Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 152931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 765(@200wpm)___ 612(@250wpm)___ 510(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 765(@200wpm)___ 612(@250wpm)___ 510(@300wpm)
Chapter 4
“I need the office,” Thane said, abruptly pivoting on his heels, desperate to get out from underneath all the heavy attitude coming from the management staff he’d just severely disciplined.
Even his good friend and regional manager had stood there gaping, most likely at the severity Thane had used in pointing out all the failures in this on-site leadership team. But, dammit, customers waiting an hour for something as simple as a hamburger was just ridiculous. Even more ludicrous was the three-star average review rating on Yelp. This was St. Louis for God’s sake. This restaurant served grill type foods, nothing complicated, but these managers had lost the respect of their employees, and Thane couldn’t be certain they had it in them to gain that back.
Firmly shutting the office door, he effectively commandeered the only private space in the building, which had the added benefit of requiring those leaders to get out among their staff and actually lead rather than hiding and avoiding the issues they’d created.
Due to his own corporate personnel policy, he’d have to complete a formal write-up, which he’d get his assistant on right away. Thane opened his laptop, spent a few minutes documenting the changes he’d outlined in his rant before sending his assistant Jenna a message to have human resources draw up official written warnings for each of the on-site managers. He’d also have to bring his workforce development team into the grill to provide additional training. That would be costly and that just pissed him off too.
The rumble from his stomach reminded Thane he hadn’t eaten since this morning. Out of all of the food he served, grill food was his least favorite and absolutely not worth the calories. If he had to spend time anywhere, why couldn’t it be in his little Mexican food restaurant chain in Texas where they served those delicious shrimp ceviche towers?
His mouth watered thinking about that vinegar coleslaw, and his stomach growled a little louder. Damn, he was starving. He should go out there and fix himself a plate, but he wouldn’t. That would only open a line of personal communication, and this restaurant had too much of that going on. Everyone was a friend, except the customers.
Instead of doing that, Thane buckled down and opened an email from Arik Layne. The email was to both him and Chef Ferico. The subject line read, “Whole Foods and HSN, Bitches!!!!” That instantly had Thane smiling. Home Shopping Network. Man, Arik had become a force in his life. The guy didn’t seem to understand the value of hesitancy. Arik was a mover and shaker. Their joint venture of infused olive oils had taken off like lightning. Arik had secured sales on thousands of bottles before manufacturing had started. Now that they had production underway, they were blowing and going like wildfire. All Arik had to do was pick up the phone, and he secured another sale.
Thane scanned the message, reading how Whole Foods planned to add them in a test market now, with mass distribution the beginning of October. That was all great news. Arik had also secured a spot on the Home Shopping Network in November, about two weeks before Thanksgiving. Somehow he’d managed to squeeze them into an already set schedule on foods for the holidays. They’d also be given time on the sales floor. The anticipated sales were around twenty-five thousand bottles.
Wow. Okay.
The last lines on the email made Thane squelch the urge to laugh out loud, not wanting to undermine the stern tone he’d taken with his staff, but, man, Arik was hilarious. He listed ten reasons why he’d be a better choice than Thane to go on the HSN broadcast with Chef Ferico. Every single bullet point ended with “because I really want to sample all the foods made that day.”
Literally, a man after his own heart.
Out of nothing more than the need to make Arik squirm, he decided to tease him. Thane quickly typed how glad he was for Arik’s effort, along with a note that they should at least flip a coin for the TV slot. He chose tails. Grinning, he pushed send as his cell phone began to vibrate in his pocket. With a glance at the screen, he saw Julian’s name and swiped to accept the call.
“Hey,” he said, putting the call on speaker before fishing his Bluetooth out of the computer bag and hooking it around his ear.
“Hey, yourself. You still coming here?”
“I am. It’ll be a few weeks though. Everything okay?”
“Of course, you know I run a tight ship, but I might have to break protocol.”
Thane began shaking his head no as if Julian could see him.
“I can almost hear you shaking your head no.”
“That’s because that’s what I’m doing. Absolutely no rule breakage, Julian. You do it one time and that opens the door…”