Page 28 of A Breeze Over Rosewood Beach
“So—you haven’t been consistent with your orders?”
“No, is that a problem?”
“Not at all. But if you’re willing to change that, I think you could cut a deal with the distributor.”
Sally’s eyebrows rose. “Yeah? What do you mean?” she asked with interest.
“Businesses are always looking for reliability and consistency in their numbers. They’re willing to cut deals as long as those deals benefit them—and if you gave them a guarantee that you would buy the same amounts of food every month—or every week, depending on what your schedule is—I think they’d be more than happy to give you a discount. You might need to strategize more on your end and only promise to buy items that you could freeze or store long-term if you ended up not needing all of it. That way you save a lot of money, you don’t lose any food, and the business is happy to keep their sale numbers consistent.”
“Oscar, that’s brilliant!” Sally hadn’t written down a thing he’d said because she was too excited. And she knew she didn’t need to write it down, anyway. She was sure to remember all ofit. “That could really work. There are all kinds of things we could freeze, either cooked or uncooked. That would probably help with our workload too, and the way customers don’t ever seem to order the same things consistently. I’d need to buy another freezer, but I can afford it. It would be more than worth it for the money we’d save in the long run.”
Oscar, who had been looking down at his notebook the entire time he was telling her his idea, looked back down at the table and coughed, his ears bright pink. “I’m glad you like it. And it wouldn’t hurt for you to politely point out to them that you’ve been trying out other distributers. They’ll see that on your records—that you’ve stopped ordering from them as much. See how low of a discount you can get from them. Don’t commit to anything, and don’t act excited about what they’re offering you, even if you love it. Act like it’s not enough and try to get them to go even lower.”
“Oh, I don’t think I could do that. I don’t want to cheat them, they’re a business too.”
Oscar shook his head. “They’re a big business. Their CEO can stand to not buy himself another boat this year. I know not being nice is probably hard for you, but try to hold out on your enthusiasm until you’re absolutely sure they won’t go any lower with their price. Make it clear to them that you’re more than willing to take your business elsewhere.”
“But I’m not, not really, and I don’t want to be dishonest. They’ve offered me quality food for years, and I don’t want my café’s ingredients to suffer just because I’m trying not to spend so much money.”
Oscar shook his head. “You aren’t set on staying with them, though, are you? If something better came along, you’d go to that business instead, right?”
“Oh, certainly.”
“Well, there you go. You’re not lying to them. You’re letting them know that you aren’t satisfied with their new prices and that you have other options, but you’re willing to cut a deal with them. If they lose you, they’re losing out on a lot of money. And I can guarantee you that they’ve already lost some customers because of this price raise. They’re not going to want to lose any more, and I think they’ll be very open to a deal they can count on, even if it’s at a reduced price.”
“You’re right—these are wonderful insights.” Sally jotted down notes quickly on her phone, a plan already forming in her mind. “Thank you so much, Oscar.”
“Happy to be of service,” he said, and smiled as if it truly did make him happy.
“Did you have any other suggestions for me?” she asked. “I’d be more than willing to listen to any ideas you have, even if they’re just half-baked.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “I have another fully-baked idea, if you’re interested. What about rotating your menu more often? Offer fewer selections, but have more specials. That way, people may be more likely to come to the café if they know you’ve got their favorite sandwich on the menu, but you don’t have to order in as many expensive ingredients all the time. For example, instead of offering avocados all the time, only offer recipes that call for them on certain days. You could even come up with a menu that rotates the same way every week—so people will know what menu they’re getting every day. Tourists will see it on the website or when they come in for the first time, and locals will know when to come to your café to get whatever items they’re craving.”
Sally tapped her finger against her lips, considering it. It was a great idea. It had some drawbacks, and she’d always prided herself on how wide of a variety of options her café offered, butthis was a good strategy that was sure to save her a great deal of money and potentially bring in more business.
“I think I like it,” she said slowly. “We’ve got a lot of creatures of habit out here in town, and having a rotating schedule like this is smart. If people come in a few weeks in a row for their favorite sandwich that’s only here on Tuesdays, before long they’re going to be coming here every Tuesday. And I can keep our most popular items on the menu all the time, so no one gets really disappointed by the plan.”
Oscar nodded. “Do you have a social media for your account? You can hype up the change online. It’s news-worthy, and it will get people’s attention. Attention is almost always good for business. I would recommend adding more menu items to this rotation, so that it looks more like you’re offering people more than before, instead of less. But in reality, it’ll be easier for you to order fewer expensive ingredients and it’ll be easier on your cooks and your wait staff, I’m guessing.”
“Huh.” Sally stared into space, smiling. “Yes, we do have a social media. I don’t really run it myself, but the girls could help me. I do like the idea of adding more menu items to these rotation lists. There are a few recipes I’ve been wanting to add to our menu, but I knew we just couldn’t sustain it.”
Oscar smiled. “I think it’ll serve you well in the long run. If people know they can get a different meal here every day of the week, they’ll be more likely to come back and try something new.”
“Mm, true.” Sally nodded excitedly as she jotted down more notes in her phone. She looked up with a radiant smile. “You’re a wonder, Oscar. Thank you so much for offering to help me out here. I really think this is going to be a game-changer for me. What did you say your line of work is?”
Oscar swallowed. “Was. I used to be a stock market trader. For many years. But that took a turn for the worst recently,and that landed me here. I couldn’t afford to live in New York anymore.”
Sally’s heart went out to him, and she resisted an urge to touch his hand sympathetically. “That’s tough, I’m so sorry, Oscar. Feeling as though you’re being forced to start a new life must be unpleasant. But on the bright side, at least you’ve found yourself in a fantastic new place to start over in! I would have recommended Rosewood Beach to you over any other place in the country—maybe in the world. It’s not so bad, right?”
Oscar got the same look in his eyes that he’d had when he’d opened his mouth to speak earlier but had seemed to change his mind. “It was recommended to me, actually. Sort of in a round-about way. My great-grandmother loved it here. I remembered her talking about it during my childhood. I’d stopped thinking it was a real place, but then I saw it on the map. So I decided to come here.”
Sally grinned, delighted by the story. It seemed as though his great-grandmother was some kind of guardian angel, guiding his life even from the past. “And what a wonderful choice it was. There’s always a silver lining to every cloud, and our lovely little town can be your silver lining. After all, if you hadn’t come here, then you never would have gotten to admire my new nautical décor at Ocean Breeze Café, for instance. I just know you never would have wanted to miss that opportunity.”
Oscar started laughing as if he couldn’t help it. Sally was struck again by how much she liked his laugh. “I wouldn’t go quite that far.” He shook his head, smiling. “And the truth is—” His voice dropped in volume as he spoke vulnerably for a moment. “It’s been hard to find any silver linings in all this. It was a huge blow, losing my career the way that I did. I was extremely successful for many years. This bad luck did more than cause me to lose my home and my money, it also made me question myself. I’d come to believe I was a very skilled,capable man. Ever since my recent failures, I haven’t been sure of that. It’s like I—well, never mind. It hasn’t been a pleasant experience.”
Sally nodded sympathetically, and this time her hand actually twitched as she fought off the desire to take his hand in hers and squeeze it.
“I’m sure it is hard,” she said, talking because she guessed that he wanted her to take over the conversation for a while as he wrestled with his emotions. “And I’m sure I don’t really understand what you’re going through, but I can understand it a little. When it had first started to feel as though I was incapable of turning over the sort of profit that I’ve been used to, I started to question my abilities as a businesswoman. Failure tends to make us doubt ourselves. I don’t think we should let it, since everyone fails sometimes, but it’s hard not to think that way.”
