“I don’t think he’s a food critic.” Mandy chewed her bottom lip for a moment, then continued.
“He may be a consultant that Cory hired. I just didn’t think he’d start so soon.”
“Start what? Why would Cory hire a consultant to eat a bunch of food at our restaurant?” Jill demanded, her tone a mix of annoyance at Cory’s interference and curiosity to know what he was up to.
Mandy helped herself to another slice of lasagna before settling back into her seat and beginning to fill them in on news that she knew they wouldn’t be happy about. “Well, you know how we brought the financials home to look through? I took the initial look and was concerned enough to ask Cory to review everything and advise us on what we should do.”
“What’s wrong?” Emma asked.
“Well, I was planning to tell you all this over dinner anyway, so here’s the scoop. Mimi’s Place is barely breaking even. For the past seven years, profits and overall revenues have been steadily decreasing from year to year and expenses have gone up. Not a good combination.”
“But nothing seems to have changed,” Jill said. “Every time I’ve been there it’s been busy.”
“Well, think about when we usually go there,” Mandy pointed out. “Almost always for a special occasion, which means a busy Saturday night, which is their best night.”
“You’re right.” Emma had a thoughtful look on her face. “It’s funny you mention that about nothing changing. It’s like time has stood still there. The menu hasn’t changed much over the years. I also noticed earlier today that while the room still has that cozy atmosphere, the carpet is looking a bit worn, and overall it just feels a little faded.”
“So, what did Cory suggest?” Jill asked as she reached for more salad.
“The Gordon Ramsay approach. You know that show of his? Not the chef competition, the other one where he evaluates and fixes restaurants that aren’t working?”
Emma smiled. “Kitchen Nightmares. It’s a great show. Peter and I used to love watching it.”
“That’s it! So Cory did something similar. He knows a great restaurant consultant, someone his old company used when they were thinking of investing in a restaurant chain. He hired him to make a series of visits, try the food, see how the place operates, and then put together a recovery plan. Ideas we can implement to turn things around.”
“That sounds expensive.” Emma’s voice had a note of worry. “Where will the money come from?”
“Well, as Cory says, you have to spend money to make money. This will be investing in the business.” Mandy could see the others were less enthused.
“Yes, but Emma has a good point, where does the money come from for this?” Jill asked.
“Cory is paying for the consultant. But he also discovered that Mimi’s Place has a line of credit that has barely been touched, and that’s what we can tap into for any money we need to put into the restaurant changes.”
“Oh good.” Emma seemed relieved.
“Do we have any idea what we’ve gotten ourselves into?” Jill said.
“Well, let’s look at it like an adventure.” Mandy smiled as she reached for her wine.
“You always did look on the bright side,” Emma commented as she topped off her wine glass and without asking, refilled Mandy’s and Jill’s as well. “I admit, I did enjoy today at the restaurant. I loved the energy and the overall atmosphere and of course, the food.”
“To an adventure.” Jill lifted her glass, and the other two girls joined her, tapping glasses lightly.
Mandy enjoyed working her lunch shift. Gary walked her through everything much as he did Emma the day before, and she was happy to see that it was fairly busy and stayed steady throughout the afternoon. Or at least that’s how it seemed to her. Gary apparently felt differently.
“Well, we were a little off again today. Lunches just haven’t been as busy as they used to be.”
“Really? Why is that do you think?”
“Hard to say. The restaurant business is fickle. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it. You can plan for a busy night and then be dead and vice versa. There’s more competition than there used to be, for one thing. Plus, I think a lot of the business crowd comes less frequently than they used to. They go for more casual lunches. Faster service so they can get in and out quickly and back to work. The days of the three-martini lunches are long gone.”
“That makes sense.” Mandy agreed. She pulled a menu from the stack at the front desk and browsed it for a moment. The selection was mouthwatering, as Mandy loved all things Italian, but as she looked over the dishes, there was a familiar sameness there. Nothing new or surprising.
“When was the last time the menu was updated?” she asked.
Gary thought for a moment, then chuckled. “It’s been years. Paul and Jason do their daily specials, but this has been the menu pretty much the entire time I’ve worked here. The only thing that has changed every few years is the prices.”
“That’s interesting.” She thought of some of the restaurants that she and Cory frequented, where the menus seemed to change with the seasons.
“Why mess with success, I suppose?” Gary said with a smile as he reached to answer the phone. “Mimi’s Place, how may I help you?”
“You may need to fire people,” Cory said as he buttered a piece of bread. He and Mandy had just sat down to dinner. The kids had eaten earlier and were now watching TV in the family room. Mandy had just finished telling Cory about her first day and how the menu was virtually untouched over the years.
“That’s a bit unusual, don’t you think? Plus, we haven’t even heard from the consultant yet. He still has a few more visits before he’ll make any recommendations, right?” she asked.
“Yes, but more than likely that will be one of his suggestions. It usually is. There are always ways to cut back and losing a few people makes a big impact quickly.”
“I don’t like it. We don’t want to come in and ruffle feathers right off the bat. We need these people. Grams would not approve.” Mandy knew she’d hate it.
“Just planting the seed, so you’re not shocked when it’s suggested as part of the recovery plan.”
“Well, we’ll see what else he suggests. We don’t have to do everything he says, or not all at once, anyway.”
“Of course not,” he agreed.
“Plus, we don’t want to be short-handed for the wedding.” One of the highlights of her day had been when a young woman and her mother stopped in for lunch, and on the way out said they’d decided to book their wedding reception at Mimi’s Place.
They were planning on around two hundred people, which would fill the entire restaurant when they opened the adjacent function room. It had an accordion-style folding door that could be opened to make for one giant room. Mimi’s Place did a good number of weddings, and Mandy listened intently as Gary walked the two women through all the different options. This kind of event was right up her alley and she felt confident that she could help make it a special day by making sure everything went smoothly.