Page 17 of Already Home

Jenna had never considered selling food. Her first instinct wasto say no, but look at where her instincts had gotten her so far.

“That would work,” she said slowly, thinking about some of herfavorite recipes. “Especially when there are hard-to-find ingredients. I couldspecial order items. Although some of them do require refrigeration.”

“If they have a limited shelf life, we can tell people theyhave to preorder. Then they can stop by, pick up the food and then go home andcook it.” Violet straightened in her chair. “We could do classes on cooking forcompany. A few impressive-looking but easy-to-prepare meals. After the class,people could give us a few days’ notice and come by to pick up all theingredients, then go home and make the meal.”

“That sounds like fun,” Jenna said. In the past she’d alwayscooked what interested her, but maybe she could think about what other peoplewould enjoy, as well. She might not think appetizers were that compelling, butthen she wasn’t hosting a cocktail party for twenty.

And speaking of cocktails... “What about a bartender?”

“I don’t understand.”

“What if we had a bartender come in and show how to mixdifferent drinks?” She frowned. “That might require a liquor license. But maybewe could set up something with one of the local restaurants around here. Allthose fancy drinks can seem intimidating.”

Now Violet was taking notes. “I like that. It would bring in ayounger crowd. Not that I don’t love the ladies who lunch.”

“They do have money.” Jenna thought about her friends. Okay,not friends, but still. They were a potential customer group. “Mothers,” shesaid slowly. “What can we do with them?”

“Healthy, organic cooking,” Violet said immediately. “Maybeclasses on baby food or what to feed toddlers. Remember that cookbook on buryingvegetables into regular food? Something like that.”

“I like it,” Jenna said. “We could also feature a differentcookbook every week. Cook two or three recipes. That would encourage people totry different styles of cooking.” Plus it would be safe for her. Someone else’srecipe.

“And give us a chance to sell specialty cooking items,” Violetadded. “Woks, different pans. That kind of thing, not to mention the cookbooksthemselves. Oh, and don’t forget the singles.”

“What do you mean? Cooking for one? Isn’t that kind ofsad?”

Violet laughed. “Yes, but those of us who live alone have toeat, too.”

“I live alone,” Jenna said. “I just whip up something.”

“That’s because you know how. Those of us who aren’t blessedwith your cooking background are forced to eat frozen dinners night after night.If we advertised that class in the right places, we could get a lot of people.Meeting someone in a cooking class is a whole lot more appealing than meetingsomeone in a bar.”

“Sure,” Jenna said. Singles. She never would have thought ofthat. But it made sense.

They continued brainstorming. Violet suggested a website.

“I know a guy who does decent work for not a lot of money,” shesaid. “Want me to have him write up a proposal?”

“Yes. My online experience is limited to finding professionalcookware on sale.”

By eleven, they had a master plan in place. Violet left to talkto the web guy and set up the newspaper advertising. Jenna investigatedcookbooks, and came up with a cooking class schedule. She also bit the bulletand bought a large refrigerator for the back room. If they were going to sellperishables, she would need a place to store them.

She drove to the small print shop her mother had recommendedand ordered flyers, copies of recipes, raffle tickets, and discussed the cost ofgetting custom-screened aprons with the store’s logo. At quarter to five, shereturned to the store to find Violet laying printouts of an initial web designon the counter.

“He was bored,” Violet said cheerfully. “I love it when thathappens. He threw this together in about an hour and I have to say I think it’sgreat.”

Jenna bent over the different pages. The design was clean, thecolors bright. On the side and top were navigation buttons for recipes,cookware, gadgets and more.

They played with the design and made a few changes.

“What about this?” Violet asked. “Move this button here?” She’dbarely finished speaking when her stomach growled.

Jenna stared at her. “Didn’t you stop for lunch?”

“No. I was busy.”

Jenna stacked the papers together. “We’ll finish this tomorrow.You’ve already put in a full day. You need to eat. Go on. I’ll see you in themorning.”

Violet hesitated. “Want to get a margarita at Dos Salsas?”

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