Hot Potato

36. Reevaluations

After setting goals for the marketing team and leaving Suong in charge, I invited Melvin to my office to begin working on the suppliers.

As we entered, he took a set of keys from his pocket and said, "I've one here for the cabinet, Chef. Hard copies of all the files, supplier lists and orders are in there. My routine was to sit at the computer and fill the daily orders using the inventory spreadsheet, the POS printouts and Freddy's notes on menu changes and upcoming daily specials. Worked well until..." He paused and winced. 

"What a horrible shock that was for you."

"Yeah. Took me a long time to adjust to it – not fully yet." He heaved a deep sigh, pointed to the file cabinet and continued, "But if we carry on with the system he had set up, it'll be easier."

"We'll do that, then. Which branch were you at before this one opened?"

"The Broadway one. He had begun playing with the central prep kitchen concept there, but we didn't have enough space. That's when the idea of this place began."

"So, you set up the beginnings of the system there."

"We did."

"Excellent! We can use your experience of what works and what doesn't as we fine-tune. Show me the files and explain your process."

Half an hour or so later, after Melvin had left, while I sat at the computer composing an email to Pacific Rim Shellfish, Dunc entered and said, "We need to set you up with a business account for Gallini Holdings. Where do you bank?"

"At TD – it's just downstairs." I chuckled, remembering having said the same about Winners yesterday. "Downstairs from my condo."

He grinned. "My bank, as well – just along the street from me. This'll make it quick and easy."

I pointed at the computer screen. "Almost done contacting the suppliers. Another two to do, then we can go."

"Did Melvin have anything useful to offer?"

"Far more than I had hoped. He's a real organisational whiz, a master with spreadsheets and databases. He told me that he had helped Freddy design the central ordering and distribution system, but the more he described it, the more it became obvious that it was his creation with Freddy's input."

"Oh, my!"

"Yeah, and he had begun working on a program to integrate the POS sales data with the recipe and inventory spreadsheets into a database to have the computer generate reorder lists sorted by supplier."

"And he had called himself a line cook yesterday."

"He loves baking, and that's his main role – helping maintain a steady supply of fresh bread, rolls, scones, croissants and so on. Inventory management and ordering are sidelines."

"And keeping track of the cleaning."

"Systems, routine, order. He's comfortable with those."

"Baking seems dichotomous, then."

"No, not at all. Bread baking requires strict adherence to proportions, processes, temperatures and timing. It fits him to a tee. He's now in the fridges and freezer, taking inventory."

"Why? Isn't most of it what you had called reshaped slime?"

"He had ignored keeping track of it after Kevin changed to pub-style heat-and-serve."

"Taking an inventory now seems to be wasted effort."

"He suggested we donate what's left to a soup kitchen or a food bank, and he wants to know how much there is before he contacts them."

"Wow! Such a different person than he indicated by his outbursts yesterday."

"His adjustment disorder is deeper and more complex than mine, but I see similarities. Think of the image of the graceful swan. His paddling sometimes breaks the surface; I manage to keep mine a little more hidden."

"I'd love to hug you, to comfort you, Gigi. But we're too visible here."

"Yeah." I looked at the wall of windows. "I had thought of having some curtains hung to make the office a little less stark. Also, so I can pull them closed to change into and out of my whites. Better than in the staff lockers where everyone would see I prefer no undies."

"Ummm! Buddy's stirring at the thought."

I chuckled as I examined the growing tent. "I love how much easier you are with it today, Dunc. Let me finish the last two emails, then we can go do the banking – and I can finally change out of this suit."

A few minutes later, as Dunc and I left the restaurant, he said, "While you were in your meetings, I sat at the computer in Kevin's office to analyse the balance sheets and statements. The bookkeeping, payroll and accounting are all done by outside services, so only PDFs of previous quarters are there. I could find no current statements."

"Is that bad?"

"No, not at all. I assume Arnie kept track of it and had auditable reports done only quarterly to reduce expenses. It makes no sense to have an internal accountant with annual revenue at only twelve million."

"Hah! Only, you say. How the eff does twelve million qualify for an only label?"

"That was with five branches. With six up and running smoothly, it should exceed fifteen, justifying a Financial Officer. The latest statements are from the second quarter, the end of June – before this branch opened. I've requested interim statements to the end of business yesterday."

"So, we have the accounts from before the accident but none after."

"We've Kevin's tally of accounts payable and the payroll and lease liabilities. Also, the current bank balance – more than eighty thousand overdrawn. At the end of June, the balance was just above four million, so I tried to find –"

"Wow! Far more than from the collapse after the accident. Looks like someone had their fingers in the pot."

"I had initially thought this. Then looking at the amount and the timing, I wondered whether they had bought the Olympic Village strata unit, so I did a title search to confirm."

"Title search?"

"The records of who owns the property. As a broker, I have online access to the LTSA, the BC land title database. The Olympic Village property is lien-free, bought at the beginning of July by A&F Plimpton, Inc."

"Oh, wow! That's the company I'm buying."

"Yup. We'll change the name after the sale is registered. The drawdown of the balance since the end of June would have been to cover the acquisition, the renovations, the equipment and the furnishings. Everything to get the new branch ready for its grand opening."

"Oh, wow!" I chuckled. "I've got to stop saying that. So, the company's worth a lot more than George had thought."

"Indeed, more than five times as much. And the good part is that George had made the valuation from his own figures and findings, not from mine. I had given him only a compilation of the liabilities, knowing they're his tender spot. It appears that neither of us knew the details of the new branch."

"We need to revise the sales agreement, then."

"Why?"

"Otherwise, we're cheating."

"I love your innocence, Gigi. But the error is entirely theirs – no part of it ours. Besides, they deal in tens of millions and hundreds of millions. This company is small potatoes to them."

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Points to consider in this chapter:

What are your thoughts about Melvin now?

What do you think about the real estate windfall?

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