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Jinnie sat in the back of Sir Nigel’s Rolls and watched the snowy Sussex countryside slid past. Much to the twins’ dismay the fall had been very light in the South unlike in the North and Scotland. The road was clear, the sun was out and the A24 not very busy, and Jinnie was enjoying being driven in a luxury car. The car went round a roundabout and accelerated up a hill and Sir Nigel fold the Financial Times he had been reading and said, “This is the South Downs, in a few minutes we will pass the end of the road where the Vineyard is located. Then we are in Findon where they train racehorses, that is the outskirts of Worthing.”
As they came down the south side of the South Downs, Jinnie said, “That’s interesting, there’s no snow here.” “I’m not surprised,” said Sir Nigel, “we are on the coastal plain, and the sea warms the land, so the weather is better.” The Rolls Royce pulled up next to Brian’s Aston Martin and Brian and Belinda climbed out. The four directors walked across to the door marked Reception and Sir Nigel press the button labelled ‘please ring for attention’. A door at the back of the reception opened and a woman walked through. Sir Nigel said, “Good morning Dominique, can I introduce you to Dame Jinnie de Luca our CEO, Belinda Quarendon our Construction and Refurbishment Director and Brian Quarendon our Finance Director and Belinda’s husband.”
Dominique led them back through the door and up a stairway to the offices on what Jinnie realised was a mezzanine over the production line. They were led into what Dominique called the Boardroom, but with the Smiths, their financial adviser and the four SuperBurger directors it was a little crowded. Belinda stood at a window and looked down on the production line before saying, “That’s a smart production line and there is clearly room for another line. Do you have a freezer room to store production?”
“Yes,” said Scott, “it’s next door, where we also keep our dry goods and packaging. It’s also where we garage our delivery vans. But with another product line it won’t be big enough. We plan to at least double the freezer in size. The line runs 7 days a week, on two days we make vanilla and on the other five days we make whatever is in demand and fill the freezer. One day it may be Chocolate, another Strawberry, Mint Chocolate Chip, Coffee, whatever is selling.” “Interesting,” said Jinnie, “how many flavours do you make.” “12,” replied Scott, “we think we could sell more, but we need that second line.”
Jinnie smiled. “If we bought you I would want to supply all our retail business in the UK and that is far more than can be supplied by even quadrupling your output here. I see factories opening in say the West Country, the Midlands, the Northeast, the Northwest and Northern Ireland. But it doesn’t stop there, we have recently acquired the worldwide rights to a well-known brand in the southeastern United States, and we want to bring the brand to the U.K. and then the rest of the world. I was checking things out and in the area you currently sell into we have around 60 outlets, ranging from high class restaurants and decent restaurants to fast food outlets like burger bars, sandwich shops and fried chicken shops. We would like to switch to our own brand ice cream as soon as possible.”
Scott thought for a moment before saying, “Excuse me Dame Jinnie but are we talking about Frank’s Original. I read in the trade press that it was up for sale. I might be putting two and two together and making five, but it fits what you are telling us.” “You’re right,” replied Jinnie, “I want to sell into the US using the existing Atlanta based company, although its HQ will be moving to our US offices in Tampa. In the States it will be under Bearcat Foods (USA). But in the U.K. I want it to be a separate company to the US. It will be under our FastFood Division and that is run by Brooke Wilson out of Crawley, and it will handle sales in the rest of the world. Now the offices here are nowhere big enough for what I have in mind.”
“Do you really want us to run the business?” asked Scott. “That’s the general idea,” replied Jinnie, “we have absolutely no experience of the ice cream business, you do. This is how I see things developing. We buy you and change the name and recipe to Frank’s Original. We quickly put in a second line and supply all our south coast outlets. Of course, the offices here are not good enough for the organisation I eventually see. I see you temporarily moving into Brooke Divisional offices in Crawley while we build a big southeastern and London area factory with super offices. The space on this mezzanine can be an office for the manager and a computer room, we need to link all this equipment and the manager to the company SAP network. Belinda is an expert in construction, she designs and builds all our offices, factories, hotels, restaurants and fast food joints worldwide. In fact, I suggest she shows you our Dark Kitchen Limited offices and kitchens in Manor Royal, Crawley. They are a few years old now but still amazing.”
“All we need now,” said Scott, “is to settle on a price.” Jinnie, Belinda and Dominique went off on a tour of the plant and as always Belinda had a pad and ink pen in her hand and was flashing her laser measure. Dominique said, “We have drawings of the proposed new line and the freezer, they have been costed that’s how we knew we needed to raise money.” “Do you have the drawings electronically?” asked Belinda. “No, only paper copies,” answered Dominique. “In that case, if the men come to an agreement we will need a copy,” said Belinda.
Belinda said to Jinnie, “I have a friend who builds custom fridges and freezer room, I have worked with him on nearly every DKL job and he is good. I’ll have him look at this new freezer design. I suspect he may recommend enlarging the existing freezer rather than having two. I will also get my equipment supplier to quote the new production line. I buy so much from them I get a big discount. I bet I can get in well under any quote Scott has had.”
***
The three ladies sat in Dominique’s office drinking coffee and chatting while the men were locked in the financial discussions. Jinnie asked if Dominique knew the TT SuperBurger brands and she explained that she knew of the Trattoria Trevi in Brighton and its excellent reputation but hadn’t been. They had occasionally picked up AuntyJoJo’s from a takeaway only outlet in Findon Valley on their way home and rather liked it. But there wasn’t a SuperBurger anywhere nearby. Jinnie tucked that bit of information away before asking if she had heard of the Artisan Sandwiches and when told no, she explained how the Sandwich chain shared premises with the Sybaritic mid-range restaurant. Dominique said, “I think something like that would go down well in the town centre. There are quite a few offices around Chapel Road and Warwick Street and lots of pubs and restaurants in the evening, but nothing round there that I would consider classy.”
Jinnie asked, “You mentioned Findon Valley, do you live there?” “No, we live in Findon Village, it’s rather nice, old fashioned, a couple of decent pubs, two nice restaurants and some village shops including an excellent butcher.” “That sounds good,” said Belinda, “tell me have you visited the new vineyard and events centre in the South Downs?” “Not yet,” said Dominique, “we thought we might in the summer when the weather is better. I rather fancy a tractor train ride through the vines, it’s beautiful up there.” “That another one of our ventures,” said Jinnie, “but there is a visitor centre shop and cafe open all year and it is somewhere else we can sell your ice cream. On top of that the events centre has several events every week and they do meals, not Michelin Star class but quite high quality, we are doing a couple of weddings a week already. Throughout December we hosted Christmas parties, we did 500 meals every night, we served an awful lot of Vanilla ice cream.”
“I never realised,” said Dominique, “I’m supposed to be looking for new business opportunities, how did I miss that.” “If they settle on a deal,” said Jinnie, “it will all be your business by the summer. I have a few other ideas I’d like to try, have you thought about an ice cream parlour.” “We have,” came the reply, “but every time we thought we had found somewhere we did the numbers, and we couldn’t make it work. We needed to pay a bit less rent and to bring the cost of production down a bit to make it profitable. With an extra production line, the cost of production is right, we just need to find the right outlet.”
Just before one o’clock Nigel came into the office with a huge grin and said, “We have shaken hands on a deal. Brian is just sorting the last couple of details, and it will be in the hands of the legal boys. Now I ready for a pie and a pint, let’s drive into the town centre and grab a bite.” “OK,” said Jinnie, “I want a walk around and to get a feel of the town, I have a few ideas. What time are we meeting for dinner?” “The table at the Lobster House is booked for six.”
***
Sir Nigel ate the last of his steak and ale pie, chips and peas, and drained his second pint of Ruddles and said, “I feel better after that, now I’m ready to join you on this mystery tour of Worthing town centre on a cold January afternoon.” Jinnie shook her head and laughingly said, “You don’t have to join me, you can always go back to the Rolls with Freddie and wait for me in the warm.” “I don’t think so,” replied Sir Nigel, “I want to know what you are up to.” Belinda said, “Well Brian and I are with you Jinnie, we are up for a wander.”
The directors walked out of the Thieves Kitchen and wandered up and down the pedestrianised Warwick Street, with Jinnie noting the number of restaurants and pubs. Reaching the High Street end of Warwick Street, Jinnie didn’t like the look of the High Street, dominated by a multi-storey car park and small shops that didn’t impress her. The other end of the street came out onto the junction of South Street, Chapel Road and Liverpool Road. South Street led down to the sea front, was lined with shops, seemed to be a major bus stopping area and, even on a cold Tuesday in January, was fairly busy. ‘This is more like it,’ thought Jinnie.
As South Street got nearer to the sea there were several restaurants and takeaways. On one corner with the promenade was a fish and chip shop with quite a decent number of customers sitting in the window eating, on the opposite corner was a large glass-fronted restaurant that was closed but opened at six that evening. The group walked a short way along the prom and found more cafes and bars, a cinema and the stop for the buses to Brighton. Jinnie said, “What do you think of this as a location for an ice cream parlour, on the front, opposite the pier, by the buses and even today lots of footfall?” “All true,” said Belinda, “but I think that closed restaurant is a better location.” “Actually,” replied Jinnie, “so do I. I wonder if we could acquire the lease. That’s one for you Nigel.”
The party walked back up South Street and up Chapel Road away from the sea. At the sea end there were shops, building societies, pubs, small restaurants and a Wimpy Bar. “I didn’t know Wimpy Bars were still a thing,” said Brian. “There are still about 200,” said Jinnie, “and they are pretty good, they beat many of the other burgers in a taste test we did before the SuperBurger reboot.” “They were a thing of my youth,” said Belinda, “when I was in the sixth form it was a coffee in a glass cup and saucer after school. I wonder if they still do a Bender.” “It’s on the menu,” answered Brian, who was reading the menu board in the window.”
They walked on a bit, and the shops were not as good and the footfall less, so they turned back and walked up Liverpool Road, which wasn’t really a shopping street although a couple of the big banks were there. But it led to a covered pedestrian area which Google Maps revealed was called the Montague Quarter. Here were Nando’s, McDonald’s, Sports Bar, several cafes, TK Maxx and an almost empty large HMV. “Now this is more like it,” said Jinnie, eyeing a shop boarded up and the one next door temporarily let as a luggage shop. “I bet it’s busy down here in the evening, what with a sports bar, Nando’s and McDonald’s, here’s the home of a big SuperBurger, just look at the footfall today, imagine it on a Friday or Saturday night.” Belinda said, “Knock those two shops into one or take over the HMV store and it’s ideal. But is it suitable for a Sybaritic/Artisan fusion.”
“I would put a Sybaritic in Warwick Street,” said Jinnie, “I think there are enough businesses and people around to support an Artisan during the day. Did you notice there were a couple of little squares off the street, there were outside tables and chairs there, I think it was a pasta chain. I bet it knocks it out of the court when the weather is decent. I rather like the idea of eating outdoors on a lovely summer evening. Nigel, you and I need to talk with Property tomorrow, we could be invading Worthing.”
The directors walked on a bit further and found themselves in Montaque Street. Looking down the wide pedestrianised street Sir Nigel said, “I wondered where the main shops were. It looks like we have found them.” Spying a Marks and Spencer, Jinnie said, “I wonder if M&S have a café, I need a coffee and a warm.” “And I need a pee,” said Sir Nigel, to everyone’s amusement.
***
At just before six in the evening the four directors and Freddie arrived at the Lobster House. Jinnie stood on the pavement and took in the view of the restaurant and its outdoor terrace, before turning and looking out to sea with a few twinkling lights on the horizon. She said, “I bet it’s wonderful sitting here on a summer evening watching the sun go down.” Sir Nigel grunted and said, “Last time I was here the food was so good I didn’t look at the view.”
The Smiths were already seated and studying the menu. “This looks good,” said Scott, “we haven’t been here before, is there anything you would recommend Sir Nigel.” “Well, I started with the scallops, and they were fabulous, and for my main I had a special off the board over there, Lobster Thermidor, and it was spectacular.” Jinnie read the menu, and it was mainly shellfish. She decided to start with the ‘Old School Prawn Cocktail,’ she loved a prawn cocktail. She then chose crab cakes served with skinny fries. Freddie started with cockle and shrimp popcorn, Sir Nigel also had the prawn cocktail while Brian and Belinda and the Smiths had crispy squid.
Sir Nigel and Freddie both had a whole dressed crab and skinny fries, and the other two couples chose the fish plate which was a sharing plate for two and Jinnie thought she would have gladly badgered Paolo into sharing. It consisted of prawn cocktail, fritto misto, Springs smoked salmon, smoked mackerel pate with red peppers, spicy pil pil prawns, dressed crab, served with skinny fries and salad. Jinnie realised now why the two couples had not started with a prawn cocktail.
Jinnie agreed with Sir Nigel, the food was superb and the service excellent, not silver service excellent, but good enough for Jinnie to think, ‘this could be my British fish restaurant chain. I am going to have to get Anderson over.’ As they walked out of the restaurant Scott said, “I must thank you for that, it was a remarkable meal, that fish plate was incredible.” “You’re right, the only place I’ve had fish that good is Anderson’s fish bar in Barbados,” said Belinda. “I hear he’s building a chain of restaurants, I was hoping he would come to Britain, but now I know I can get fish as good.” Jinnie didn’t say a word but was smiling internally.
***
In the Rolls going home Jinnie said, “Nigel I’m going let you into a secret. Well, it a secret at the moment but it’s going to be public knowledge soon. I have gone into partnership with Anderson to help him expand into Jamaica and we are thinking of opening in the U.K.” “Now I understand why you were so interested in the Lobster House,” replied Sir Nigel. “It is a great model to base a restaurant on, lovely location, excellent service, family run, fabulous food and decent prices. Mind, I’m going by London prices, thinking about it they are probably near the top for local prices. But right by the sea I bet they get the best prices direct from the fishing boats.”
“Most of your thinking is correct,” said Jinnie, “but I think Anderson and I should try to buy the restaurant and use it to start the UK chain. I am so busy with TT SuperBurger and my other interests I don’t have time to devote to building up a new business. Much like the plan with Sussex Coast Ice Cream, I want to put the money in and let the current owners run and expand the business. Of course, that is if it is making a profit. I am going to talk to Anderson.”
“But I really wanted to talk to you about how I could set up the business,” continued Jinnie, “Paolo and I already have an accountant to handle our tax affairs. Like you I own 12.5% of TT SuperBurger. I also inherited a load of shares in blue chip companies and enjoy considerable dividends from them and from TT SuperBurger. Then I get my directors fees, apart from being paid as the CEO of TT SuperBurger and the MD of DKL, I sit on numerous boards. I also have 50% of Wedding Dress Bargains and am on the board and TT SuperBurger (Events) is only 50% owned by the company, the other 50% is owned equally by Brian, Belinda, Miranda and me. Paolo has half his salary paid in Rome and half here. But as he is officially an employee of the Italian State his tax position with HMRC is highly complicated and the accountant and HMRC argue about it every year. Now of course I own 49% of Anderson Fish Restaurants. Oh, I nearly forgot I have over £60 million in a special interest-bearing account at Barclays.”
“Now I am looking at setting up a UK chain with Anderson,” continued Jinnie. “I want some general advice before I talk to Anderson about trying to buy a business or setting one up.” Nigel thought for a bit before saying, “If I were you then I would set up a holding company which you own 100% of. But it owns companies whose sole purpose is to hold your shares in TT SuperBurger, Wedding Dress Bargains, Anderson’s, Events and one to hold all your small holdings in the blue chips. That should isolate you if any one company gets into financial difficulties. In this way say your TT dividend is paid into whatever company you have hold your shares. It then makes profit and pays a dividend to the master company, let’s call it De Luca Holdings. Then De Luca Holdings collects all the dividends, consolidates them and declares a dividend which, as a 100% shareholder, goes to you.”
“But will that work,” asked Jinnie. “Talk to Brian and your accountant, they know the law better than I do, but it’s basically the way TT SuperBurger is set up,” said Sir Nigel. “Thanks, I will do,” replied Jinnie.
***
The first thing Jinnie did when she arrived in the office the following morning was to phone Anderson, tell him about the Lobster House and suggest he should hop on a flight to London ASAP. She told him to tell her what flight he was on, and she would collect him from the airport and put him up in one of her spare bedrooms. As Jinnie was about to hang up she suddenly remembered to tell Anderson to bring a coat and scarf as there was snow on the ground. Anderson replied, “I have never seen snow.”
Jinnie’s next call was to Brooke to tell her about the ice cream deal and how initially it was going to fall under the FastFood Division. Jinnie said, “I want to really push this business, Monica is running with a similar ice cream business in the Florida but has a flying start as Frank’s Original already has over 500 outlets in Florida, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia. My plan is for your company to eventually cover the rest of the world including Canada. We will need to set up Canadian production plants, so there is no advantage putting Canada under the US.”
“You need to meet the Smiths soon. What are you doing tomorrow,” asked Jinnie. “I was working in the office,” answered Monica, “but I guess you have something in mind.” “I have,” said Jinnie, “the Smiths are driving up to meet Belinda at nine and she is going to show them the DKL set up on the Manor Royal, as typical of what she can do for offices and production in one building. Perhaps you might like to join them. I will be in my DKL office to help with the tour. The plan is for them to work out of temporary offices in Crawley while we grow the business and build the offices/factory, I thought maybe you had space. They will only need a couple of offices for a while, but you have all the links to SAP, HR, accounting etc. and meeting rooms. It will be six months or a year before they need more space, but we will need additional production before that.”
“OK,” said Monica, “I’ll be in the office all morning, Belinda can bring them around.” “I also need to talk with you privately,” said Jinnie, “don’t book anything for the afternoon we are going for a ride.”
***
Ro had briefed Alice well as she had the coffee ready when Jinnie arrived. As she didn’t get to DKW very often these days, she chatted with Alice to get up to date on the gossip as she used to do Ro. It was about 9:30 when Brooke, Belinda and the Smiths were shown into Jinnie’s office. After saying hello, Scott said, “I must say I’m impressed with these offices.” Belinda said, “So far you have only seen reception and the main open plan offices. There is a lot more to see.” “That’s true,” said Jinnie, “but this is the general standard of offices we try to have throughout the company. Once we have sorted out where your offices and production plant are to be located Belinda can start sorting out a layout and design.”
“But we won’t need offices anywhere near this size,” said Scott. “Why not,” replied Jinnie, “we are planning the worldwide HQ of Frank’s Original Ice Cream. It might not need to be huge right now, but it’s cheaper to make it bigger now than to expand it later. If we only occupy a fraction of the space at first we can grow into it. The Property Department are already doing a search for a suitable premises in this area. There have a cluster of TT SuperBurger companies in the area, so another one makes a lot of sense.”
An hour later Jinnie was with Brooke in the Crawley offices of the FastFood Division and she said to Brooke, “I think we have surprised the Smiths. I don’t think they had realised just what is ahead of them. Have a feeling they are going to be pretty decent managers, particularly Dominique.” “Yes, I agree,” replied Brooke. “She seemed to be taking in what we were explaining about growing Frank’s Original,” said Jinnie, “I don’t think Scott is terribly happy that the Sussex Coast name is going, but it is too regional, Frank’s is a brand we can use anywhere in the world.”
“I have been thinking about advertising,” added Brooke, “you realise we must prepare the customer for the change to Frank’s Original. I have been wondering if we can run a teaser campaign in the area we sell in. Take hoardings and radio time initially say things like ‘Frank’s coming’. Then ‘Are you ready for Frank’s’, then give a date, say, ‘Frank will be here on 20th June’. Then finally we say, ‘Frank’s Original Ice Cream is arriving on 20th June, are you ready for it at’, then list Aunty JoJo’s, SuperBurger, Artisan Sandwiches and all outlets where you used to purchase your Sussex Coast Ice Cream.”
“I think I like that,” said Jinnie, “but we will have to ensure we have enough available in all our outlets. We are going to have to buy display freezers for all the outlets, cones, wafers for the restaurants, train people to serve, there are loads of things to do. Let’s see if the Smith can swim or sink when we throw that at them.”
Jinnie drove Brooke in her Lexus, cutting across north of Horsham on the A264 before hitting the A24 and heading south to Worthing. Jinnie eventually parked on the promenade just to the west of the Pier near the Lido and dragged Brooke to the shopping area away from the uninviting sea. Jinnie walked past the bowling alley and out onto Montague Street before cutting through to the Montague Centre and stopping in front of the boarded up shop and the one temporarily selling luggage. “How do you fancy this for an Aunty JoJo’s,” Jinnie asked. “Do you mean both shops,” Brooke replied. “It’s a bit big if you do.”
“No,” replied Jinnie, “I was thinking about an Aunty JoJo’s on one side and a SuperBurger on the other with shared seating in the middle and back. We just need to knock a few arches through the adjoining wall.” “In principle, I’m in favour,” answered Brooke, “but it all needs costing. I see the landlord wants to turn this area into a dining area. There is already a McDonald’s, a couple of cafes, a sports bar and a Nando’s, so we might have objections.” “I suspect the landlord would be more than happy to lease the shops to a big national chain instead of them sitting empty. I checked the Worthing town plan on the internet, and this area is down to be developed into a restaurant destination open until late to serve both residents and visitors.”
Before moving off Brooke took photos of the shops and the estate agent’s board. “I will get our estates people onto this as soon as I get back to the office,” she said. Jinnie led Brooke into Warwick Street. Brooke immediately said, “This is a bit more upmarket, not enough for a Trattoria Trevi but how about a Sybaritic/Artisan fusion.” “My thoughts entirely,” replied Jinnie, “have you noticed that pasta place is closing down and has some outside seating, perfect for a summers day or evening.” “It’s already on my list,” said Brooke. “My, you have been busy.” “It’s not often I get to wander around a small town like this,” answered Jinnie. “But it’s off season and there are opportunities. Come on I want to show you my next idea.”
They walked out of Warwick Street and down South Street to the seafront. Jinnie stopped outside a restaurant and said, “Now this is the perfect spot for our first ice cream parlour/cafe.” “What do you mean first,” asked Brooke. “I want a chain,” replied Jinnie, “selling Frank’s Original, I want one in every seaside resort and two in some. I want it to be the Ice Cream of choice whether you are in Brighton or Blackpool, Worthing or Western super Mare. This brand is going places and it’s yours.”
Jinnie wondered whether she should show Brooke the Lobster House and explain her plans but decided not. This was her baby, and she wanted to see if she could grow it. Looking over the road Brooke said, “There is a big cafe over there by the entrance to the Pier let’s go and get a hot drink and we can do some planning.”
***
Brooke drained her coffee and whipped the crumbs from her butter tea cake from her mouth before saying, “It seems a shame to have come all this way and not walked down the pier, it is free, and I see there is an old-fashioned penny arcade at the end and people fishing.” They walked down the pier protected from the wind by a screen in the middle of the pier that appeared to have been decorated by local school children.
At the end was the arcade and on the ground and first floor a closed restaurant with a notice that it had moved at the end of its lease. Brooke stood looking at the building, back at the town and then she walked up the steps to the locked main entrance and looked through the glass side window. Inside it looked much bigger than from the deck of the pier. “Jinnie,” she said, “this would make the most perfect Trattoria Trevi. The views out to sea and back along the coast are wonderful even on a grey day like today. Yes it needs tarting up but this could be a destination restaurant. You need to get Belinda and Alberto down here quickly before some else spots the opportunity to open a fine dining restaurant here.” “I am on it right now,” said Jinnie, pulling out her iPhone.
In Chapter 8 – The Lobster House
© WorthingGooner 2025
