On the train back to Potters Bar Jinnie suggested that Penny, Dan and Irena should come over for dinner that evening then Irena could meet the twins again. As it was Friday the twins weren’t at school tomorrow and they could stay up a bit later than their normal seven o’clock bedtime. Besides, Dan and Paolo were usually home early on a Friday. To ensure they made an effort to get home on time, Jinnie phoned Paolo and told him they had guests for dinner, and she had ordered a Trattoria Trevi delivery for six o’clock. At the same time, Penny rang Dan and told him they were eating at her sisters, that dinner was to be at six o’clock sharp, and he was to meet her there.
It was just after three when their train arrived at Potters Bar, and it was decided they would all head directly to Hadley as the twins would be coming out of school at three and should be home shortly before they arrived. Jinnie stopped at the barrier across her road and George came over to check the car. Leaning in the window he said, “Good afternoon, Ma’am. Izzy and the twins came through about five minutes ago. Oh, and that nice Mrs Wright is up at the house checking on her workmen. I see she’s got another new car.” “Her company leases them George, so she gets a new one at least once a year.” She then explained that her sister and a friend were right behind. As she drove on to the house Jinnie thought, ‘He is rather nice, I quite understand why Izzy likes him. We’ll have to have him over for dinner some time and meet him properly, not when he is in uniform and armed with that semi-automatic rifle.’
On the drive, and parked in the road outside her house, were a gaggle of contractor’s vans and cars, two Wright Refurbishment vans were right outside, and what she guessed was Belinda’s new car, a red Porche 911 Carrera Cabriolet. ‘Nice,’ thought Jinnie, ‘but I couldn’t get Paolo, the twins, Izzy and all our luggage in that driving to the airport.’ Izzy’s C4 was in the garage but the garage doors were all open, so Jinnie drove her Lexus in next to it, leaving the third space for Paolo. As Jinnie got out of her car, Penny drove in and parked on the driveway, calling over to her, “It’s like Piccadilly Circus here.”
Jinnie opened the front door and, as usual, was immediately greeted by Larry. Irena cried, “Oh, you have a cat, isn’t he handsome.” Larry broke off from rubbing himself around Jinnie’s legs and headed over to Irena, who dropped to her knees to say hello. Larry thought, ‘Now here is someone who appreciates a cat,’ and allowed her to stroke him and rub his ears and tickle him under the chin. Larry decided he liked this person.
Jinnie led them into the kitchen where the twins were enjoying their post-school snack, a glass of milk and a slice of Izzy’s homemade chocolate cake. They interrupted scoffing the cake just long enough to say ‘hello’ to their mother and Auntie Penny and to be re-introduced to Irena whom they had met before but had been so young they didn’t remember. They did grump a little when Jinnie told them not to have a second piece of cake as dinner was going to be at six prompt and Auntie Penny and Irena were staying and Uncle Dan was coming.
Jinnie told them dinner was going to be a delivery from Trattoria Trevi and they were always on time. Millie asked what they were having and Jinnie replied, “I’m just going to order; how do you fancy veal Milanese?” Wille answered saying, “I like that, but I want those slices of potato, not spaghetti.” Millie joined in saying, “Yes, fried potatoes, I like spaghetti but not with this.” Jinnie was laughing and Penny said, “Quite the little gourmets you are raising, I don’t think many five-year-olds would be so fussy.” Izzy whispered to Jinnie, “Don’t forget I am out for dinner with George this evening.”
So Jinnie phoned the DKL call centre phone number and ordered minestrone soup for six, one portion would be enough shared between the twins. Five adult and two children’s portions of veal Milanese, with sliced fried potatoes and garden salad and zabaglione for dessert. Izzy said, “That sounds divine, I only hope George is taking me somewhere the food is as good.”
***
Jinnie left Irena and Penny playing with the twins and went to find Belinda. She found her chatting to a man whom Belinda introduced as Barry the site manager for the builders. Looking at the wraparound extension, Jinnie was surprised at how quickly it was growing. Barry explained that now they were out of the ground, the brickwork went up quickly and that his time on site was running out quickly. The downstairs window frames would be going in on Monday and the first-floor window frames were already on site. The stairs were due on site on Wednesday and the timber joists for the first floor were on site.
Barry moved away to talk to a bricklayer and Belinda told Jinnie she was delighted with progress; the builder had just told her they were a week ahead of schedule. Jinnie told Belinda how happy she was that the bricks matched the originals. Belinda pointed out that when the builder had talked about the window frames he was only talking about wooden rectangles to hold the temporary polythene sheets to achieve a ‘dry’ building. The triple-glazed units were on order but wouldn’t be manufactured until the sizes of the finished openings had been confirmed. Jinnie asked why triple-glazed, when the rest of the house was only double-glazed?
Belinda answered saying, “It was to get it through planning quickly. Under the regulations we really only need to install double glazing, but the planning department are known to like green things, so we have built a few in. Like rainwater harvesting with a big tank to supply water to flush the loos in the new extension, and solar panels to charge a big storage battery to help with your electricity bill. It’s underfloor heating in the extension, and so there is so much insulation it’s ridiculous. But it sailed through planning with hardly a comment. In fact, one of the planners we were talking to, said he wished every project was this ‘green’.
“There’s not much more to see here, at least until they have the roof on the first floor and the stairs in and Jason moves his gang in. I reckon about a fortnight, which gives me a little problem. Jason has nearly finished on the nanny flat and I reckon he will be finished by the middle of next week. I wonder if we can knock through from the flat into your upstairs landing and move Izzy in? That way we can move her in and start working on her old en-suite and decorate around the new fire door on your landing.” “We are getting a fire door?” “Yes,” replied Belinda, “as the house is being attached to the garage it is necessary. Not only that but the flat’s stairwell and the floor over the cars are fireproofed, it’s to do with having petrol in the cars below the flat.”
“I don’t think that will be a problem, I suspect Izzy will be delighted to have her own space. She will be able to entertain George whenever she wants.” As they had been talking they had been walking around the house to the new front door to the flat. Jinnie hadn’t seen it yet, only the garage below. The door was open, and the sound of Jason’s radio reached them. Belinda said, “I snagged this earlier, and I’m pleased to see Jason has already been busy working his way through the list.” Jinnie was amazed; the entrance hall was bright and airy and the stairs were painted a tinted white. Belinda said, “The carpet fitters are due on Tuesday, so Jason has a few jobs to finish before then. As you know, the men always finish about four so I want to tell him the plan before he goes home.”
Jinnie followed Belinda up the stairs and onto the little landing at the top. To her left the door to the flat stood open and to the right the 60-minute fire door set leant against the party wall where it was to be inserted. Jason was in what was to be Izzy’s living room, touching up the painted skirting boards. While Belinda talked to Jason, Jinnie looked around and thought this is beautiful, the big windows flooded in the light and there was a bright yellow feature wall. Jinnie asked, “Has Izzy seen this yet?” “No,” answered Belinda, “I asked her if she wanted to come and have a look and she said no, she would wait until it was finished. But we have been talking to her about colours and carpets, even the kitchen units and worktops.”
They moved on to the kitchen, which was much bigger than Jinnie had envisaged. Belinda explained that the pale grey Shaker-style units were top of the range, solid wood with 30mm polished quartz worktops that had a sparkle in them. Belinda continued saying that every drawer and cupboard door were touch open and auto-close. Jinnie tried a couple of cupboard doors and revealed a built-in dishwasher and a built-in washing machine. “Nice,” said Jinnie, “where’s the fridge?” “It will go there,” said Belinda indicating a big space. “It comes on Monday and will be an American-style double door with half fridge and half freezer.” “That’s what Paolo wants in our kitchen,” replied Jinnie.
Walking to the double sink Jinnie asked, “Is this a boiling water tap?” “Yes,” replied Belinda, “but it also delivers ordinary mains water, chilled water, sparkling water and hot water.” “Am I down for one in my new kitchen?” Jinnie asked. “I’ve included for two, one in the main sink with a pull-out flexible hose and one in the sink in the island. And yes we have thought about the twins and boiling water, there is a safety ring that must be pressed down and turned to switch to boiling water.”
Belinda pointed to the breakfast bar and said, “We have three stools coming on Monday together with the living room furniture and a couple of little side tables for the entrance hall and the upstairs landing. Andrew has done the design and been sending renders to Izzy, so she has approved everything. Of course, she only has an ensuite bedroom now so when I costed the project I allowed for all the kitchen and living room furniture.” “I hadn’t realised,” said Jinnie. “I was getting ready to go furniture shopping with Izzy.” “We are going to need some new beds and bedside tables for your new rooms, but we have allowed for built-in wardrobes and dressing tables.”
The next stop was Izzy’s ensuite bedroom and once again Jinnie thought it was beautiful, there were lots of fitted wardrobes with a dressing table, a huge makeup mirror and loads of drawers. Belinda pointed out the wall opposite the windows was papered and said, “That is where the bed will go, there are two double sockets with USB ports either side for Izzy’s bedside tables, lamps and radio alarm clock. There is also a switch for the room light. We have put up a moveable TV mount for her TV and a wall mount for the Sky Q mini box she already has.”
“We have added an aerial for Freeview,” continued Belinda, “and there are outlets next to the arm and in the living room. That reminds me, we have purchased an extra Sky Mini Box for the living room and a big screen TV. The mini box is a one-off purchase and costs nothing monthly as you already have Multiscreen. The electrician has checked things out and the Wi-Fi signal in the flat is excellent and the mini boxes act as boosters anyway.” “Is there anything you haven’t thought about?” asked Jinnie. “I hope not,” answered Belinda “but we are not infallible.”
“We have run the hot water and the central heating off your main house system,” continued Belinda, “so there is no boiler in the flat but there are solar panels like in the main house extension charging the battery storage.” “I don’t see any radiators,” said Jinnie. “That’s because it’s all underfloor heating,” answered Belinda, “but you will see a heated towel rail in the bathroom.” Belinda walked over to what Jinnie thought was a plain stretch of wall, waved her hand over a magic eye and a pocket door slid sideways behind the run of wardrobes.
“That’s neat,” said Jinnie. “It solves a small problem,” replied Belinda. “Whichever way the bathroom door swung or the side it was hinged, it just took up too much space, this just works.” Jinnie stepped into the ensuite and couldn’t help herself exclaiming, “Wow, just wow, this is just fabulous.” The walls were all tiled from floor to ceiling in large white tiles and the floor was black tiles with a gold fleck. The bathroom suite was traditional white and included a bath, close coupled WC, a bidet, a lovely large corner shower unit with sliding doors and a big vanity unit with a moulded ceramic top and semi-recessed bowl. Everywhere the lever taps and fittings were shiny chrome, as was the heated towel rail.
Jinnie said, “Oh Belinda, whoever designed this has excelled themselves, this is so elegant Izzy can’t help but love it.” “Well, I must admit it was a bit of a joint effort. Andrew, Willow and I were a bit bothered the room wasn’t quite big enough and we were going to have to pinch a bit off the bedroom. Then we came up with the pocket door and it all fell into place. There is automatic extraction whenever the light is turned on and Andrew insisted we install a shaver point in case Izzy had a boyfriend stay over.”
Back in the living room, Belinda pointed out the digital wall stat for the underfloor heating and the intercom to the front door. Jinnie said, “I can’t wait for Izzy to see this on Wednesday morning and I’m taking her shopping for curtains and cushions, pots and pans and cutlery. Then we need to fill her freezer, get some extra phones to plug into those landline sockets, and those little side tables in the entranceway will really need some vases of fresh flowers, I’m so excited for her.”
***
The dinner delivery arrived at a minute to six and by the time Jinnie had put the veal and potatoes in the warm oven, and the salad and zabaglione in the fridge, Penny had got the soup into bowls. Carrying it into the dining room Jinnie was surprised to see the twins sat on their booster cushions with soup spoons poised. Chuckling she said, “You two are always hungry.” Millie replied, “That’s because we are growing children,” and Jinnie could just hear her mother saying that.
As always the food was excellent, the veal was on the bone which Paolo said was exactly how his mother would serve it. The potatoes were perfectly fried and just what the twins had requested and the salad fresh and crisp. As they were eating the main course a car hooted outside and Izzy stuck her head around the door and said goodbye. After the dessert Irena said, “Thank you, that was delicious and that was all delivered?” Jinnie smiled and said, “Yes, it is from a business that I run. In fact, it comes from two companies I run, one takes the order, supplies the kitchen and delivers the food, and the other company produces it.” “Wow,” said Irena, “in Ljubljana all I can get delivered are burgers, pizza and fried chicken. Not exactly dinner party food.”
Jinnie tucked that comment away in the back of her mind. One day she wanted to launch DKL on the European market and a test in somewhere like Ljubljana might go under the radar. If she opened in France or Italy it was sure to be under the press microscope. She had never been to Ljubljana and wondered if it was big enough to sustain a six or even a 12-kitchen outlet. Over coffee in the sitting room/ TV room, Jinnie said to Irena, “Please don’t think me rude, but I have been thinking about what you said about takeaways in Slovenia I was wondering how big a city Ljubljana is?” “About 300,000,” Irena replied, “we are not a huge country, only 2,200,000 people.” “That’s interesting, that makes Ljubljana quite big enough to support at least one six-unit dark kitchen. I’ll bear that in mind.”
Jinnie had nearly finished her coffee when her mobile rang. Glancing at the screen she saw it was Brooke and said, “Excuse me I must take this, it’s an important business call from overseas.” As she stepped out into the hall closing the door behind her, Jinnie pressed the talk button on her iPhone and said, “Hi Brooke, what can I do for you?” “Hi Boss, I just had to update you on this morning’s business,” said Brooke. “I guess it’s early evening there but it’s just after lunch here. I’ve had a look at all of Jack’s outlets and they are all modern, well-appointed, and bigger than I expected. It’s a nice chain and all fourteen will make a great base to start an AJ’s chain in Canada. Jack has been looking for possible corporate offices, a big warehouse for a chicken processing plant, and a small transport business we could take over for our chilled transport. While Jack has been showing me around, Brian and Molly have been looking at the finances and at dinner last night he told me he and Molly had agreed a valuation for the business and consequently how much we would need to put into the Joint Venture if they put in the fourteen freehold businesses.”
“Go on,” said Jinnie, “I’m listening.” “Well, this morning Jack and I saw some offices which we thought were perfect,” said Brooke. “They are available on a long lease and it’s a new tower block, we reckon we could take a whole floor and if the business takes off there is plenty of space for expansion. Then we saw several empty warehouses, some were high, I thought more suitable if we wanted to put in a mezzanine for a dark kitchen, but we favoured a lower roof one. I explained my thinking to Jack and Brian, and Brian asked if we had considered a leasing or buying one of the big warehouses and putting in a mezzanine with the chicken processing on the ground floor and offices on the mezzanine.”
“So, we are looking into it as a possibility,” continued Brooke. “The company who Jack and Molly used to do all their shop fitting and their current offices are pricing the options for us. Jack’s current offices are way too small to be a corporate HQ, he employs a few people to do the accounts, the payroll, and purchasing, but there is no real opportunity to expand. Brian and I are sharing the only meeting room. The staff could easily form the core team of our JV offices. Oh, and one odd thing, they are all paid biweekly, that’s 26 times a year so is double the work for the payroll girl. The law here on wages is very different to the U.K. and varies from territory to territory. Most have a minimum of biweekly or half monthly, some allow monthly, but Jack tells me only a minority of Canadians, about 20%, are paid that way.”
“The good news is we have found a small company with just two chilled trucks who are willing to sell to us. They have been contracting to KFC but, like Jack, are not happy with the way they have been treated and have been looking for other options. It’s run by two brothers who also drive the trucks. Brian has negotiated buying them out and then keeping them on as full-time employees and has shaken hands on a deal. Jack’s lawyer is working on setting up Bearcat Foods as a Canadian company. As we intend to grow the company, they have suggested that the company should be a federal corporation. That’s the nearest Canadian equivalent of a private limited company in the U.K. so we should be the Bearcat Food Corporation and register Aunty JoJo’s Chicken Shack as a ‘trading name’.
“You seem to be getting on pretty well,” said Jinnie. “Yes,” replied Brooke, “Jack is anxious to get on with things and that helps. He has been looking at if he can get a supply of chicken pieces independently of KFC and talking to a couple of independent fried chicken shops and they have pointed him to a local supplier they use and who has enough spare capacity to supply his chain. He spoke to them this morning and they are willing to take him on but want a long-term contract. Now that makes our idea of setting up our own supply business problematical.”
Brooke continued, “Brian and I put our heads together and we wondered about buying them. They obviously already have a processing plant with spare capacity. Jack, Brian and I have just come off a conference call with them and we have concluded that we could buy them for substantially less than setting up our own plant. They have a big processing plant with spare capacity, but better, they have room for expansion. They set up to service a contract with Popeyes that fell through at the last minute and have been scrapping a living supplying independents.”
“So, to summarise,” said Brooke, “Brian and I are more than happy to go ahead and set up a joint venture on the 50/50 basis you agreed. We have shaken hands on buying a chilled delivery business from the processing plant to restaurants. We favour the idea of buying the existing processing plant and Brian is working on the deal. It’s back to the leased floor for offices, and the lawyers are busy.” “It sounds like you have been really busy,” replied Jinnie.
“We have,” said Brooke. “We really need board approval before we sign anything or spend any big money. Can you set up a meeting and we can FaceTime in?” “I’ll phone Alberto when we finish talking and ring you back later when we have sorted something out,” said Jinnie. “Is there anything else we need to discuss?” “I don’t have anything else,” replied Brooke, “but Brain wants a word.”
Brian said, “Hi Jinnie, while all this has been going on out here, my deputy, Ben, has been negotiating the two deals in Bournemouth. We have finally managed to get an agreement to buy both. The Belvedere wasn’t too difficult, they took a reduced offer as we suspected they would. We had Belinda’s refurbishment costs; she came in at £1.3 million and so we went in low at £900,000. They turned it down, but after a bit of negotiation we settled for £950,000 which Belinda tells me is good. We are under the budget on this part of the project. It’s now in the hands of Legal.”
“That’s good news,” said Jinnie, “but what about the Supreme?” “More good news,” said Brain. “Roy passed on that they were going to instruct an estate agent to market it at £2,950,000. So, Ben offered them £2,500,000 before it went on the market. At first they said it wasn’t for sale, then they said it might be for £3,500,000 and Ben told them, if that was true, then we would wait until it went on the market officially and take a chance in a public fight unless they gave us a sensible price. But we upped the offer to £2,750,000 for an immediate sale, saving them the 5% agent’s fee. They hummed and hawed and we said we knew they had ‘penny pinched’ on the recent refurbishment and that we, and anyone else, would have to redecorate most of the non-customer facing spaces and the service lift was in desperate need of heavy maintenance. Hence the lower offer which was worth a lot more to them without the agent’s fee.”
“They had one last try at pushing us up,” Brian went on, “but they folded when we pointed out we had just purchased the Belvedere and we’re going to refurbish it as a TT Ennios offering true luxury standards at the same, or lower, price point than them. They are clearly not in the hotel business, only the property development side of it. All of this means we are under budget, but we really need your director’s loan for the short term, until the Supreme is ours and paying its way. Then we can start repaying you.” “No problem,” said Jinnie. “I have warned my bank that I would likely be making a big transfer. Just tell me which account and I’ll transfer the £6,000,000 as soon as we are finished talking.” “I don’t think we will need that much,” replied Brian. “We have saved money on both deals.” “Better take it and have a reserve,” said Jinnie. “You just never know what is going to pop out of the woodwork.” Brian then said, “I’m on a flight home overnight, there’s not much I can do here until the lawyers have sorted out the paperwork and I have things to sort out in the U.K.”
In Chapter 27 – Bearcat Foods Inc.
© WorthingGooner 2024
