Jinnie parked at Maple House and, before locking her new Lexus LM, checked her watch. She was not going to be late; it certainly wouldn’t do being late on the first day of trading of TT SuperBurger. But it was always a bit tight dropping the twins at school and getting to Maple House before the official starting time of nine o’clock. The school didn’t like the pupils spending a lot of time in the playground before class, so when she was on the school run, she always tried to drop them only a few minutes before their 08:45 start time. But that meant sometimes the traffic into Potters Bar could be a problem.
The twins had a wonderful birthday back in June, and all their classmates had come to the party in the garden. Jinnie had asked them what sort of entertainment they wanted, and they had asked for a DJ so they could all dance. And that is just what they got—a marquee with a dance floor and trestle tables for tea. They had their favourite sandwiches, biscuits, and cakes and were spoiled rotten.
The twins had finished Reception with Miss Evans and moved up to Class One with Miss Pillbeam, whom they had a day with before they broke up for the summer. They thought they liked Miss Pillbeam but were a little apprehensive, as they were so familiar with Miss Evans, who, on the last day of term, had told them that she was getting married in the holiday and next term would be Mrs Milgate.
The family and Izzy had flown off to the new house in Barbados for the summer holidays. Jinnie hadn’t been able to get to Barbados to see the new house, as it had been mad sorting out the reverse takeover, on top of all the other things that were happening in the businesses. They had decided to fly Virgin, as Jinnie still wasn’t sure if the BA upgrade system was sorted out yet. Keith had assured Jinnie that the house was ready and that she wouldn’t be able to tell she was not in her Potters Bar garden office when she logged on from her Bridgetown home office. The work Keith had done on the house had been perfect, and he had been right about the internet and the mobile connection; she only had to remember to switch to the local network when away from the house.
The twins had adored their ensuite rooms and had a superb holiday playing on the beach, splashing in the sea, and perfecting their backstroke in the pool. First, Penny and Dan had stayed for a fortnight, then Mr and Mrs Walsh had stayed for the next fortnight, and for the final fortnight, Jinnie had asked Izzy if she would like George to stay with them. She said she would ask him, and the twins had been delighted when she told them he had asked for and been granted leave, so he would join them for the final weeks. The twins rather liked George, and he had proved to be a wonderful swimmer and had helped them improve their swimming.
Jinnie had taken the opportunity to spend a day in Trinidad looking at the businesses there and a day and a night in Antigua looking at the new Aunty JoJo’s/TT Continental (Antigua) and the four new Aunty JoJo’s outlets. She had flown in with Monica, and the inter-island flight had flown over the P&O Arvia, tied up to a pier next to another huge cruise ship, which had Princess in big letters on the side. They had grabbed a cab from the airport, and it was mid-morning when they arrived at the cruise port. As Jinnie and Monica paid off the cab, the music was pounding, and the first bars they saw were busy.
Monica and Jinnie strolled into the Heritage Quay cruise port until they came to Aunty JoJo’s, and Jinnie realised it was absolutely packed. Monica led Jinnie inside and to the manager’s office, where she introduced Jinnie. He explained that this was a standard day—they opened at ten in the morning, and unlike any other Aunty JoJo’s, they not only served fried chicken, but they sold all-day breakfasts, pizza, and, since the merger with SuperBurger had been agreed, burgers and chips, including hundreds of ‘BigUns’ every day. But it was the sheer amount of alcohol they were selling that had surprised her. The manager explained that they were having to get fresh deliveries of beer every day.
Monica led Jinnie to the immigration office at the head of the pier at which Arvia was moored. On the ocean side, a ship’s security officer met them, checked their passports (although he knew Monica), and handed them temporary access cards. At the top of the gangway, their cards were scanned—a process Jinnie was quite familiar with. The security officer handed them over to a catering officer, and they were whizzed up in a lift to the Horizon Buffet to see the ship’s recently fitted artisan sandwich bar. The officer had explained that, being a port day, lunchtime was quiet, but Jinnie was delighted to see there was a queue, which was moving quite fast but not getting any shorter.
After lunch with a ship’s officer in the main dining room, they visited the excursion desk, where the manager said that tonight’s two gourmet dining excursions were completely sold out. Jinnie had discovered that this was not unusual; the ship stayed overnight at Antigua once a fortnight, and the dining excursion was always a sell-out. Jinnie was told that it was the same on all the Carnival company ships and that they could sell more if a way could be found to increase numbers. Jinnie had decided to talk to Brooke—she needed to know the numbers. Were they making a decent profit? If so, was there spare capacity? She knew that some capacity was being reserved for local tourists on the island and residents, but she didn’t know if it was being used.
Jinnie and Monica disembarked about three o’clock and walked back down the pier. There was a steady stream of people heading back to the ships. Back at Aunty JoJo’s, it was less busy, and the manager had explained that the MSC ship was readying to sail and that many of the Arvia passengers would soon be heading back to the ship for a snooze and a shower before the first on-board sitting for dinner at six o’clock. They would close at 16:30, only to reopen at 17:30, transformed into the sophisticated TT Continental Antigua for the evening.
Jinnie watched, spellbound, as the transformation took place. Monica, who had seen it all before, shot off to visit one of the town’s new Aunty JoJo’s. This one didn’t cater directly for the tourist trade but was mainly frequented by islanders and, like most Caribbean branches, normally had a queue of them at the takeaway counter. The cruise sold the Gourmet Dining experience as passengers’ chance to eat at a five-star restaurant, and when it opened, the place looked fabulous, with inside tables in what was now an air-conditioned space or on the delightful terrace, where, as dusk was approaching, a gentle breeze fluttered the candles on every table. A few early diners arrived, several with children, and the evening manager explained these were either wealthy locals or tourists staying on the island.
The first diners from the ship began to arrive shortly before six, and Jinnie was pleased to see that they had tried to dress for the occasion—flip-flops and shorts were not to be seen anywhere. Jinnie and Monica were shown to a table in the islanders’ section and joined the early sitting. Jinnie was pleased to see the service was excellent, and on handing over their excursion ticket, diners from the ship were given the menu and told they could choose any of the starters, mains, or desserts for their meal. The only exceptions were fillet steak or lobster, which attracted a small supplement. The experience included half a bottle of house wine per person and coffee. Jinnie was delighted to see everyone was served an amuse-bouche and a sorbet ‘palate cleanser’ that were not on the menu. Jinnie and Monica had an excellent meal and enjoyed a shared bottle of house Pinot Noir. Jinnie was delighted to see how many people were paying the supplement to have lobster or fillet steak and purchasing drinks to start the meal and liqueurs or brandy with their coffee.
Jinnie had made a point of speaking to several of the diners as they left to stroll back to the ship, and without exception, they said it had been an excellent meal with exceptional service.
By ten past eight, the restaurant was set up for the second sitting, and the manager pointed out that about a quarter of the restaurant was now busy with diners not on the excursion package, adding that during the second sitting they always sold more alcohol, as people liked to have a second or third drink before staggering back to the ship. Jinnie also spoke to some of the tourists staying on the island, and universally they said the hotel they were staying at was wonderful, with beautiful décor, but the restaurants were outrageously expensive. One diner had told Jinnie that eating in their hotel restaurant cost about double the price of dining at the Continental and was half the quality.
She and Monica had stayed the night on Antigua in a four-star hotel, and Jinnie had been inclined to agree with those she spoke to. The hotel was lovely, and the breakfast included in the price was good, but the prices on the dinner menu had been ridiculously expensive. On the flight back to Barbados, the kernel of an idea had been nagging at the back of Jinnie’s mind, but she hadn’t been able to nail it down.
As Jinnie rode the lift to the newly fitted-out floor that TT SuperBurger (Group) Limited had taken above the Trattoria Trevi (Holdings) floor, she continued to reflect on recent events. Her house had been finished while the family was in the Caribbean, and on returning, she had been delighted, as were the twins. The number of Aunty JoJo’s had leapt considerably, with 38 restaurants in Trinidad alone. The worldwide number was pushing 100, and with those under construction in Britain, Jamaica, and Canada, it would easily surpass that number in the next couple of weeks. The TT Ennios Bournemouth was within a few days of being 100% complete; the 40 executive rooms over the extension were open, and it was just the finishing touches on the other 40 over the original hotel that were holding things up.
Jinnie left the lift and used her swipe pass to enter the new offices, and once again, she looked around, loving what Belinda’s team had done. This was what Andrew had told her was an Executive Suite, consisting of offices for all the directors and PAs of the top-level company, together with meeting rooms, a boardroom, and a directors’ dining room, but no kitchen. Lunch, for those who wanted it, was going to be prepared at the Potters Bar dark kitchen, which was only a few hundred yards away, and delivered. The carpet was plush, the furniture modern but all custom-made, and the decorations tasteful.
On the floor below, the Trattoria Trevi (Holdings) offices had undergone a change, and only offices remained for those directors who were not now also on the TT SuperBurger (Group) Ltd board. The released space had been snapped up for a much-enlarged computer room that was needed to handle the expanding business, along with more workspaces for the rapidly growing Trattoria Trevi businesses. Jinnie sat at her desk and logged in as Janet arrived with the coffee. “Do you know what time Alberto is expected?” she asked. Janet replied, “Not really, but as the board meeting is set for 11 o’clock, I’m sure he’ll be in before that.” “Thanks,” said Jinnie. “It’s just that I would like a word before the meeting.” “I’ll tell him if I see him before you do,” Janet replied. In Jinnie’s corporate email inbox, she found an agenda for today’s inaugural board meeting, together with a list of directors and invited attendees. Jinnie looked down the list—she and Alberto had drawn up the list. They really hadn’t had a great deal of difficulty deciding on who they wanted to be on the Group board. Some had been immediately obvious, like Brian as Chief Financial Officer, Belinda as Construction Director, Harriet as HR Director, Clive as Sales Director, and Nigel as Chief Information Officer. One or two others had been a little more difficult to select, but one they had quickly agreed on was Andrew as Design Director.
It had been even harder deciding some of those who should just attend the board meetings but not as main board directors. One both Alberto, the Chairman, and Jinnie, the CEO, agreed on was Brooke, who had been very close to being named Development Director. Both had agreed that they would review that decision in a few months, along with whether Fastfood should be a fifth division.
Brian and Belinda arrived together, having come in Brian’s car—his much-admired Aston Martin. They both waved to Jinnie before heading for their offices. Jinnie walked to Brian’s office, plonked herself down in a visitor chair, and said, “Good morning, Brian. Can I ask you something? Back when I made the company my director loan, you predicted that Trattoria Trevi would be making big profits by now. As my loan has been repaid, am I right in assuming your prediction is correct?”
“Absolutely,” replied Brian. “Of course, when I made that prediction, TT was a standalone company. I am perhaps telling you something my update on the company’s financial position will reveal later. All four of the divisions are trading very profitably. There are one or two spots where we are still investing heavily to grow the businesses, particularly in Jamaica and Canada. In both areas, we are doing just a bit better than breaking even, but in other areas, we are making so much that we can afford it.”
“So, we could afford a new project or two?” asked Jinnie. “Well, I suppose so,” replied Brian. “But it really depends on what you have in mind, which divisions we are talking about, and how much we are looking at spending. Some of the divisions have bigger reserves than others.” “But isn’t the whole point of the merger that we are stronger together?” asked Jinnie. “Surely the idea is that profits flow to the Group and can help to fund projects for the good of the company, rather than just be declared as profits or put into reserves.”“Strictly speaking, you are right,” replied Brian. “But you would have to persuade the board. Personally, I am usually in favour of growth, but it really depends on what you are suggesting, how much it will cost, how long it will take, and how quickly it will be profitable.”
***
Janet stuck her head around Jinnie’s door and said, “He’s in and happy to have a word in his office. Do you want another coffee?” “Yes, please,” replied Jinnie. “I’ll be along in a moment.” Jinnie quickly finished what she was doing and logged off her PC before heading for Alberto’s office. Closing the door behind her, she slipped into a chair and reached out for the mug of coffee that was waiting for her. A smiling Alberto said, “Good morning, Jinnie. I see this is a closed-door meeting.” Jinnie laughed and said, “I want to get your opinion before the meeting. If you are happy, I could raise the topic under AOB.”
“I guess you want to spend some more money,” said Alberto. “Not yet,” said Jinnie. “You know I spent the summer in Barbados.” “How could I not,” replied Alberto, “with your fabulous tan.” “While there, I took a side trip with Monica to Antigua,” said Jinnie. “We wanted to have a look at the Aunty JoJo’s/Continental hybrid. When we arrived mid-morning, it was bedlam in the port area—pumping music from every bar, huge crowds milling around. The Aunty JoJo’s was packed, with two big cruise ships in port. We also had a walk around P&O Arvia—it had about 6,000 passengers on board. Despite there being a load of people ashore, there was a queue for sandwiches. “We talked to the head of the excursions team, and they told us they had sold out for the Gourmet Dining excursion. They could have sold more if they had been available and added that it happened on every trip. We knew it was always sold out—we just didn’t realise how popular it was. “We ate in the TT Continental that night—a fabulous meal—and talked to people both off the ship and local tourists. They all had enjoyed the food, but locals told me the hotel they were staying in was good, but the restaurant was really expensive.”
“I didn’t put it together at the time,” said Jinnie, “but something was nagging at the back of my mind. Anyway, I talked to Brooke to make sure the Antigua operation was profitable and to see if there was any spare capacity. The answer was that we were making a lot of money and hardly had any spare capacity. “It wasn’t until the weekend just gone that it clicked—buy or build a hotel, put in two restaurants—a decent one for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at reasonable prices and a Continental for high-class dining. “How does the idea of The Continental at the TT Ennios Antigua sound?” “I rather like it,” said Alberto. “But what is the connection to excursions?”
“If we get all the locals to dine at the Ennios Continental, we free up capacity at the Continental—probably 40 or 50 covers at two sittings. I haven’t had a look at costs yet, but I wanted to run it past you first.” “Without even a hotel in your sights, it’s hard to know,” said Alberto. “My suggestion is you raise it under AOB in a similar way you have suggested it to me—saying you have an idea, explain it, say you want their opinion, but it’s not been investigated or costed yet, and you will only investigate it if the board agrees. I’ll back you, and I think the board will. If you can come up with either a prospect to buy or a build-to-plan that isn’t outrageously expensive and shows a profit in, say, two years, I’m happy to go with the plan.”
***
Before Alberto called the meeting together, Jinnie glanced around the boardroom table and was happy at the sea of friendly faces—people she knew she could trust to steer the company in the right direction. Alberto tapped on a water glass and said, “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I think you all know each other, and if you don’t, you soon will! I hope you all view this new company in the same way as me. We currently have four profitable divisions, each of which is more than capably managed. My vision is that they get on with that but benefit from being part of one big group. Obviously, we have been unofficially working together for some time now and have all benefited from it. As of today, we are all part of the same group. I see things like being able to work with a single integrated IT system and integrated planning making us even more successful.”
“I would like to think,” continued Alberto, “that this board is a place where we can discuss and swap plans and ideas and ensure we work together for the benefit of all. That the divisions can rely on this board to help with projects and perhaps be a source of help, ideas, and even additional funding. But it is knowing what each other is planning that is where I think we can perhaps benefit most. “The first item on the agenda today is reports from the four operating divisions. This item is a chance to tell the other divisions what you are doing and where you are going. I don’t expect details, just broad brush. The financial director’s report will talk about profit and loss, but if you are going to be looking for additional central funding for a big project, perhaps that should be mentioned here. So, first up is Clive, who is the new CEO of SuperBurger.”
Clive said, “Thank you, Mr Chairman. I would like to say how nice it is to put faces to one or two names I know from reputation. I will try to be brief. As you all know, it is only the foresightedness of Mr Chairman and the old SuperBurger Chairman that we have come together. Firstly, I’d better say that Dame Jinnie and I have been looking for a suitable non-executive chairman to take over from her, and we hope to be able to report an appointment at next month’s Group board meeting, allowing Dame Jinnie to step down from her temporary position and resume her previous role. “I am delighted to be able to tell you that our recovery programme is continuing apace. We now have well over 250 refurbished restaurants, and together with the revised menu, the effect on sales has been remarkable. In fact, for the first time in many years, we are looking at increasing the number of restaurants we operate.”
Clive continued, “Of course, the funding will come from our reserves, but it has been exceedingly useful to be able to know where DKL are planning new kitchens. We are also looking to open branches in Europe. We have been introduced to a contact in Slovenia who has an in with the government. Remarkably, there is only one McDonald’s outlet in the country. Our plan is to open half a dozen outlets as a trial. Interestingly, we will be working with Aunty JoJo’s on this project, and the intention is to look at opening restaurants next door to each other in malls, thus reducing development costs.”
“Thank you,” said Alberto. “Next is going to be a bit different. Jinnie is the MD at DKL and the CEO for Trattoria Trevi, so as Chairman of the division, I will be presenting the report for Trattoria Trevi, but I will ask Brooke Wilson, who is attending the board today as the MD of Trattoria Trevi (Fastfood), to report on that area of the business. “So, starting with the restaurants—this part of the business is doing very well. The original Potters Bar and Turners Hill Trattoria Trevis are booked solid for months in advance. All other Trattoria Trevi restaurants are highly profitable but aren’t booked quite so far in advance. Our 19th Trattoria Trevi, and our third in the Republic of Ireland, is opening in Limerick next week. The DKL leased kitchens continue to do excellent business for both our Italian and English offerings, and we are still one of their anchor tenants for each new complex they open. We also are making a nice profit from our business that operates kitchens for third parties.”
Alberto continued, “Our venture into hotels has gone extremely well, with Southampton operating at around a 95% capacity rate year-round. This is well above the industry average and our break-even percentage. The new Ennios in Bournemouth should be fully open by the weekend when the final 40 executive rooms become available. As it stands, we have a capacity rate of 94%, and we have 100% for the second week of November when the Reform Party Autumn Conference comes to the Bournemouth International Conference Centre. “We have renamed the restaurants at our two hotels ‘Trattoria Trevi at Ennios,’ but they are part of the Ennios division. “Our investment in TT Events has had a wonderful summer, doubling last year’s equivalent turnover with an average of four catered events per week. However, the run-up to Christmas is their busy time, and they normally make about 60% of their annual profit from public and private Christmas parties. Advance bookings point to this Christmas being no exception.”
Brooke then took over and detailed the expansion of Aunty JoJo’s, first in the Caribbean, where it was ‘mature’ in Barbados, Grenada, and St Lucia. In Trinidad, it was still expanding and was expected to open at least six more outlets before Christmas. She explained that the current Caribbean focus was on Jamaica, where they had already opened 12 restaurants in Kingston, Portmore, and Spanish Town. They had secured premises for about 20 more outlets in those three towns, plus Negril, Ocho Rios, Port Antonio, and Montego Bay. There were plans to take dark kitchens as soon as DKL opened in Kingston next month.
Brooke explained how Bearcat Food had taken off in Ottawa far more quickly than they had envisaged. The original plan had been to stabilise the business for a few months after opening the original 14 Aunty JoJo’s outlets, but events had overtaken them, with numerous KFC restaurants applying to become franchises. They now had 28 outlets and were developing two more owned outlets in Ottawa, as well as the first four outlets in Montreal that wanted to become franchises. In the UK, Aunty JoJo’s was expanding quickly and was now looking outside London and the South East, with branches in Bristol, the Midlands, and the North. A recent survey had found that, although it was very popular with Britain’s Caribbean population, the native British population made up the majority of the customers. Brooke told them that, counting all countries, she expected there would be 200 outlets open by the new year.
Brooke then explained how the Artisan Sandwich Bar chain was also growing, but it had been decided to merge new outlets with the Sybaritic restaurant chain, positioning the combined outlet under the Fast Food Division. This had meant that the shared premises costs had immediately increased the bottom line. Brooke said there were now seven of these twin outlets, and they were proving to be highly profitable. She then talked about the trial deal with P&O to supply Artisan sandwiches on board the Britannia, how it had been successful, and that P&O had now opened sandwich bars on both Arvia and Iona and would include further ships as they went in for major or minor refits—the next being Ventura later in the new year.
Brooke then explained how the group had opened its second Continental restaurant, but this one was different in that they had a contract with Carnival Cruises to sell a gourmet dining experience to passengers of cruise ships overnighting in Antigua. So far, it had been a sell-out every evening. However, during the day, the restaurant was an Aunty JoJo’s, and the combination made it highly profitable.
The next to report was Jinnie on DKL. She explained that they had recently added to their Belfast and Londonderry kitchens with a 12-kitchen outlet in Dublin, which had been an immediate success. They had taken the decision to expand into Cork and Limerick as soon as appropriate premises could be found. These would likely be six-kitchen outlets, with the option to expand them to nine or even 12 at a future date. The operation in the Caribbean was thriving. The kitchens in Barbados were now well established, as was the first one in Trinidad, where the second was close to opening, and the third was designed and had planning permission. In Jamaica, there were plans and selected sites for five kitchens—a 12 in Kingston, where construction had started, a six in Spanish Town, a six in Portmore, a six in Montego Bay, and another six in northwest Kingston.
Jinnie said that she wanted to warn the board that the DKL numbers would be down at the next reporting point, as the construction division was no longer part of DKL but was now a standalone division. That divisional report came from Belinda, who said she was delighted to be able to make this first report as a full division of TT SuperBurger (Group) Ltd. She explained that previously, Wright Refurbishment had been a division of Dark Kitchens Ltd. and had been able to grow quickly, as being part of a bigger group allowed them to bid for jobs they had been too small to tender for previously.
Belinda explained that now Wright Refurbishment was part of a much bigger group, she was looking forward to competing for some of the really big jobs in the City of London that had been beyond them. In fact, she had only that morning learned that the company had been added to the refurbishment tenderers’ listing of a Big Four bank. When Belinda said that, for the first time, annual divisional turnover was likely to exceed £150 million, there was a murmur from the other board members. She then went on to say that about £40 million of that was likely to come from the Caribbean subsidiary, and for that reason, they were looking at acquiring the Canadian contractor they had been using to do the Bearcat work. She said that setting up overseas companies tended to be difficult, as there were always local rules and regulations that had to be followed, and she favoured acquiring an established local company that knew their way around them.
Finally, Belinda said that she was looking at setting up a new department that would deal with assistance to companies. She explained that they had started getting enquiries from companies who, for example, wanted to merge two companies into one office space and needed assistance in finding a suitable building, laying it out, decorating it, and moving. She recounted how she had even sought out milk and newspaper deliveries for one client—or, in reverse, downsizing. The first thoughts had been to set up a Workspace Consultancy where they could sell consulting by the hour, but clients generally preferred a straightforward quote.
Alberto thanked everyone who had updated the board on their divisional progress and said that things seemed to be well in hand by the divisional management. Before a report on the company’s financial position, Alberto said they needed to set up several management committees, such as a Risk Committee, an Audit Committee, a Steering Committee, and a Remuneration Committee. Having set the committees up, Alberto called on Brian, the Group’s new Chief Financial Officer, to explain the company’s current financial position.
Brian explained that the overall position was excellent. The loan from SuperBurger PLC to buy out shareholders who didn’t want to take paper had been repaid to the new SuperBurger division, which then transferred the funds back into ‘Group’ reserves, which Brian described as a paper-pushing exercise. Brian continued, saying that all four divisions were trading profitably, all loans had been repaid early, and company reserves were growing much faster than expected. There had been some extraordinary outgoings associated with the merger, mainly to do with the legal work necessary to set up the new company structure, issue new shares, and rebuild the IT infrastructure to bring together the systems operated by DKL, Wright Refurbishment, and Trattoria Trevi. This had proved easy, as they had been designed to communicate and used similar SAP systems.
Brian continued, saying, however, that it had proved more difficult to integrate the existing SuperBurger system, and an ad hoc committee had been formed by the IT directors of the four divisions under the proposed Group Chief Information Officer. The committee agreed that upgrading the SuperBurger computer system to the same level as the rest of the group was necessary, and he had released the funds. The new SuperBurger SAP system was due to go live in under a week and was currently running parallel to the existing system while training was being completed. Brian said that by the following month, he hoped to be able to make some predictions as to profits for the first financial quarter of the company’s merger.
Alberto called for Any Other Business, fully knowing Jinnie was going to speak. As arranged, Jinnie explained her idea for a new hotel and restaurant in Antigua, which would serve three purposes. It would expand the already successful Ennios Hotel chain, it would expand the highly successful Continental Restaurants brand, and it would allow the expansion of the business of offering luxury dining excursions from Carnival Group ships. Jinnie explained that the plan was in the early concept stage, and although the Ennios and Continental brands both fell under Trattoria Trevi, she felt that it was likely to be beyond that division’s financial ability to deliver the project without the Group’s financial assistance.
Jinnie continued, saying that at this stage, what she was really looking for was an agreement by the main board that, if an investigation proved the project viable, they would make funds available; otherwise, it was not worth investigating the project. Brian quickly interjected that, by the time the idea had hardened into a full-blown project, he saw no reason that the group would not have sufficient funds available to make the money available, and that he had already allowed £6 million in the accounts for a possible new restaurant. After a discussion about whether to buy an existing hotel or to build one of their own design, and the cost, the project was given the go-ahead by a show of hands. The main proviso was that a fully costed proposal should be presented to the board before a final decision was taken.
It was a happy Jinnie who returned to her office after the board meeting, where she was joined by Belinda, who asked if Jinnie had scouted out any possibilities for a new Ennios hotel while she had been in Antigua. Jinnie replied, “Not really. We stayed in a nice four-star on Dickerson’s Beach, about ten minutes from the cruise port and a similar distance from the airport. The hotel was lovely—beautiful rooms, some you could swim up to, right on the beach, and a huge pool. It had three restaurants: one which served breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, which was not very cheap; a nicer place for lunch and dinner but quite expensive; and a very expensive place that only opened for dinner. Hardly anyone staying there ate in the really expensive place. That was really what gave me the idea.”
“Interesting,” said Belinda. “Was it for sale?” “I don’t think so,” answered Jinnie, “but most things can be if the price is right. I might just talk to Keith and see if he would like to have a look, and maybe Trevor should go and have a look too.” Belinda said, “Yes, I trust the opinion of those two. You realise that if we do decide to make an offer, we will need to have a get-together to work out how much work is needed and get Brooke talking to Carnival about taking up extra Gourmet Dining Excursion places.”
Behind Belinda, Jinnie saw a fuss in the office and was about to say she wondered what was going on when Brian knocked on the door and walked in. He quickly reported that the news had just broken that full-blown fighting had broken out between Germany and Russia at several points along the ceasefire line, with both sides claiming they were advancing. Jinnie immediately wondered what this would do to their plans—was the UK going to be involved, and were her services once again going to be needed?
Look out for answers to Jinnie’s worries in Book 8 of ‘Jinnie’s Story’
© WorthingGooner 2025
