Page 16 of Already Home

A sale might work, Violet thought. Although it wouldn’t helpthe bottom line. Still, they had to start moving inventory or they wouldphysically run out of space to put everything.

She made her way through the towering stacks of boxes to theentrance of the store. Jenna sat by the kitchen area, a small folding table setup in front of her. There were several pads of paper, a few pens and a waitingcoffee from Starbucks.

Jenna looked up and smiled. “Oh, good. You’re here. I havenews. We’re closed.”

Violet felt her mouth start to drop open. She consciously keptit closed and did her best not to let any emotion show.

“Okay,” she said slowly.

“Not permanently,” Jenna added with a smile. “At least I hopenot. I’m a little punchy. I didn’t sleep at all last night. Everything’s a mess.It’s my fault. I didn’t plan this at all. The store, I mean. You talked aboutresearch and projections and I don’t know what any of that is. I literally stoodin the parking lot, saw the ‘For Lease’ sign and called because I didn’t knowwhat else to do.”

Violet pulled out the second folding chair and sank down. “I’dwondered,” she admitted. “You didn’t seem really prepared.”

“Clueless is the word you’relooking for,” Jenna said with a laugh. “You can say it. I won’t mind.”

“I prefer overly optimistic.”

“Very PC,” Jenna said. “So in my hours of not sleeping, Ithought about what needs to happen to make this place successful. I have everypenny I own tied up in this store. Failure isn’t an option. I want to close fora couple of days while we come up with a plan and get it ready to implement.Then we’ll have a big reopening.” She leaned forward. “Violet, you’re the onlyone at this table who knows anything about retail. What do you think we shoulddo?”

Violet was surprised by the question. Based on what she knewabout Jenna, she’d been expecting a chart with a couple of lists.

“What kind of changes are you open to?” she askedtentatively.

“Anything. Everything. If you want me to paint the floors greenand sell caterpillars, I will.”

Violet’s mouth twitched. “That might be going a little toofar.”

“Maybe, but you get my point. I know how to cook. I think I doa decent job explaining how to make something. But that’s it. You were rightabout having stuff to sell. Not just big-ticket items. We need people comingback week after week, buying things. So how do we do that? I want the classes tobe more exciting. I want people enthused. Tell me how to make that happen.”

Violet looked at her boss. Jenna seemed to be telling thetruth. She was intense but focused. “The store has a lot of potential,” shebegan. “A great location.”

“That’s what I thought. Well, in the fifteen seconds Iconsidered before signing the lease.”

“You got lucky,” Violet told her.

“Let’s hope it wasn’t the last time.” Jenna watched as Violetseemed to consider her words. She leaned toward her. “I need you to be honestwith me. Just say it. I promise I won’t be upset.”

Violet drew a breath. “Okay. There are a lot of differentthings you can do to bring people in and keep them coming back. For starters,lose the white coat. Yes, you’re a chef, but it’s intimidating. You want peopleto believe they can do what you do. That it’s easy and fun. Dress like yourcustomers. Maybe a little better.”

Jenna did her best not to wince. “I love my white coat, but Isee your point. My only concern is all my nice clothes are going to get stained.Cooking can be messy.”

Violet thought for a second. “What about aprons? You could weardifferent ones depending on what we’re cooking. They could be fun and we couldsell them.”

“Sure. If you think anyone will buy them.”

“They will if they think they’ll help make the meal tastebetter.”

“It’s just an apron.”

“It’s all about making people feel better about what theydo.”

Jenna made a note on her pad. “What’s next?”

“Recipes. We have to have them to give out. And we shouldalways have a food sample to offer customers along with the recipe so they cango home and make it that night.” She hesitated. “I mentioned this before,but...”

“Tell me again,” Jenna urged. “What?”

“We should offer the items necessary to make the recipe. Put itin bags or baskets or whatever. All the ingredients, except the fresh stuff. Soif it requires a can of tomatoes and pasta, they buy that here. We can goslightly gourmet, charge more and have a better profit margin. Sure the markupon a can of tomatoes isn’t much, but multiply that by a hundred and it starts topay the rent.”

---