Jinnie’s Story – Book Seven, Chapter Sixteen

A new Holiday Home

WorthingGooner, Going Postal

Jinnie tried to ring Paolo on the train on the way back to Hadley from her meeting with Alan, but his mobile kept going to voicemail. The third time it happened, she left a message asking him to ring her as soon as he was free to do so, as she had news. She decided that she would only tell a few people that she was to receive over £700,000 in compensation for being shot. Obviously, she had to tell Paolo, her parents and sister and maybe Izzy, but it was no one else’s business, except maybe her accountant!

As Jinnie drove the couple of miles from the station to home, a couple of thoughts struck her, the fact that the gunman who had shot her was a German agent had meant that she had been injured because of her ties to SIS, if it had turned out to have been a disgruntled business rival she would have got nothing, maybe Trattoria Trevi and DKL needed to insure their senior executives. The other things she wondered about were what would have happened if she hadn’t agreed to be paid a minimum monthly retainer and just what the payout would have been if she had been killed!

As usual, Larry was sitting in the window waiting for her and as if by magic was in the hallway to rub himself around her legs as soon as she opened the front door to the empty house. With Izzy’s new car not on the drive she guessed she was collecting the twins from school. Jinnie bent down and stroked Larry saying, “Well my friend, I bet you never expected to live in luxury with a very wealthy person when you retired from your official duties.” Larry purred loudly and if Jinnie didn’t know better she would have sworn the cat winked at her.

Jinnie had changed out of her smart work clothes into old jeans and a sweater and was making a mug of tea when the twins burst into the kitchen followed closely by a happy-looking Izzy. After demanding a snack, “to get them through to tea”, Millie announced through a mouthful of cracker, “Izzy has a date with George, I knew he fancied her.” Jinnie asked, “Who is George?” And Willie answered, “That policeman on the barrier who always says hello.” “Oh,” replied Jinnie not really knowing one policeman from another, but happy for Izzy who added, “He is really rather nice.”

***

Jinnie had decided to pop to the garden office and check her emails and had hardly logged on to the TT network when her mobile rang. One glance at the screen showed it was Paolo returning her call. Jinnie went through the story of her meeting with Alan, dragging it out with all the details of the food and the refurbished dining room before an exasperated Paolo finally said, “But did they make you a compensation offer?” Jinnie said, “I was just coming to that. I have accepted a fraction over £700,000.” “How much?” exclaimed Paolo. “£706,543.50p,” replied Jinnie “With that in the holiday fund I think we can travel First Class when we go to to Barbados to buy that holiday home.” “Good,” said Paolo, “I enjoy flying First Class.”

Jinnie asked what time Paolo would be home and when he said about six thirty, she said she hoped he wouldn’t mind eating on his own, as she was joining the twins for tea after her big lunch. He said he didn’t mind, and she replied she would do him a steak, chips, onion rings and peas as it was quick.

Jinnie returned to her ‘official’ Trattoria Trevi emails and found one from Patricia saying it was long past the time for a full board meeting of the Caribbean company and suggesting one could be held over the Whitsun break if Jinnie was thinking of flying out to look at properties over the holiday. That got Jinnie thinking, she liked the look of the two houses that she had asked Patricia, Monica and Keith to look at and she would really like to have a look at them herself. The twins would be off school for nearly three weeks, she had plenty of holiday to come and Paolo was owed holiday for the time he had worked while searching for the German agent.

Jinnie phoned the Trattoria Trevi’s travel department and asked them to sort out the break to Barbados for three adults and five-year-old twins. She wanted to fly First Class with BA or Upper Class with Virgin and to stay in a top hotel, but not Sandy Lane which she didn’t think was suitable for the twins. The travel agent asked the names and ages of everyone in the party and the preferred dates of travel and said she would check on availability and ring back within the hour with options. In the meantime, Jinnie rang the other board members to tell them of the proposed board meeting.

First on the list was Brooke who said she would be there and would ask the company’s travel agent to sort out travel and accommodation, but she said she had planned to visit the Caribbean anyway. She had been talking to Patricia and they had agreed to hunt the West Indies together for potential Auntie JoJo’s sites so it would be convenient to combine the visits. Next, it was a toss-up as to whether she should phone Brian or Belinda, either one would suffice as they would tell their partner. Jinnie decided to talk to Belinda as she might be able to update her on the Building Controls permissions and with the new SAP system, she was already up to date with both companies’ finances.

Belinda answered her mobile saying, “Hello, Jinnie, are you after an update on the Building Controls applications?” “Yes and No,” replied Jinnie. “That was the secondary purpose of the call. I am calling a Trattoria Trevi (Barbados) board meeting for the Tuesday following Easter Monday. I intend to combine the meeting with a board meeting of Auntie JoJo’s (Operations) and a house-hunting holiday. Brooke is going to be there and combine it with a hunt around the islands for new sites for Auntie JoJo’s. I just wanted to know if you and Brian are going to join us.” “Now that sounds like fun,” said Belinda. “Whitsun in the Barbados house, and TT can pay part of the airfare.” “So, I can put you two down for a ‘yes’ then?” replied Jinnie.

Belinda then said, “It’s a bit difficult to say how the Building Controls applications are going. We have submitted ‘full plans’ applications for both jobs but the rules are a bit different for the domestic and commercial jobs. Officially we could start work 48 hrs after putting the domestic application in but if they don’t like what we have done, they could make us start again. For commercial we really need to wait for permission to be granted and they say it should take two to three weeks. We are just coming up to two weeks, so I expect permission to be granted any day now.” “Gosh, isn’t it complicated?” said Jinnie. “Yes,” replied Belinda, “but it’s my job, so I have to know all this. Now we intend to start at Tallyho as soon as we get permission, and we could start on your house at the same time. But would you like us to put off the start until you go away at Whitsun, that way Izzy’s flat could be worked on while you are away, and the messy foundation can be done, and I suspect we will be out of the ground when you get back.” “Now that sounds like a plan,” said Jinnie.

The travel agent rang Jinnie back and explained that BA First Class couldn’t offer five seats on Jinnie’s preferred travel dates, explaining that the First Class cabin on the flights to Barbados was only small. But there was plenty of capacity in the much larger Virgin A350 Upper Class. Suddenly remembering the upgrade deal, she asked them to reserve seats in Virgin Business Class. As for a hotel, she suggested the Colony Club, a luxury 98-room hotel about a mile up the coast from Sandy Lane. She had tentatively reserved luxury poolside rooms, but the beach was only yards away. Jinnie looked the hotel up on the internet and said to go ahead and book the two-week holiday.

***

Jinnie was still busy in her garden office when Nigel came through the gate in the garden wall and waved to her before approaching the office. Larry’s sixth sense woke him from his snooze, and he stretched and was ready to greet his old boss when he entered the office by rubbing himself around Nigel’s legs. “Hi,” said Nigel, “I just popped over to say my spies have reported your big insurance payout and considering how badly injured you were I think that maybe the insurance is a bit light. But anyway, have you seen Patricia’s email about a board meeting? Do you intend to travel to Barbados or will hold it in the U.K.? I wouldn’t blame you if you never wanted to travel to Barbados again.”

“Barbados holds no fear for me,” replied Jinnie. “In fact, we are thinking of buying a holiday home out there, possibly on the Sandy Lane estate. But this time I’ll make sure that my travel arrangements and presence on the island is not all over the press. I have agreed with Patricia that the board meeting will be on the Tuesday after Easter. The kids have three weeks off school over Easter, and both Paolo and I can work from the hotel’s business centre if we need to or I can work from Auntie JoJo’s offices and Paolo the Italian Embassy. I intend to mix work with a holiday and perhaps buy that holiday home, there are a couple I want to see.” “Oh,” said Nigel, “does that mean I can have Larry for a couple of weeks?” “Well, yes, if you want him,” replied Jinnie. “Of course, I love having him over,” said Nigel and Larry purred loudly!

Jinnie added, “I better tell you that Belinda’s people should be starting work on the house extension and converting the garage loft into Izzy’s new flat while we are away. So, it might be a good thing if Larry had somewhere else to call home for a couple of weeks. I don’t think he likes being around the digger and machinery, although I think that he likes to get friendly with the workmen and to keep an eye on progress. When this garden office was being built, he used to watch what was going on from the safety of the Wendy House!”

***

Three days later Jinnie was in her office in Maple House when her mobile rang. Glancing at the display it showed ‘Patricia Calling.’ Jinnie said “Hello” and Patricia said, “Hi Jinnie, I just had to call you to let you know two bits of news. Firstly, that the villa you stayed in last summer is about to go on the market. I know you loved the place; it was safe, close to the beach, Anderson’s Fish Restaurant and Belinda’s villa. I have a friend who works for the owner’s lawyers, and she tells me they are going to sell several properties they own and move to a retirement resort near Fort Lauderdale.” “Interesting,” said Jinnie, “how much are they asking for it?”

“Well, it’s not officially on the market yet, but my friend says it will go on sale for offers over US$1.2 million.” “Really,” said Jinnie, “can you do something for me, please? Offer them US$1.35 million in cash for a private sale. No estate agent, point out that will save them 4% or US$54,000 so it makes the offer worth over US$1.4 million if they go through an agent. If they agree I’ll transfer the money immediately to Michael Watson with the instruction to keep it in an escrow account for release the moment the contract is signed.”

“OK, I’ll talk to my friend just as soon as we finish this call. Now my second bit of news, are you still looking for a restaurant to add to the TT Continental to start building a chain?” “Yes,” said Jinnie, “but not in Barbados, as I don’t think there is space in the market.” “What about Antigua?” asked Patricia. “Monica has been over there looking at possible sites for Aunty JoJo’s and an agent offered her a big 300 covers European-style restaurant. It is too big for a chicken shack, but Monica says it is far more suitable as a TT Continental. She says the owner has died and the estate is being liquidated to enable it to be split between the beneficiaries of the will. Apparently, it is quite near the cruise ship terminal, and I hear several of the big cruise lines are going to start overnighting in St John’s very soon.”

“That sounds really interesting,” replied Jinnie. “You know Brooke is flying out to look at potential Aunty JoJo’s sites before the board meeting, do you think you and her could squeeze in a look at this restaurant before the meeting? Maybe take Monica, Trevor and Keith and all have a meal there. If it looks promising maybe Belinda, Brian and I will have a look at it and its finances.”

As Jinnie put her mobile back on its wireless charger, Sir Nigel entered her office looking rather smug, prompting Jinnie to ask what he was so pleased about. “Do you remember that chain of eight fried chicken restaurants on the South Coast we were offered?” he replied. “I have been negotiating with the vendor and I have got the price down to what ‘acquisitions’ says is a bargain. But they also have nine takeaway shops in Brighton, Hove, Shoreham, Worthing and Littlehampton all trading as South Coast Fried Chicken. At first glance, I thought they wouldn’t fit in the Aunty JoJo’s concept as there was nowhere to eat-in, but Brooke had a look and was amazed at the business they were doing. Because they were only small the overheads are low, two are freehold and the rest are leased but cheaply.”

“All nine are making a good profit and have decent managers and staff,” continued Nigel. “Anyhow, Brooke and Belinda reckon the cost of conversion is pretty low, and we can immediately reduce the cost of chicken by about 10% by adding them into our bulk purchasing agreement. There are similar savings to be made on soft drinks, and we could also start selling some of those Caribbean desserts Monica and Brooke have been pushing for. Well, we have been in discussions with the owners, and they started high, and we started low, and we have met in the middle. Brian reckons it’s a good price and if the chain fails, the property has about as much value as we have agreed to pay. Brooke believes we can expand the chain quickly as it’s basically only a single shop unit, unlike the sit-down branches we have been opening in London that are two or three units.”

Nigel added, “Brooke says if you give the go-ahead, we could roll out single-unit branches very quickly, pushing inland from Brighton and east and west along the coast. Single takeaway units come up for sale all the time and we could use them as infill between the bigger branches that are best in town centres and shopping malls while this sort of branch is better on a high street.” Jinnie had been listening carefully to Nigel’s pitch and asked, “Does Brian think it is a good purchase?” “Yes,” answered Nigel. “It’s not a big extra outlay and both he and Brooke are in favour, I have also spoken to Alberto, and he says it’s a Fastfood Division decision, but he is in favour.”

Sir Nigel continued, “Brian says the division is making a decent profit and can afford this purchase without recourse to needing ‘group’ funding. He says we should wait until we have all the chain converted to Aunty JoJo’s and if after a month or two, they are still turning a profit then Brooke can start looking for more outlets.” “OK,” said Jinnie, “I’ll go along with that; you and Brooke can sign off the purchase as divisional directors. Oh, and I expect you to handle the conversion contract with Wright Refurbishment, as you know I’m going to be in the Caribbean and it looks like I could have a lot of business to conduct there.”

***

It was 8 pm and the twins were asleep when Patricia rang back. The first thing she said was, “I hope it’s not too late to call, I have only just finished talking with the owner of what is officially called ‘Hibiscus Villa’. I started with an offer offer of US$1.25 million and he said ‘No’. I pointed out it was an unencumbered cash offer and he still said ‘No’ so I pointed out that he was also saving the 4% estate agents fee and he said it wasn’t quite enough he said how about I up the offer to US$1.45 million, I counted with US$1.3 million he came down to US$1.4 million so I offered the US$1.35 we had talked about reminding him he would need to get over US$1.4 million through an agent to get the same as I had offered and he said OK and we shook hands.”

Patricia continued, “I have an appointment with Michael first thing in the morning. Will you be able to transfer the funds if he rings you about nine o’clock with the escrow account details?” “I take it you mean nine Barbados time?” said Jinnie. “That is 1 pm here so I can pop into Barclay’s in the morning and ensure the transfer goes through. By the way, I will be flying out next Wednesday, so if we can get the deal done quickly, I could be there to sign it off in person.”

Jinnie popped into her bank branch early the following morning and spoke to one of the assistants who were standing around wearing ‘Can I help you?’ tee shirts. Jinnie said, “Good morning, I need to talk to someone about transferring some money to Barbados.” “That’s simple,” the young girl replied, “you simply use the app on your phone, tablet or PC.” “I don’t think it will let me,” explained Jinnie. “The problem is I am buying a property and need to transfer the equivalent of US$1.4 million to my Bajan solicitors escrow account.” “Oh”, replied, the assistant, “I think you need to speak to our head of branch. Can I ask you to take a seat for a moment while I locate him?”

A few minutes later the girl returned with a man who Jinnie thought looked only a few years older than her and said, “This is Mr Mick Dawson, our head of branch.” Dawson held out a hand and said, “I understand you wish to transfer a large sum of money to Barbados.” “Yes, that’s correct,” replied Jinnie, “I have had an offer accepted on a holiday home and I need to transfer the purchase price from my current account to my lawyer’s escrow account in Bridgetown.”

“Well, if you would like to come with me to one of our ‘client’ rooms I’m sure we can sort it out,” said Dawson, before heading to an unoccupied room with a glass door. Seated behind a computer terminal Dawson said, “Firstly I need to ask exactly how much do you wish to transfer and will you be borrowing the money, or will it become from existing funds or a sale in this country?” Jinnie replied, “I think you better check me out before you start asking silly questions,” and handed him her Black Visa card and photo driving license.

Dawson tapped the details into the terminal and did a double take, before saying, “I’m sorry Dame Jinnie, I’m afraid I’m pretty new to the branch and although I was warned we had several very high-wealth customers at the branch you are the first I have met. I see that you have had dealings with our area manager before. Now can I ask you how much you would like to transfer and the details of the account it going to?”

Having seen the balances of Jinnie’s current account and savings account, Dawson was recovering quickly, he called for coffee, and it arrived quickly in a vacuum jug, on a tray with bone China cups, and a plate of biscuits. Dawson quickly sorted the transfer and explained that as the escrow account was also with a branch of Barclays, even if it was their Barbadian subsidiary, the transfer would be made that business day, but he warned that it might be held while Bajan financial regulations were completed. Jinnie thanked him and explained that the lawyers were used to handling large sums being transferred from the U.K. for business purposes.

As Jinnie was leaving the meeting, Dawson said what people always say at the conclusion of such meetings, “If there is anything else I can do for you please don’t hesitate in asking.” After a moment’s thought Jinnie replied, “Well, there is a small thing, I am having building work done on my house in Hadley and I will be making substantial stage payments over the next few months to Wright Refurbishment, I would be delighted if you could ensure the payments go through without question.” “I’ll make a note on your account Dame Jinnie,” said Dawson. Back in her car, Jinnie checked her watch, it was 10:30, 06:30 in Barbados and far too early to ring Michael Watson at Forde, Weekes and Watson, so she headed for Maple House.

***

Jinnie was settled at her desk when Brian knocked, walked in and closed the door saying, “It’s some time since I have been able to have a chat with you, we never seem to be in the same place at the same time.” “That’s true,” answered Jinnie, “but we are going to meet at the Trattoria Trevi (Caribbean) and Aunty JoJo’s (Operations) board meetings next week.” “That’s why I’m pleased to get a chat with you first,” said Brian. “I need to brief you on the financial position of the company.” “Go on,” interjected Jinnie, “is there a problem.” “Well, yes,” answered Brian, “but a good one, they are both sitting on huge cash piles. I have been pondering on what level of dividend I should recommend and whether we need to start splitting TT (Caribbean) into separate companies with it as the group holding company. We already have the TT Continental and Aunty JoJo’s (Operations) set up as subsidiaries.”

“How much cash are we sitting on?” asked Jinnie. “Too much,” replied Brian. “Unless you have plans to start some massive project. TT Continental is raking it in and I understand that bookings are solid for months in advance and it is now ‘the in place’ to eat in Barbados. Aunty JoJo’s (Operations) is already operating as various divisions, Barbados, St Lucia, Trinidad and Grenada. Again, Barbados and St Lucia are highly profitable while Grenada is new but is more than breaking even. Trinidad is more interesting, we have bought loads of sites and they are written down, the dozen or so branches that we have opened are all trading profitably and the first four have paid off their setup costs and are now technically profitable. The next four will be adding to the profits any day now. Effectively Trinidad is paying for itself as TT (Barbados) hasn’t been called on for funds in six months.”

Brian continued, “The kitchens we operate in Barbados have all paid back the investment and are adding to the cash pile. The delivery company is now profitable but only just, Patricia and Brooke want to extend it to Trinidad when the DKL opens in a couple of months, and I agree. But that’s very cheap to set up. Finally, we have the business that runs kitchens for others, it is only small but it was profitable from day one. I know you want to move on to Jamaica and with a lot of outlets like Trinidad. But if it is anything like Trinidad it is going to be quickly profitable. I reckon we can split the cash pile 50/50 between dividends and retained profits. I think that the cash pile is nearly £5 million, so that’s going to please Patricia with her big shareholding.”

“Well, I do have a possible biggish project. Monica has got word of a 300-cover restaurant for sale in Antigua and thinks it could become a second TT Continental. She, Patricia, Trevor and Keith are going to see it before the board meeting when Brooke gets out there tomorrow. I hear it’s close to the cruise terminal and there are several ships that will be overnighting there soon. At the moment I have no idea what the project might cost, but if they report it is a possibility perhaps you, I and Belinda could pop over and take a look when we are out there, maybe even start negotiations.”

***

The following day, Jinnie drove around the M25 to DKL in Crawley. She checked in to the office for a short while and had a coffee with Ro and a discussion about the burger tasting that Ro had been arranging. Everything was set, Ro had sorted out the list of local numbers for the burger outlet and would order the delivery for one o’clock, after the board meeting. Jinnie headed off to DKL and was surprised when the receptionist recognised her and told her half the board were already in and coffee was being served in the boardroom’s anteroom. As the receptionist had said, members of the board were enjoying a coffee and a chat.

The human resources director, who Jinnie had been told was a mouse, came over for a word as Jinnie poured her coffee. The HR director, ‘call me Jennifer’, was anything but a mouse and explained how delighted she was to have another woman on the board as up to now, as the only woman, anything she said had been ignored. Jinnie sipped her coffee and exclaimed, “They listened, now have they changed it in any restaurants?” Jennifer said, “I bloody hope so and I am looking forward to the burger tasting later, and seeing Sir Percy’s face when he try’s the rubbish he thinks is the best. I have been saying for ages that they have been cheapening the product and that is what has caused the drop in sales.”

The board meeting went quiet, and the directors actually listened to Jinnie’s opinions. The finance director reported another small drop in sales but added that in the six restaurants they had test-marketed the new blend of coffee in them had seen a clear uptick in coffee sales. The increase more than covered the added cost, but the board was reluctant to commit the whole chain to the new blend on such a small trial, however, they agreed to expand the trial to 100 outlets. Jennifer whispered to Jinnie, “You’re winning.”

The board discussed closing two outlets that were doing particularly badly and opening three new ones. Jinnie suggested that the business should wait until the results of firstly the coffee trial was complete and secondly the burger tasting for lunch was done. She pointed out that a poorly performing branch needed to be investigated as to why. Was it the manager, the location, had the branch always performed badly or was it something recent, maybe opposition opened close by? Jinnie asked for details of when sales at these two branches had started to fall. The sales director said that sales started falling two years ago and Jennifer pointed out that coincided with the reduction in quality and increase in prices the board had started to push through in the pursuit of increased profitability. Jinnie asked, “Did you generate higher profits?” and after a while the finance director admitted that was the start of the company’s fall in profitability.

The board eventually agreed to hold fire on the closures but to proceed with the new branches. Jinnie suggested that the new branches should open with the new coffee and that two branches threatened with closure should be included in the 100 tests. When Sir Percy closed the meeting, everyone headed back into the anteroom where Ro was making final adjustments to trays laden with the SuperBurger ‘BigUn’, the ‘Big Mac’, Wendy’s ‘Dave’s Single’, Burger King ‘Whopper’ and Wimpy ‘King Size’ and matching piles of fries. Only the source of the burgers and fries was not displayed, only a number from one to five. Ro handed out the plates and voting slips and from the growing piles of part-eaten burgers it quickly became apparent that some of the burgers were proving more popular than others.

Ro collected in the voting slips and announced the results. Unsurprisingly, the Whopper and Dave’s Single were joint top. Wimpy King Size beat Big Mac into third place and SuperBurger’s ‘BigUn’ trailed in last. It was a little better news on the fries where SuperBurgers managed to finish fourth out of the five. Jinnie thought Sir Percy was going to explode, he turned to the CEO and demanded to know how the standards had dropped so low. The CEO turned on the production director who calmly said that the problem was the financial pressure meant they had to buy inferior meat and paid only minimum wage. The finance director said that when he had joined the company 18 months ago sales were already falling, and budgets being cut. Jinnie and Ro just looked at each other and tried not to laugh as they continued to blame each other.

Eventually, Sir Percy called for quiet, and addressing the room said, “It is clear that our sales have been sliding for a long time and in a bid to keep profits up we have been trying to make the product cheaper and that has only hastened the decline. It has taken a new director to show us what is wrong, and as with the example of the coffee, this shows us that sometimes spending a little more on a better product leads to more sales not less. I want you all to think about what you have learnt today. I want reports from all of you at the next board meeting suggesting how we improve the product so that it comes top in a blind taste test, I don’t care if it costs us more if it increases sales. Also, suggestions for new products will be considered, I want to rejuvenate this company.”

In Chapter 17 – Hibiscus Villa
 

© WorthingGooner 2024