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THE BEAR HAD OFFICIALLY OPENED.
It was wild. Stressful. Chaotic. Terrifying. Everyone both wanted to celebrate whilst also pull their hair out.
The restaurant was fully booked up. Every single table occupied that evening – whether by friends and family, or strangers. The atmosphere was bustling. Laughter and chatter mixing with the sound of cutlery scraping against plates and moans of delight when someone took a bite of the delicious food. Food that was so far removed from what it used to be. The Bear was nothing like The Beef. The food posher – more refined. Presentation taken care of. More wait staff to serve. It had become a proper restaurant rather than just a take-out place for a quick, cheap sandwich.
Inside the kitchen the chaos continued. But now, it seemed to be more contained than it had ever been before. There was no yelling of anger, no fighting, just working in a line – like professionals. Everyone wore the same uniform, white button up chef coat with matching white apron that had The Bear stitched above the pocket.
Richie worked more than he ever had at the restaurant before. His black suit was perfectly ironed and fit his body like it was meant to. Long gone were the t-shirts and baggy Adidas tracksuit pants. He stood in the corner, overlooking the area. His heart feeling genuinely full at how full the place was – and how everyone seemed to be smiling. His eyes briefly glanced over to where Sugar had gone to sit down to talk to Pete, when he spotted her furiously writing something down on a pad. The two of them had rekindled a friendship – actually getting along lately and working together better than either of them could imagine. So, as soon as Richie spotted that, he walked over to her to receive the note.
Then he continued walking by, passing it over to Neil before walking to the table Jimmy sat at with his wife.
His wife nodded, "Really," She smiled, assuring Richie.
"And, hey, hey, hey. You are looking sharp, young man."
Richie grinned, "Well, thank you very much, Unc."
Richie moved onto the next table, spotting Donnie Madia – one of the most famous restaurant owners in Chicago that Richie had sent an invite to after having met him through Ever.
"Donnie, thanks so much for coming by," Richie greeted him with a firm handshake.
