Hot Potato

16. Acquainting

Duncan and I stood gazing into each other's eyes, silent for a long while, my mind spinning with possibilities. Then I shook my head and nodded toward the wall of windows. "Too visible here."

"Indeed." He winced. "Some might see it as you've manipulated your promotion."

"Oh! Did I do that?"

"No, not in the least. Not a factor at all. You're far and away the best choice for the position. And you've garnered excellent support from the staff – even from Logan, now."

"Yeah, that was sweet of him – the way he expressed it."

"But it's your style, Gianna. You've a knack for recognising potential conflict and resolving it before it grows. Turn the energy from negative to positive." He tilted his head toward the kitchen. "Like Melvin a minute ago. No change in routine, just catch up on what's been missed."

"But that's obvious. It's the most effective way to deal with someone like him."

"Obvious to you but not even within the scope of most. That's your strength, Gianna – sensing what others need."

I nodded down and chuckled at the tented trousers. "You need relief for that."

"Fuck!"

"Possibly. But this is neither the time nor the place."

Duncan's face was now in full blush as he hung his head. "Sorry! Foul language. Don't know where that came from. Please, forgive me. That's not at all like me – really, I hardly ever use it."

I giggled. "You should learn to. It's wonderfully expressive sometimes. Shows the depth of the emotion."

"I've not offended you?"

"No. Rather the opposite." I shook my head and laughed. "I'm flattered by your interest."

"Oh! But with your exquisite beauty, you'd be constantly getting that."

"From none who interest me." I shrugged. "Besides, beauty's subjective and superficial. Attraction has to be for more than only that; otherwise, it goes nowhere."

"True. It usually triggers the initial interest. But my interest in you had begun before we met."

"What?" Oh, God! Has he seen the video? "How?"

"When your resumé arrived, Kevin told me your qualifications are rare and that we need to jump at the opportunity."

I released a quiet sigh. "Kevin?"

"Remember, I was still learning the peculiarities of the restaurant business. Still am. When I began sorting out this business, he was my main resource, explaining what it all meant, drafting job postings, interpreting resumés."

"In which – what's the word? Area? Milieu? Sector? Where do you usually offer your services?"

"Mining and exploration ventures. Over-funded and under-structured. Full of egos and wild dreams, analytical geeks and nerds."

"Oh, wow! What a huge difference – from the analytical to the creative. You've done very well in bringing us together."

He shrugged. "Easy with your help – and Kevin's. So much creative scope here. In the mining ventures, the problem is often too many bosses and insufficient focus, exacerbated by few willing to give up control. Taking on Hot Potato was a breath of fresh air."

"Hot Potato. You had said it's a temporary name – has it been left to us to come up with a new one?"

"That is not in my mandate." He chuckled. "But the thinking is far more creative here than on Mr Colewell's board, so I'll suggest it to him."

"Who's Mr Colewell?"

"My boss, the owner of ColeCorp. He buys struggling companies and has us sort them out before he spins them off."

"Oh, what an interesting business. Never crossed my mind that such exist."

"It's the domain of the excessively wealthy. But to the point at hand – what ideas have you for a name?"

"Actually, I find Hot Potato catchy. Many meanings and hooks for the marketers – speaking of which, who's been engaged to do the marketing?"

"Hmm! Neither is that in my mandate." Duncan shrugged. "It's not something we need to do with mining and exploration."

"But essential here. This isn't an Iowa cornfield, so –"

"Iowa cornfield?"

"From the movie, Field of Dreams –build it, and they will come. That doesn't work with restaurants, particularly not with restaurant chains. Especially not with one which has been recently painted with a dirty brush."

Duncan nodded toward the computer. "We could see who Freddy had used." He stepped across to it and pressed a key, the grand opening menu appearing.

Oh, God! What if he switches windows? Need to keep him in this one. "You can see this is a tasting menu with –"

"Tasting menu! I'm not familiar with the term."

"It's like a table d'hôte but with no choices. Some call it a set menu. The purpose is to demonstrate the kitchen's talent. Here, it would have been to show off for the restaurant reviewers, the wine and food writers, the concierges, the tour operators and so on – the influencers the promoter would have invited to the opening."

"So, it's not just a party celebrating the opening?"

"No, far from it. It's the chef's magnum opus in the complex process of marketing a restaurant's opening."

"Oh! Kevin mentioned nothing about this."

I shrugged. "But that makes sense. He was twenty years in an established pub. Never had to do an opening, and he likely never needed to promote beyond the simple."

"True."

"Here, Arnie and Freddy would have done soft openings before the grand."

Duncan tilted his head. "Soft openings?"

"For training and fine-tuning. The restaurant invites family and friends to allow the staff to learn routine, practice it and get honest feedback before opening to the public. Then, there might be a quiet opening to the public for a few days to polish before presenting to the movers and shakers at the grand opening – some call it the media opening."

"Wow! So complex. Will we need to do all that?"

"Yes, most certainly – and more. Unless we want to fail, we need to find a marketing agency that specialises in the hospitality business."

"Let's see if we can find the one Freddy had used." Duncan entered control+right, and a new screen appeared.

Oh, fuck!

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Points to consider in this chapter:

Gigi increases her flirtation with Duncan, and I wanted to show him being confused by his reactions. Have I conveyed this?

Do you like cliffhanger chapter endings, such as the one here?

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