Last Friday Night (ManxMan)

Chapter 4

"Hey Boss, you got a minute?"

River's head shot up, startled by the quiet knock and even quieter question from Cassie. Frankly, it shouldn't have startled him, but he was buried so deep in the bar's paperwork that any disruption felt loud.

Realizing that he still had to answer her, he gestured to the chair in front of his desk, clearing away some scattered papers while the Senior Lead sat down. Her black hair was dark enough to appear blue in some lighting and it was tied back in a short pony, like she usually had it during work. She liked to keep it out of the way and joked it brought more attention to the many piercings adorning her nose and brows. River momentarily wondered what she came to discuss but he immediately knew it was marketing based when she reached into her bag, pulling out a thick manila folder.

"Food sales are down by 13.6% from last quarter and it's starting to become a bad investment to have 3 people cooking in the back."

"But Christopher and his team would be swamped if we let go of any of them," River argued.

"At this rate, orders will be so few and between, they won't have anything to cook."

Cassie passed him the folder, allowing him to look over the numbers. She had the statistics in full detail and simplified and had a graph showing the decrease in food sales. River hummed, raising his fist to his mouth and nibbling on the dead skin by his thumb. Cassie had recognized this as River's 'thinking face' and waited patiently in her seat as his mind reeled. While his business's focus was on the bar, River had a very dedicated chef heading their food items. The menu was updated twice a year and River personally tasted every dish. He knew that their food was good enough to be in the nicest of restaurants, which made it even worse that Christopher's outlet, Adonis, seemed to be failing him.

"How do we currently promote the food?" River asked. "By request, right?"

"Yeah, they have to ask to see the menu."

"Then we should just create a physical menu and put it at their tables," he stated simply, though Cassie's brows furrowed in confusion.

"Didn't we avoid a menu because you didn't want it to-"

"Clash with the decor, I remember," River stated, completing the sentence she had repeated back to him numerous times. Hearing his words coming out of someone else's mouth did make him sound very arrogant, but his vision had seemed sound at the time. Now it was a matter of preserving his vision or keeping his kitchen staff. Or, finding a way to do both.

"If people aren't asking for food, we have to make them ask. There has to be a way to design the menu so it's classy as well, right?"

Cassie reclined back further in her chair, tossing around the question in her mind for a while. Then, with a loud creak, she sat up, eyes wide with a fresh idea.

"We can hire a graphic designer to help. It would be an extra cost but the returns would definitely be worth it."

The corners of River's mouth began to lift and he reached for his computer, already eager to get to work on the menus. Cassie chuckled but tried to quickly hide it as a cough. She found River's ceaseless energy when it came to his business somewhat cute, but the older man hated when people acknowledged any humanity that he had, so she chose to keep her opinions at bay.

"Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Cassie. I'll start searching for some designers right away."

"Any time, Boss," Cassie muttered with a small smile, slipping out of River's office as smoothly as she'd entered.

River was a bit behind on work today and the menu issue was only setting him further back, but he didn't mind. Not really. Most Fridays he spent the entire afternoon behind the bar, making drinks and interacting with his patrons. Even after becoming a bar owner, River still loved the feeling of making drinks and watching someone's face light up or sink into pleasure at the taste of his work.