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As they approached Anderson’s Willie said, “Mummy is that crowd outside the place we are going to.” “I think so,” answered Jinnie. Thinking quickly, she said, “Will you two take hands with Izzy and George and if the reporters stop me, Daddy, Uncle Anderson and Uncle Nigel you four go straight on inside and pretend you don’t know us.”
Izzy, George and the twins dropped back a bit with Izzy taking Willie’s hand and George taking Millie’s. As they approached the mob of reporters and photographers Jinnie whispered to Anderson, “I didn’t expect this, it must be the bit in the FT the other day, I know the restaurant critics of the Worthing Herald and the Evening Argus were invited but by the looks of it there are going to be some from the nationals.” “Excellent,” replied Anderson, “the more free publicity the better, I only hope the fixed menu lives up to their expectations, but Andy is a fine fish chef.”
The crowd swallowed Jinnie and the three men, and as she tried to answer questions she saw Izzy and George safely slip around the back of the mob and across the pavement, up to the entrance of the restaurant where Belinda was waiting to hustle them inside. Jinnie held up a hand and said, “Good evening everyone, I am delighted to see you all here this evening. I only hope you all come back and try this fine restaurant serving wonderful seafood. As you no doubt know this is the first of a planned chain of high-class fish restaurants that I, my good friend here Anderson and our partners, the Walters family, intend to operate. A second restaurant has already been acquired in Hastings and will start to be fitted out just as soon as the permissions are in place.”
“We are negotiating for a third restaurant in Dover and with any luck we will have it up and running by August,” continued Jinnie, “but one hard bit of news I’m delighted to be able to tell you is that we have acquired a kitchen at the latest DKL complex that opens tomorrow lunchtime in Shoreham. Consequently, anyone living in its delivery area, which reaches from the border with Hove to Bognor, can order our excellent seafood for home delivery. It is our intention to open Anderson restaurants in many coastal towns and to take up dark kitchens wherever we can. Now I’m going to go and greet our guests for this evening and enjoy my dinner. Thank you everyone.” And with that she turned and headed for the entrance of the restaurant, ignoring the shouted questions and the flash of cameras.
As she reached the door it swung open and Belinda stood there smiling. “That was brilliant,” she said, “but I bet you didn’t know it was going out live on Sky News. I hate to think how much that would have cost as an advert.” “I didn’t see a TV camera,” said Jinnie. “They can broadcast from an iPhone now,” said Paolo, adding, “when did you prepare that little speech?” “I didn’t,” replied Jinnie, “it was all off the top of my head. I never expected a mob of reporters outside. This is only the launch of a restaurant.” “But you are newsworthy now,” said Belinda, “you are the star of the restaurant business.”
***
The restaurant was packed and Jinnie recognised several famous faces who had somehow managed to get a table. Of course, several of her TT SuperBurger colleagues had accepted invitations but there were many more she didn’t know and Angela said, “I’m delighted to see many of our old Lobster House customers. I know the food critic of the Evening Argus but not the man he is talking to, he had an ordinary booking, I wonder if he is anyone important.” “Everyone is important tonight,” said Jinnie, “we need everything and everyone to be perfect and then pray for good reviews I bet that some of the people here tonight will be texting reports through to be printed in the Sunday papers and there will be more in the nationals on Monday.”
Jinnie was seated on a large table with her party and Belinda, Brian, Andrew and Miranda were on the next one. Jinnie had accepted a glass of champagne when she had got past the mob outside and now she happily accepted a chilled glass of Pinot Grigio, she wasn’t driving anywhere tonight. From the corner of her eye she spotted Angela preparing to say a few words but there was a lot of noise. Brian called for quiet and Angela said, “Ladies and gentlemen thank you all for being here this evening. I hope you will forgive us for the set menu tonight but with nearly 120 people here it was impossible to do anything else. Now I call upon His Worship the Mayor to formally declare the restaurant open for business by cutting the ribbon across the kitchen door.”
The Mayor snipped the red ribbon to a round of applause and immediately Vicky led half a dozen identically dressed waitresses out, with trays loaded with bowls of clam chowder for everyone except the twins, for them it was tomato soup. As soon as the last person on a table was finished, the bowls were cleared and the next course was served, scallops wrapped in bacon. Sir Nigel said, “This was so good I suggested to Andy that he serve it.” The twins eyed their plates suspiciously but encouraged by their mother they tried some and Willie’s face lit up. “This is really good,” he said, and they both cleared their plates.
Next came a palette cleanser, a lemon sorbet and then the main course monkfish tail with sliced fried potatoes, asparagus and crispy kale. The twins had homemade fish fingers and the same vegetables. This time it was Millie who was first to try the kale and decided it was good. Throughout the meal the wine kept coming until Jinnie decided she didn’t want to stagger back to the hotel, so refused a refill.
The final course was, much to the twins’ delight, mixed ice cream, a scoop of vanilla, a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of mint choc chip, served with a fan wafer. Then coffee and shortbread biscuits. Jinnie said to Sir Nigel, “I think that went down well, I only saw empty plates and the twins can be a bit odd with things they are unfamiliar with.” Sir Nigel asked, “Are you going to say a few words to the diners.” Jinnie replied, “I hadn’t planned to, but I will if you consider it appropriate.”
So Jinnie stood up and her table started to applaud and quickly other diners joined in. Jinnie waited for the applause to abate before saying, “For those of you who don’t know me I am Dame Jinnie De Luca and together with my good friend here Anderson, we have joined forces with the Walters family to bring you want we intend to be nationwide chain of Anderson’s Fish Restaurants. If you have ever been to Barbados, you might have had the pleasure of dining in one of the Anderson’s on the island. We have recently expanded into Jamaica and now into the U.K.”
“But as I said,” continued Jinnie, “this is just our first of hopefully many such establishments. We should have our second restaurant open in Hastings in a few weeks, and the plan is to also open in Dover by the summer. I was talking to Andy Walters, who by the way was responsible for preparing this fine meal this evening, earlier this evening and he tells me that the restaurant is fully booked for the next three weeks when of course the full menu will be available, unlike what I can only suggest was tonight’s excellent sampler menu.”
“But for those of you not fortunate enough to have secured a reservation I am delighted to be able to tell you that, as of tomorrow, there will be a home delivery service available. We have secured a kitchen in the new DKL Shoreham delivery kitchen that starts trading at noon tomorrow and will be delivering fine dining from Portslade to Littlehampton. When it is completed in about a month there will be a new DKL kitchen in Chichester, which increases the delivery cover to include Bognor, Arundel, Pagham, the Witterings and of course Chichester. While speaking about the DKL kitchens, which is a division of the TT SuperBurger group which I am also connected with, I would like to remind you that they also deliver fine dining from the Trattoria Trevi menu.”
“Finally,” said Jinnie, “I would like to point out that the new Trattoria Trevi on the pier opens next Saturday evening and that the delicious ice cream and sorbet that you were served this evening came from another TT SuperBurger company, Frank’s Original Ice Cream, and was produced here in Worthing.” Jinnie sat down to more applause.
***
As they strolled back to the hotel Millie said, “Mummy we don’t understand, you said you and Uncle Anderson and the Walters owned the restaurant we ate in tonight I thought you worked for Trattoria Trevi with Uncle Alberto.” “I do,” replied Jinnie, “but I also own another company, with Anderson and the Walters. People can own lots of companies.” “Oh,” said Willie, “I think I understand, but who owns the ice cream company.” “That’s TT SuperBurger,” replied Jinnie. “So how did tonight restaurant serve TT SuperBurger ice cream,” asked Willie. “That’s because they sell ice cream to anyone who will buy it,” replied Jinnie. “I think we understand,” said Willie.
Nigel said, “I know it is a bit complicated kids. But I only wish your Mummy had told me she and Anderson were going into business together. I would have liked to have joined them, I think they will make lots and lots of money.” Jinnie chuckled and replied, “I only hope so.”
The twins enjoyed breakfast in the Ardington Hotel because it was a buffet, and they could have their regular breakfast of Rice Krispies and boiled eggs. Jinnie rather liked it because it was very “British”. Halfway through her eggs Benedict Jinnie put her knife and fork down and said to Sir Nigel, “I’ve been thinking, I don’t think it would take much to turn the hotel into an Ennios, the restaurant isn’t bad, the staff are pretty good, it would need sprucing up a bit with new carpets, soft furnishings and some new furniture but I reckon Andrew’s team could turn this into a 5 star hotel in a couple of weeks.” “I’m inclined to agree,” said Sir Nigel, “but you would need to attract a lot more out of season high spenders.”
“That’s very true,” said Jinnie, “but it just struck me, we have just travelled down for a meal in a high-class fish restaurant. In a couple of weeks, we will have two gourmet restaurants in Worthing, Anderson’s and Trattoria Trevi on the pier. Imagine we could offer short gourmet breaks with dinner one evening in Anderson’s and another in the Trattoria Trevi which is basically Italian and we perhaps turn the restaurant here into another high-class dining experience maybe a British restaurant. I really need to talk to Rick and Alberto and see if they think there is any merit in the idea.”
Sir Nigel looked around him before saying, “Well I for one like the idea. This place could be vastly improved with a spot of money being spent on it. It has the bones of a fine hotel but I’m not impressed by the reception or the gents off it, but when Belinda and Brian come down for breakfast let’s run the idea past them, I’m sure she can give you an idea of costs.”
By the time Belinda appeared Izzy and George had taken the twins off to an indoor climbing wall in Littlehampton. It had special climbs for children that they were excited to try, while the adults were attending the opening of the Shoreham dark kitchen. They were due back for a Sunday lunch booking in the hotel at one thirty.
Jinnie said to Belinda, “I’ve been having thoughts about this hotel. Do you think it could be turned into an Ennios. I have an idea about offering short breaks combining a stay in the hotel with dinner in the hotel one night, Anderson’s another night and the Trattoria Trevi the pier. A sort of luxury break destination.” “Interesting,” said Belinda, “the hotel’s position is perfect, it only a short walk to both locations, but this is only a 3 star hotel, all the Ennios chain are 5 star.”
“That’s basically why I’m talking to you,” said Jinnie, “would it cost a lot to upgrade this place to 5 star.” “I’ve not seen the whole hotel,” answered Belinda, “it’s not huge, 100 rooms tops, but they are all en-suite. The booklet in the room says there is room service, free Wi-Fi, meeting rooms and it has been recently renovated with AC in all bedrooms and public rooms. I see two or three problems, but none are insurmountable. The toilets off reception need gutting and replacing, reception is a mess, steps up to the resident lounge and down to the restaurant are not clever. The lifts need a good overhaul, the restaurant is better than a 3 star hotel but not 5 star and the hotel will never reach 5 stars unless we could sort out the parking. Street parking is not good enough for a 5 star hotel.”
“How about we look at a similar parking arrangement to Southampton, we park off site, it works well there,” said Jinnie, “Rick would quickly sort out the hotel restaurant, provided the kitchen is OK. That leaves the toilets, reception and lifts, that’s your forte.” “Easily fixed if the money is available,” said Belinda, “let’s say £100,000 and that would include a separate entrance to the restaurant from the street for walk ups with disabled access. Now you have to walk through reception and I suspect it puts people off. The work wouldn’t take that long and I bet it could stay open while the work is done.”
“A few other things,” said Jinnie, “the carpets, curtains and soft furnishings are not Ennios standard. They would have to go and be replaced with the greys and blue we use across the chain. We would need to upgrade to our standard coffee pod machines in every room and maybe look at converting a few rooms to suites.” “I can include for your extras once the property is ours, but let’s up my finger in the air price to £150,000 until I can measure up and take into account anything else Rick might want included.”
After breakfast Jinnie rang Rick and he listened with interest while Jinnie talked about her idea. When she finally drew breath Rick said, “I’m interested, I have been looking it up on the internet while you have been talking. It looks like a nice family hotel from the pictures, and it is in a perfect position for what you suggest. The menu looks quite nice, but I bet Alberto could improve it, and they have a snack bar, something for Brooke’s people to get their hands on. I really would like an overnight stay, a snoop around and a meal before I give you my views. Give me a few days and I will book a stay then let you know.”
***
There wasn’t an official opening ceremony for the Shoreham kitchen complex but Jinnie and a number of directors of DKL and TT SuperBurger were in attendance. As the clock ticked down to noon Jinnie just crossed her fingers and hoped that the public had seen the stories about Anderson’s in the local papers and they would get their share of orders amongst the other kitchens. At noon the order takers’ screens went live and the phones started ringing. Jinnie sat in the complex manager’s office watching the initial orders coming in on his computer, and as always on a Sunday it was the Trattoria Trevi English kitchen that was taking the bulk of the orders for traditional Sunday lunches.
But for a new enterprise Jinnie was happy to see Anderson’s was getting a fair share of orders. Jinnie said to the manager, “I going to take a stroll around the complex, I just want to see if we have any problems. I know the computers say everything is running well, but I want to see for myself.” “I’ll come with you,” came the reply, “there is nothing quite like seeing for yourself that everything is working as designed.”
Jinnie donned a set of whites and strolled along the mezzanine, stopping at each kitchen and asking if everything was working as intended and if there were any problems. Just inside the Anderson’s kitchen Jinnie found Andy with an ear-to-ear grin watching his ‘afternoon brigade’ busy preparing orders that were displaying on the overhead screens. Andy saw her and said, “Hi Jinnie, this is even better than I hoped for. The DKL software is amazing, how it keeps track of the orders is fantastic. I have been standing here watching the brigade and they are a good team. But what has impressed me is the quality of the food going out. It really looks good.”
Jinnie asked, “Your happy then, any problems?” “None,” said Andy, “but maybe I’m the wrong person to ask. Perhaps you should ask the kitchen shift manager. But I suspect you will get the same answer.” Jinnie looked in on ‘Dispatch’ which was fairly busy but was only half open. She stood watching for a few minutes before turning to the complex manager and saying, “I’m happy, everything is running smoothly, we have enough delivery staff on duty. That’s something that is not easy to judge when a complex first opens. Are you happy everything is in order.”
“I certainly am,” replied the complex manager. “You probably aren’t aware, but the company moved me here from Canterbury, where I was looking after a six-kitchen complex, so this is promotion. But that was an oldish complex, here everything is brand new, we are even running the very latest version of the DKL software, and it is much improved. I must say I think I am lucky to be moved here, it’s a lovely part of the country.”
***
Jinnie got back to the Ardington House five minutes before the lunch booking and found the rest of the party in the lounge. The twins were busy reading the snack menu that was served in the lounge. Willie asked, “Are we eating in here, there are lot of good things on the menu.” “No,” answered Jinnie, “we are in the main restaurant. They turn it into a carvery on a Sunday lunchtime.” “Good,” said Millie, “we like a carvery, especially when they have turkey.”
The party were shown to their table and the waitress explained that it was a fixed price 3 course meal with coffee after. But it was all self-service. They were to help themselves from the chilled display of starters and salad, then the chef would carve them their choice of meat. Today there was beef, pork, turkey and gammon and they could come back for more. The vegetables were all in a heated display and they should help themselves. Then there was dessert from a chilled display or today’s hot dessert of apple crumble and custard.
The twins were the first of the party to get to the starters and Willie said, “Mummy can we really help ourselves from that huge pile of prawns.” “Of course,” said Jinnie, “but don’t fill up on prawns. Remember there is meat and vegetables and those yummy desserts to come.” The twins both had a decent serving of prawns and Paolo asked, “Aren’t you two going to have some of this salad.” “No,” said Willie, “Mummy says we have to leave room for the mains.”
The twins went back for more turkey, and both came back with big slices which they proceeded to put in a plastic bag that Willie put in his trouser pocket. Jinnie asked, “What are you two doing?” “We are getting some turkey for Larry,” said Millie, “you know how much he likes chicken and turkey, and this is really good turkey.” “Well don’t let the waitress see what you are doing,” said Jinnie, “I don’t think she would like it.”
In the Lexus driving back to Potters Bar Willie said, “We liked Worthing, even if it was too cold to go on the beach and we didn’t get to go to the amusement arcade on the pier. But we like the carvery, it was good. Having turkey and pigs in blankets was like Christmas dinner.” “So, if we go back when they open the Trattoria Trevi on the pier,” said Jinnie, “you don’t want to stay home with Larry.” “No,” chorused the twins.
***
Jinnie started thinking about all the information she had at her fingertips for the TT SuperBurger Group companies and how it was somewhat lacking for De Luca Holdings. Admittedly, Holdings was a minnow of a company compared to the TT SuperBurger Group, and it basically only looked after her investments, but it still had many millions of pounds under its control. The computer systems were good but didn’t make use of all the data that was generated by the Dark Kitchens they leased. For Jinnie it felt rather like the TT SuperBurger business before they had invested in SAP.
Andersons was doing well in the Caribbean; there were now three restaurants and two dark kitchens in Barbados and four restaurants and two dark kitchens in Jamaica. The turnover of these businesses was growing fast, and Anderson was already talking to her about where to open their next restaurant. She favoured Trinidad, a market she was familiar with, and Anderson was willing to go along and put a toe in the water.
Then there was the Anderson’s chain in the U.K., admittedly it was only embryonic at the moment with a single restaurant and a single dark kitchen, but by the summer that should have grown to three restaurants and two dark kitchens. The management was already established in the De Luca Holdings building in Crawley where there was space to grow the core services as the company grew and she had big plans to grow the company. It was already generating cash, and she had talked to Andy, Angela and Anderson about retaining the cash for organic growth rather than paying a dividend. All were happy to proceed down that route while the company was young. Neither she nor Anderson were taking a wage out of Anderson’s (UK) Limited. Instead, they were content to see the value of their 50% holding grow and to take nominal directors’ fees and expenses, hoping that in the longer term a much larger company would be able to pay a dividend and grow organically.
This was the position that Wedding Dress Bargains had already reached. Under Melissa’s direction it had grown considerably and now had 24 shops in various British cities and had opened a second factory to produce their own designs. She and Melissa had wanted to keep the second factory close to the old one and had taken a long-term lease on a new industrial building on Fleming Way, Crawley close to their existing one. It was a lot bigger than strictly necessary, but the initial thoughts were to use it for offices as well as production. But with the setting up of De Luca Holdings Jinnie was now thinking about a new approach. She wanted Holdings to provide core services for both WDB and Anderson’s UK and any other businesses she might invest in.
Jinnie chatted to Nigel, the TT SuperBurger Information Services Director. She wanted his ideas as to what she should do about the new company’s computer and communications systems and if he knew of anyone who was ready to become her De Luca Holdings Computer Services Director. As she half expected Nigel didn’t hesitate in suggesting she install SAP, not only would it give her everything she was looking for with financial reporting but its modules would seamlessly handle HR and procurement in both the U.K. and in the Caribbean, and link perfectly with the TT SuperBurger DKL software. Further, he gave her the name of a young manager in his division, saying he was afraid that he would lose Steve Clarke as he was very talented and he currently had no promotion route. Nigel said, “If I am going to lose Steve I would much prefer he went to a colleague’s business.”
***
On Thursday morning Jinnie took a phone call from Rick who said, “Good morning, boss. I suppose I better cut directly to the chase. I have had a night at the Ardington House and let me say straight away as a 3 star hotel I expected it would need a vast amount of work to make it a 5 star. But I was pleasantly surprised as there are only a few things that are holding it back. The biggest thing is the parking, but the reception is a bit small and the steps up to the lounge and down to the restaurant aren’t clever. Our room was nice, and I like a bath but not everyone does. The whole operation is a bit small by Ennios standards, perhaps we could expand sideways, towards the sea, by taking over the building next door. I understand it used to be a hotel.”
“Of course, we could always make its size a virtue by calling it a ‘boutique hotel’,” continued Rick. “The restaurant was good, far too good for a 3 star hotel, that wouldn’t take a lot of work, and the kitchen is pretty new. As you told me, the lifts need modernising and I would want to harmonise the decorations to our company scheme, they seem to have used three different colour schemes in bedrooms and bathrooms. I understand the hotel is privately owned and not part of a chain, I am not sure whether that is a good or bad thing.”
“I’ll give you one thing, it is wonderfully located for the Trattoria Trevi on the pier,” added Rick. “But it might just be a bit far for an oldie to walk on a wet night. Have you thought about a couple of those electric buggies they use for disabled passengers at Gatwick? They could take, say, 10 passengers each and run down the pier with council permission. Overall, I rather like the idea, I think a boutique hotel would work, but if we could get some of those flats and expand round the corner onto the seafront I’d like it even more.”
“So, you think my plan is possible?” asked Jinnie. “Oh yes,” answered Rick, “but we will need to find a solution to the parking problem. I had a quiet word with the general manager, a nice fellow who knew his hotel inside out, but he is a little worried about his job. It seems the hotel is owned by two brothers and makes all its money in the summer holidays and at Christmas, whilst struggling with a low occupancy rate the rest of the time.” “That’s exactly the story I got from the restaurant staff,” replied Jinnie. “Well, I liked your idea about short gastronomic breaks. It would increase occupancy, and I have ideas of my own. They have four private dining rooms for between a dozen and, say, 75 people, they also have private meeting rooms. Let’s get TT Events involved. We can do all sorts of things from weddings to parties; one big event a week would turn the occupancy rates. Also, how about we offer short breaks that include a trip to our South Downs Winery and a meal with our own wines with every course.”
“Those are the ideas I like,” said Jinnie, “they don’t cost us a fortune but have the potential to bring in a lot more bed nights. So, you want to go ahead with the project then?” “Definitely,” said Rick, “I’ve talked to Belinda about refurbishment, and she thinks it could be done without closing the hotel. The general manager seems to think the brothers want out. I have a price in mind and if I can get the hotel for it and Belinda’s guesstimate is anywhere near accurate, I think we can quickly turn the place into a money spinner.” “Will you be looking for group funds?” asked Jinnie. “No,” replied Rick, “I’m sure we can manage it all from divisional funds.”
In Chapter 11 – Ennios Worthing
© WorthingGooner 2025
