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Jinnie couldn’t decide who was the most excited to be flying to Barbados, the twins or Cathy. Of course, the twins had flown there several times before, both on holiday and to pick up a cruise ship. Cathy told Jinnie she had never flown long haul, her only experience of flying before had been a holiday in the Algarve with her mum and dad the year after the ‘War of Liberation’ when she was still at school. The twins delighted in telling Cathy what was happening and what was going to happen. As usual, they had been upgraded to Virgin Upper Class and Jinnie had explained not to expect this level of service on the return flight, as it was very doubtful she would be upgraded from the Premium Class ticket booked for her.
As usual, the twins roared with delight as the plane banked over Bridgetown Harbour and they spotted two cruise ships tied up alongside. They told Cathy how they had twice boarded Britannia there for Christmas cruises. Next Christmas they were on a different ship, called Arvia, and Mummy said it was much bigger and had all sorts of new things to do and see on board. They could even have their Christmas dinner in an American diner with Wallace and Gromit. Jinnie sat with Paolo, chuckling at the twins’ stories. Paolo whispered, “Just listen to those two, seven going on twenty-seven. They are growing up so fast.”
The plane taxied to a halt, as usual, in front of the departure terminal and the family were held a few minutes until buses arrived to transport the passengers the short distance to Arrivals. As Upper-Class passengers, they were first off the plane and quickly through immigration and were pleased to find the Upper Class luggage was already on the baggage carousel. Paolo dragged their first bag off and told the twins to stand guard over it while he found more bags and Mummy and Cathy got baggage trolleys. It didn’t take long for it all to arrive and they were off through customs and out into the warm Caribbean air.
Paolo went off to collect the hire car and Jinnie asked the twins if they wanted ice lollies while they waited and, of course, they chorused, “Yes.” Jinnie left the twins with Cathy and came back with four orange lollies just before Paolo arrived back with the hire car. This summer it was a Toyota Sienna seven-seater, as the Noah of last year was no longer being made. The luggage was loaded in the back, everyone piled in and they were off to the Hibiscus Villa.
Forty minutes later, Paolo pointed his remote at the gate reader and smiled with satisfaction as the gates swung open. As they drove up the drive to the turning circle, Jinnie said, “The house is looking good in the sunshine.” Cathy said, “It’s not good, it’s magnificent, and the garden is superb. The grass is super, and I can see why it’s called Hibiscus Villa, they are beautiful.” “Of course, you have never seen it before,” replied Jinnie. “It was redesigned for us, and I love it. The twins have their own rooms and so does Izzy, but there is another spare room for you that the children will show you. There is also a new little cottage in the garden, with its own kitchen and living room. We haven’t seen it yet, as it has only just been finished.”
Jinnie opened the front door and was delighted to see a huge display of fresh flowers in the hall. The couple who looked after the house had obviously been busy, as the house was spotless and there was a nice floral smell everywhere. Jinnie opened the fridge and found milk, bread, butter, eggs, sausages, bacon, beer, wine and cola. She called to the twins, “It’s either egg, bacon and sausages for dinner or we go to Anderson’s.” “Anderson’s,” came the reply, much to Jinnie’s satisfaction. She had pre-booked a table for five over the internet before leaving England, knowing full well she wouldn’t want to cook after a long flight.
***
The party were shown to a table and handed menus. Paolo looked around and said, “Anderson has been busy again, this place gets bigger and better every time we come.” From behind him, Anderson said, “I’m pleased you approve. I have made this my flagship restaurant.” “It’s fabulous,” said Jinnie. “I remember when it was a simple beach restaurant, now it is magnificent and very busy.” Anderson grinned from ear to ear and replied, “I now have four restaurants and four dark kitchens and it’s all thanks to you. I am building number five restaurant and a dark kitchen in Jamaica at the moment and it’s all thanks to you.”
“That’s not really true,” said Jinnie. “It’s all down to the product. If the fish wasn’t good, the people wouldn’t be buying it.” Anderson asked, “But where is Miss Izzy? I see you have a new nanny.” Millie jumped in and replied, “This is Cathy, she is our temporary nanny while Izzy is on her honeymoon.” “Her honeymoon, really?” said Anderson. “Yes,” said Willie, “she married George, who is a policeman, and they are on a cruise.” “So, I won’t be seeing her this summer?” said Anderson. “Oh yes you will,” said Willie. “She will be here in three weeks and Cathy will be going home.”
The maître d’ appeared at Anderson’s shoulder and asked, “Are you ready to order?” Millie said, “Mummy, can we have ‘Coconut Shrimp’ to start, it’s the best.” “I think so,” said Jinnie. “I’d like to start with that.” “And me,” added Paolo. “I have never tried it,” said Cathy, “but as you all recommend it, perhaps now is the time to do so.” “It’s absolutely lush,” said Willie, who couldn’t understand why the adults were all laughing.
The twins ordered their Anderson’s favourite, fish fingers made with fresh flying fish. Paolo ordered a swordfish steak, Jinnie a whole red snapper and Cathy, who had no idea what any of the Caribbean fish was like, ordered mahi mahi, which Anderson advised her was a dense white fish not unlike haddock. The sharing platter of shrimp arrived and everyone dived in. Cathy soon said, “Gosh, this is good. I can see why you two wanted to start with it.” Anderson, who was flitting around the terrace talking to customers, arrived back at the table and asked, “Is the shrimp up to standard?” Willie answered, “It is great,” and everyone else nodded in agreement. Anderson then said, “When I saw your name on the guest list for tonight, I told my chef to make sure he had bananas for banana splits, as it would be a certainty that the twins wanted it for dessert.” “Oh yes please,” said Millie.
As they walked back to the villa, Cathy said, “That was the best fish restaurant I have ever been to. Mind you, I haven’t been to very many, it’s mainly been cod and chips, but that was absolutely delicious and I’m so pleased I had a banana split like the twins for dessert. That was one of the best meals I have ever had.” Willie said, “Mummy, can we take Cathy to Uncle Trevor’s restaurant before she goes home?” “Well, I did intend to do that,” replied Jinnie. “I’ll have a chat with him in the morning. Cathy is with us for four weeks and for the last week Izzy will be with us as well, so perhaps that would be the best time to go.” Millie said, “Why don’t we go before then and then we can go again with Cathy and Izzy?” “Now that sounds like an excellent idea,” said Paolo. “I rather like eating at the Continental.”
***
The family settled into a daily routine. After breakfast, they all headed to the beach, where, once the twins and Cathy were settled, Jinnie and Paolo headed back to the home office where they checked in. Paolo used the high-speed satellite internet to read his work emails and keep up to date with Italian reports on the Russo-German war. Jinnie, however, was more interested in her businesses, particularly the new, developing ones. Of course, she was interested in the well-established ones like Trattoria Trevi and DKL, but they were well run and producing excellent results. She only had to pass a quick eye over the previous day’s numbers, which continued to march steadily higher.
Then there was SuperBurger and the Fast Food Division. These Jinnie watched a little more closely, not because they were not stable businesses, but because they were now growing so fast. In the case of SuperBurger, now the branch refresh was well established and virtually complete, the company had rebuilt its cash pile. Consequently, the board had become emboldened and they were opening new branches at the rate of at least two a week. Although most new branches had so far been mainly in Britain, the board had dipped its toe in the overseas market and now had started opening branches in the Irish Republic, where they were up to twenty-five branches, three-quarters of which were franchised.
The SuperBurger outlets in Slovenia, where they were paired with Aunty JoJo’s, had been a slow burner, but following a short advertising campaign had really taken off. The market had proved very receptive to the products and, since seeding the market with wholly owned outlets, they had mainly gone down the franchise route. Jinnie had used her friend Irena to hold ten per cent of the initial six in-house branches to meet Slovenian regulations, and Irena had opened ten franchises in the SuperBurgers/Aunty JoJo’s pairings. She told Jinnie she was well paid by the government and this was her pension for when she left the military.
The Artisan Sandwiches group within the Fast Food Division was no longer opening stand-alone branches in the UK, as the joint Sandwich Shop/Sybaritic hybrid had taken over and was flying as far as profits were concerned. But it was the developing companies that really interested Jinnie. The first number Jinnie looked at every day was that of Aunty JoJo’s Canada. Things were going well. The group was growing weekly as they opened more branches in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and now Quebec City. Jack was busy working out how to best serve those outlets in Vancouver that wanted to be franchisees. With the east of the country covered, Jack was looking west and wanted to look at Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary, but how to serve Winnipeg was a problem. It was alone in the middle of the country, not far north of the US border. Jinnie had been wondering if it would be easier to link it with outlets in Minnesota and North Dakota, as it was physically nearer to the likes of Grand Forks, which sat on the border between the two states. But that would mean opening in other states.
The Continental in Ottawa was proving very profitable and Trevor had talked to her about opening more restaurants in Canada. The first favoured location was Vancouver, but it was on hold until a decision on opening a restaurant or two in Florida had been made. Jinnie next checked on developments in Florida. The number of Aunty JoJo’s had reached fourteen, six of which were owned and the rest franchised. The sales figures were on the way up and Monica was reporting more and more interest in franchises, even from out of state. The company had now easily surpassed the investment and the number of US employees it had to reach in two years for Monica’s Green Card.
Trevor had decided he would like to proceed with the hotel in Clearwater. It just won out over St Pete and, on Jinnie’s advice, the one in Miami. The research on the Rivera had revealed that the taxi driver was right, it was a fire sale. The Robertson brothers were deep in debt. Ennios Hotels had made a much-reduced offer, which had been quickly refused. A slightly increased second offer had led to discussions and the fractionally increased third offer had been accepted and the whole deal was now with the lawyers. The Clearwater hotel deal had been much simpler. The cost had been quickly agreed and the Ennios Clearwater was already open for business and making money. Trevor was looking at several improvements to increase profit margins. These included turning thirty rooms into executive rooms that could be let for a lot more money and upgrading the restaurant and renaming it the ‘Continental at the Ennios Clearwater’, and the profit margin had improved.
The catering business was flourishing under Jorja, who had stepped up to fill Monica’s shoes in the Caribbean businesses. The hospital was producing a decent profit, but the cricket stadium had only consumed funds so far, having not held any major events since the catering fell under the TT SuperBurger Group’s control. The first major test would be in a couple of weeks, first when a series of inter-island football matches were to be played there, followed by a major athletics meeting. The main cricket season didn’t start until October. Jinnie was content that the contract would start to make money just as soon as some big events were held. In the meantime, they were bidding to operate a canteen for an insurance company, the Korean car importer company Keith was fitting out in Bridgetown, and for the Customs and Revenue building in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Jorja was confident they would win at least one, if not all the contracts.
The final business Jinnie was keeping an eye on was the winery. The original French vineyard had received a big cash injection and had bought up as many local vineyards as they could, doubled their output and were now supplying all the house wine for Trattoria Trevi and Sybaritic restaurants and English hotels. But it was the long-term plans for a vineyard on the South Downs with a winery and a huge entertainment complex that really interested Jinnie.
They had held an initial meeting of the working group before Jinnie had left for Barbados and Charles had once again flown over. Miranda had initially been rather sceptical that her events business could benefit from an association with a French winery, but the more she learned the less sceptical she became. She finally listened to Charles and his ideas for English wine and realised that he was offering TT Events a permanent home to house weddings, parties, wine events and maybe even conferences. By the end of that initial meeting, she was on board and the working group had gone away tasked with doing deeper investigations into the cost and practicality of an English wine business.
Jinnie read the first of the group’s reports, which was from Brian, who had been looking into acquiring land in the South Downs, and learned that the Park Authority was willing to sell them 125 acres, which was a fraction over Charles’s suggested fifty hectares, for £650,000, which gave them a starting point. The land was on the south-facing slope of a valley and a road ran along the base of the valley serving a few scattered farms and a small village. In discussion with the Park Authority, it had emerged that water, electricity, gas and main drains ran local to the road and the Authority would not object to the establishment of a winery, vineyard and events centre. Rather, they would welcome it for the employment it would bring. A full estimate was being developed for presentation to the TT SuperBurger board for approval. Jinnie wondered when she should pitch the idea of an Ennios Hotel on the site.
***
As she walked down the path to the beach, Jinnie was thinking over her ninety minutes in the office and realised that, due to the time difference, she had been looking at what was mostly today’s company news from Europe, whereas the Caribbean and American news was today’s. She decided that tomorrow she would pop into the offices of what was now Bearcat Foods (Caribbean). Brian had been looking at the company structure since the merger with SuperBurgers and Bearcat Foods (Caribbean) was now 100% owned by the Fast Food Division, who owned 50% of Aunty JoJo’s (Caribbean) and 100% of Bearcat Catering. The TT Continental Hotels were in the Trattoria Trevi Division’s Hotel Group. She didn’t really know Jorja very well. Of course, she had spoken to her when she had been promoted to Monica’s old job in what was now Bearcat Foods (Caribbean) and when Patricia had announced her retirement. But the promotion had been mostly on Monica’s recommendation.
The family went to Anderson’s for lunch and, while the twins were tucking into their hot dogs and milkshakes, Jinnie said, “Kids, tomorrow morning I’m going into Bridgetown. How would you like to come with me? We will have an early lunch in Aunty JoJo’s Chicken Shack. I know you like their fried chicken. Then we can have the afternoon on the beach.” The twins looked at each other before chorusing, “Yes,” before Willie added, “Can we have chicken, chips and chocolate milkshakes, please?” “Of course,” replied Jinnie. “Hey, what about Cathy and me?” asked Paolo. “You can come too,” answered Jinnie, “but I thought you didn’t like chocolate milkshakes.”
It was about eleven o’clock when Jinnie arrived at Bearcat’s offices and slipped out of the front passenger seat of the Toyota. Paolo took off into the traffic, they were going sightseeing and would meet Jinnie at the big Aunty JoJo’s in central Bridgetown at 12.30. Jinnie pressed the door buzzer and told the disembodied voice who she was and that she had an appointment with Jorja Williamson. The voice said, “Please come in and someone will be with you very shortly.” The door lock buzzed and Jinnie stepped into the air-conditioned lobby.
The young man led Jinnie through the busy office to what she remembered as Monica’s office, where she was greeted by a bubbly Jorja, who immediately called for coffee. It was only a few minutes later that Jinnie decided that Jorja was indeed the right person to be running the Caribbean business. She had her finger on the pulse of the company and was quick to explain plans for expansion. She was looking beyond Jamaica and had visited several islands. As Monica before her, she had counted out Puerto Rico as ‘too American’ for the time being, but it was a longer-term aim. Jorja suggested that they could open two or three branches in each of Tortola, the Bahamas, Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, and wanted to try Martinique and, if that was successful, Guadeloupe, both of which she thought could take five or six outlets.
But Jorja really wanted to launch in the Dominican Republic, where, with an eleven million population and lots of American tourists, she thought there was room for around thirty outlets. The only problem was that it was a Spanish-speaking island. But it would be a trial for Puerto Rico, which was a big market for KFC. Jinnie asked, “What happens when you run out of islands?” “Well, I reckon we go for Central and South America,” replied Leah. “Probably not Mexico. I think that would fall under Monica’s North America.”
“I don’t know,” said Jinnie. “I have only talked with Monica about the USA. Canada is a separate business which is fifty per cent owned by TT SuperBurger, just like Aunty JoJo’s Caribbean. I was wondering if we should look at expanding into South and Central America, even in Mexico, as fifteen per cent TT SuperBurger companies with eighty-five per cent franchises. By my reckoning, Mexico could be a four-hundred-branch standalone market.”
“This is my current thinking,” continued Jinnie. “I eventually want to have as many branches worldwide as KFC, and I don’t want them to be joint ventures. It worked well when we broke into the market here in Barbados and it worked well breaking into Canada, but eventually we are going to buy out the other part owners. I want Aunty JoJo’s to be a division of TT SuperBurger. It is currently all under the TT SuperBurger Fast Food Division, but it will eventually be a division in its own right and I see Monica as the Divisional Director. So, you may well ask ‘where does that leave me’.”
“I was going to ask,” said Jorja. “I see you running the Catering Division,” answered Jinnie. “OK, it is only small at the moment, but I want to grow it massively. My plan is to grow it in the Caribbean before moving into other markets—Central America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, North America—and, when it is big enough, Great Britain. The catering market in Britain is enormous and is worth £6 billion a year. The biggest company turns over about £2 billion a year. I don’t think we will be taken seriously in the UK until we are turning over £750 million. At the moment, we are on about £2 million, so we have a long way to go.”
“I like your ideas for Aunty JoJo’s,” said Jinnie. “But this is what I want you to do, get your deputy on to them. You get together with Trevor and sort out some more contracts for catering jobs. I don’t care if you have to bid at break even, we need to get the turnover looking good. Bid for anything and everything you can qualify to bid for. Grow the company, I’ll support you all the way. If you need anything, talk to me, here’s my card with my mobile number, don’t hesitate to call. I hope that within a year you are looking for separate offices for Bearcat Catering. I think you might get a few leads from Keith and if I hear anything I’ll pass it on.”
“Wow,” said Jorja, “that’s some target you have set me. I was concentrating on growing Aunty JoJo’s, but I’ll switch to Bearcat Catering immediately. I’ll hand my Aunty JoJo’s plans over to Gracie this afternoon.” “Is that the Gracie who was deputy manager at the central Bridgetown branch?” asked Jinnie. “Yes,” said Jorja, “is that a problem?” “Not at all,” said Jinnie, “I had her down as someone who was going places. Actually, I’m delighted.”
***
Jorja and Jinnie walked over to the Central Barbados branch of Aunty JoJo’s. The girl on the door saw them coming and said, “Are you eating, Miss Williamson?” “Yes please, Kelsei,” replied Jorja. “Can you sort out a big table? I think there are going to be six of us. Dame Jinnie’s husband, twins and their nanny will be joining us shortly.”
Two tables in the upstairs area were quickly put together and the two ladies didn’t have long to wait before the twins came rushing over. Millie sat next to her mother and couldn’t wait to tell the story of their morning, saying, “Mummy, we’ve been on a submarine.” Willie joined in saying, “We went under the water, and we saw all sorts of fish. Some big ones and some little ones.” Millie interjected, “Some were very pretty,” but not to be outdone Willie added, “and we saw a moray eel, it was huge and had big teeth.” Jinnie laughed and replied, “So I guess you want fish for lunch.” “Not likely,” said Willie. “I want two pieces of chicken, chips and a chocolate milkshake please.” “And the same for me please,” said Millie.
Jorja called over a waitress and everyone was soon tucking in. Cathy was the first to speak, saying, “This chicken is really good, what a pity there is only a KFC in Potters Bar. I think it loses something when it is delivered from DKL.” “I think that’s because it’s not fresh out of the fryer,” replied Jinnie. “It has to take ten minutes to get to you when it’s delivered.” “Now Jorja,” she continued, “I have been thinking for a while about publishing a quarterly newsletter for all employees, in every company and in every country. What Cathy just said had me thinking. I wonder how many people working in this branch know we sell Aunty JoJo’s in the UK, in Slovenia, in Ireland, in Canada and in Florida. Who knows we have hundreds of sandwich shops, two Michelin star restaurants in England, a thousand burger joints, an embryonic catering business, a hotel chain, dark kitchens and a separate restaurant chain on this side of the Atlantic. I bet we could easily fill a quarterly newsletter with company news, even with photos of senior management. I bet your girl on the door has no idea who I am. What do you think?” Jorja thought for a moment before saying, “Well, I for one didn’t know about the burger chain. I can’t see a newsletter doing anything but good.”
In Chapter 27 – The TT SuperBurger News
© WorthingGooner 2025
