have to rock up to the next board meeting and explain that you told me he was too busy to meet me.”

“I sorry, Dame Jinnie, I hadn’t seen the appointment,” said the assistant. Recovering quickly, she continued, “Sir Percival regularly makes time available to talk to directors, perhaps I can slip you in sometime sooner. If you hold on, I will check.” After more keyboard noises the assistant said, “I know it’s short notice, but Sir Percival has a slot at 14:30 today, could you possibly make it?” Jinnie chuckled to herself, looked at the office clock and seeing it was 12:45, replied “I think I can, I’m currently in Manor Royal so I reckon I can get there in under 15 minutes.” “Excellent,” said the PA, “I will put your name on a ‘visitor’ parking space. Just tell the receptionist you have an appointment with the chairman, and I’ll come down and escort you to his office.”

Jinnie got up and opened the office door. Ro looked up from her PC and said, “Belinda put her nose round the door, can you spare her 10 minutes? She has just gone to get a sandwich, I promised her a mug of coffee, would you like another?” “I always have time for Belinda, but I must leave here by 14:15, so if I’m tied up, please interrupt. And yes, I’d love a fresh coffee that last one got cold while I was on the phone.”

A couple of minutes later Jinnie had her fresh coffee and Belinda was sat opposite her eating an egg mayonnaise sandwich. Between bites Belinda explained she had to tell someone that she had just shaken hands on the biggest deal Wright Refurbishments had ever landed. Jinnie said “Go on” and Belinda explained that for some months she had been in a competition to win a contract to fit out a new 25-storey building in the city of London. She had originally tendered to the developers for a Cat A fit-out but including the core services on each floor including toilets and lift lobby which would normally be part of the shell and core done by the builder. She had been surprised to get into the final three bidders and had been invited to discussions.

She had taken Andrew and Willow, as well as her electrical and air conditioning contractors, to the meeting and had felt she had got on well with the developer who rather liked Willow’s design scheme for the core toilets and lift lobby. About halfway through the discussion, Belinda was asked if she would like to additionally quote for the common reception area. Having quickly replied ‘Yes’, she asked if they had a specification. The developer’s lead negotiator said they had just rejected the architect’s third offering and were looking for something fresh and were asking the bidders for ideas. From the corner of her eye Belinda had seen Andrew franticly sketching and whispering with Willow.

The client had been trying to get the scope of the three bids in line, as they were all quoting different makes and styles of carpet, paint, and lighting and wanted the contractors to bring their bids in line. Belinda said she had been delighted to see that the developer had gone with almost everything that she had included in her bid, just about the only thing she had a need to change was the floor vinyl in the lift lobbies. As the meeting was ending the developer asked if there was anything Belinda’s team wanted to bring up and Andrew had said yes and showed them the reception area and desk he had been sketching. Willow had pulled some material samples and paint cards from her bag and explained to her and Andrew ideas of a colour scheme. The other side of the table looked at the sketches and whispered amongst themselves. Eventually, the lead negotiator asked what the shop in the corner was.

Andrew had been working on the project from when Wright Refurbishment had pre-qualified to tender, and explained that he had noticed there was no staff canteen in the building and this was an Artisan Sandwiches outlet designed to serve all the companies who took space in the building. Belinda said she had picked up the story and explained that it was a new concept that they had trialled at offices in Potters Bar. The idea was the tills were linked to building’s swipe card entrance system so that companies could allow discounts on their staff’s purchases. The software could allow for any discounts the company negotiated with Artisan Sandwiches and in that way subsidise lunches, or not, as they chose.

Belinda went on explaining that if a company employee got a 25% discount on a snack the company topped up the cost of the snack to the full amount with the shop operator. Different companies could offer their employees whatever discount they chose from nothing to 100% and it worked as an employee perk like a subsidised canteen. The lead negotiator nodded, and they had started whispering again before he said, “Could I ask you to draw this up as a fully costed scheme and submit it to us when you submit the revised bid at the end of next week, once we have been through the revised tenders we will be in touch.

After Belinda had submitted the revised bid, she had worried she would get a ‘thank you but no thank you’ call, but it hadn’t happened. Instead, she had been called to another meeting, this time she was asked to bring someone from finance and from their legal team as the meeting was to discuss programme, financial and contract conditions. Belinda had taken Brian and borrowed someone from DKL legal department who had pre-scanned the proposed contract and advised that it was a bog standard JCT contract just like ones she had signed many times before.

Belinda said they had arrived a little early for the meeting and had been sitting in the developer’s reception area when a large party had come out of the lift and handed their temporary building passes back to reception. Belinda said she recognised one of the party as a director of one of London’s largest refurbishment companies and he didn’t look happy. Shortly after, the small Wright Refurbishment team were shown up to the board room and introduced to a mainly new negotiating team who were all smiles. They were told that the developers were completely happy with her main tender and the reception. If offered the contract, were they willing to sign the JCT contract, were there any clauses they wanted amended and were they happy with the price quoted?

Belinda had looked at her team and they had nodded, so she had said yes to the JCT contract, no to wanting amendments and yes to the price. The team on the other side of the table explained that the other remaining bidder had gone away to amend their bid once again and the final choice would be made in 72 hours. As the party had walked back to Brian’s car, Belinda expressed the thought that they were in pole position as they had been as good as told the tenderers were down to two and the opposition were revising their prices again.

Belinda had received an email yesterday afternoon asking if she could meet the developers again this morning. She asked whom she should bring and the answer was your lawyer and designers. Belinda said they had shaken hands on the contract, and it had been placed in the hands of the lawyers to draw up all the paperwork and an official signing was agreed for ten days and would Jinnie be one of the signatories for DKL. Jinnie said she would be delighted to sign the paperwork, but she had a couple of questions. How much is the contract worth and did she have sufficient manpower?

“I will have to do what I always do,” said Belinda. “Supply the supervisors and bring in temporary staff and subcontractors. Mind you, we have been so busy recently some of our better temporary staff are almost permanent staff, moving from site to site. As for your second question, the Cat A contract is for just over £13 million. The reception and shop is another £762,000 so that’s about £14 million. But it doesn’t stop there, the developers are telling all the leaseholders that as part of the lease they must use Wright Refurbishment for their Cat B fit-outs, that’s offices, meeting rooms, decorations and the likes. The only thing they can supply themselves is furniture, but I’ve already had two Cat B enquiries and they have both included furniture. We are looking at many millions more but until all the floors are let, I can’t answer that.”

“The only problem is, I can’t tell people until we sign the contracts next week.” “Have you thought about a press announcement?” asked Jinnie. “No,” answered Belinda. “I don’t want to Jinx anything.” “I think we should prepare one,” replied Jinnie. “This is good news and confirms you can compete and win against the big boys in the business.” “I suppose that’s true,” said Belinda. “I was just so excited to shake hands on the deal I haven’t been thinking it through. You realise that it is only because I have DKL’s backing that I am now being treated as a serious contender on these big jobs?” “That’s why I think we need to get a press release out, the more people who see your name in the trade magazines the more enquiries you will get.”

“While you are here, can I ask if we are getting anywhere with planning permission for the house?” asked Jinnie. “We are getting nearer,” replied Belinda. “The planning committee has recommended to the full council that it be granted. None of your neighbours objected and the utilities were happy, it’s now down to the full council vote. While we’re talking planning permission, I checked with Barnet Council if we would need planning permission for the North Finchley project. They took ages but eventually decided that we don’t on the grounds that it is not a change of use but I’m not so sure. If we were changing a restaurant to a hot food takeaway we would need permission, but in this case, it is both, so I have applied to be on the safe side.”

“Before I head back to the office, you realise that Miranda was expecting you to accompany her to see the new shop last week when you had to take my godson to hospital. Brian tells me he is much better now so that’s good. But I need to talk to you about Miranda, she is a little bothered. She was worried about losing the shop, apparently someone else was interested, and you weren’t around to look at it. I went along with her to look, and I reckon it’s perfect. I told her to snap it up and I would face you, so she did.” “Well, tell her I’m more than happy to go with her decision,” said Jinnie. “That’s why I hired her. I have an idea, is she in the office now?” “Yes,” replied Belinda, “I have a meeting in Crawley later,” said Jinnie. “What I suggest is I meet her outside the shop at 3:45 and we can have a look together. Are you coming?” “Yes, please,” said Belinda. “We can discuss the fit-out and I’m going back now, so I’ll tell her.

***

Jinnie found her reserved parking slot and walked into SuperBurger reception. She gave her name to the receptionist and took a seat to await the arrival of the PA. Jinnie looked around the reception and decided it was old-fashioned and frumpy. It could do with a bit of Wright Refurbishment magic. As she sat waiting, the lift doors slid open and a woman stepped out. She was also old-fashioned and frumpy and Jinnie suppressed a snigger as she perfectly matched the reception’s decorations. The PA walked over to Jinnie and said, “Good afternoon, I’m Jane, Sir Percival’s PA.” Jinnie shook her hand and followed her to the lift. Jane pressed the lift call button and the doors opened. They stepped in and Jane pressed the button for the top floor. As the lift ascended Jane handed Jinnie a swipe pass on a lanyard and said, “This is your security pass you will need it to access the building for board meetings. You will need to wear it at all times when in the building. Jinnie slipped the lanyard round her neck but noticed that Jane wore hers pinned to the lapel of her tweed business suit.

Sir Percival had a huge corner office and Jinnie’s first thought was it must have been decorated by the same person who did the reception. One side was filled with bookshelves another was dark wood panelling and the remaining two were windows. Sir Percy rose from behind a huge old-fashioned partners desk and extended his hand to Jinnie who shook it. Sir Percy was exactly how Jinnie had envisioned him, a small man, in his seventies with snow-white hair, a checked suit, and a polka dot bow tie. The last person Jinnie had seen wearing a bow tie had been Paolo when he had dressed up for a celebration night on the cruise home from the Caribbean.

“Good afternoon, Sir Percy,” said Jinnie as he gestured to her to take a visitor chair and said, “Coffee please, Jane,” who slipped out of the door in the panelled wall. Sir Percy started the conversation saying he was delighted to finally meet her, and he was surprised that, as the CEO of a company SuperBurger owned 50% of, they had never met. Jinnie explained she had been extremely busy building up the company into an organisation that in the last year had provided nearly half of SuperBurger’s profit and was on track to do even better this year.

The coffee and a plate of chocolate wholemeal biscuits was placed on the desk between then. Jinnie tried the coffee and decided it was only just tolerable. Sir Percy slurped his coffee and asked Jinnie how she had come to hold 15% of his company and Jinnie explained how she had inherited it. As the conversation proceeded it was obvious Sir Percy was probing to see if Jinnie had an agenda. Jinnie decided to give him some things to worry about and asked if their computer system was any more secure now than when they had been setting up DKL. Sir Percy clearly had no idea what she was talking about and Jinnie told the story of how her nomination for IT director was able to hack into the SuperBurger computer network using his iPhone.

Jinnie watched as Sir Percy shuddered and made a note on his pad. Jinnie thought I’ve got his attention now and went on explaining that when she had inherited the shares as it was such a large amount, she wanted to ensure it was safely invested. As the managing director of an associated company, she had decided to investigate just how well SuperBurger was doing and had been disappointed to discover they were hardly expanding the business over the past couple of years, relying on DKL to boost their annual profit. Sir Percy explained that footfall in their shops was down and that despite an advertising campaign, sales had slipped.

Jinnie explained that she felt she could help SuperBurger, having built a number of businesses from scratch, but it had to be from the inside and hence her contacting the business. “My people assure me that we have an excellent product,” said Sir Percy, “and sales will soon recover.” “Can I ask,” continued Jinnie, “the coffee we just had, is it what SuperBurger supply in the restaurants?” “Of course,” answered Sir Percy, “I am proud of our coffee.” “Have you tasted it against the competitor’s offerings?” asked Jinnie. “No,” replied Sir Percy, “I am confident our coffee is as good as any other high street offering and offers value for money.”

Jinnie said, “I suggest that at the next board meeting I arrange a blind tasting of coffee from KFC, McDonald’s, SuperBurger, Wimpy, Burger King, Wendy’s and Artisan Sandwiches. I think you might be surprised who has the best and worst products.”

In Chapter 14 – A visit to Harley Street
 

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