I'm OK!

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I must have had eyes the size of saucers, when we were walking through the warehouse. Wonderful scents everywhere, like walking through a cookie dough factory. Which, come to think of it, it actually was a cookie dough factory.  Or cupcake dough.  Bread dough.  Just lots of dough. And it was here that I saw how badly the crisis had hit Samuel. There were rows and rows of empty storage shelves. There were several machines, covered with plastic, not being used. What must have been a very impressive organization was now just a shadow of itself.

Samuel showed us the loft offices, which were rather spacious, but most of all, clean. There were 2 separate smaller offices, and the rest was more like a large office with separate desks in them.

‘Here we had our administration, our accountant, and someone for organizing all the logistics. I had to let all of them go... Now, my niece, Wendy, she takes care of most of it. I do the accounting part,  but it’s a headache getting this all organized. I still have to have a real accountant check it for me…’

He continued his tour through the warehouse, the actual bakery, and we ended up in the shop again.

‘Wendy, I’d like to introduce you to Shawna and George, from the cupcakes.’

This apparently was enough to make her smile her million watt smile, and her presence lit up the shop. I could see why Samuel had kept her in his employment,  besides the whole ‘being related’ part.

‘Mark is out, he usually starts very early in the morning, then gets in the van to do the few deliveries we have, and heads home. 6 days a week. I wouldn’t know what to do without him.’

I sensed some history here, but I suppose that he wouldn’t share this with complete strangers like me.

‘As I said earlier, if you need space quickly and cheap, this may be the place for you. And…’ I sensed that Samuel was going to continue his whole rant again, seemingly anxious to leave a good impression to keep his company running. I had to admit, it took some guts to propose this to us, but when I had looked around, I could see that the place had potential. I interrupted his train of thought…

‘Samuel, if you could give George and me a few minutes, I’d like to discuss your proposal with him.’

‘Oh, err… of course… here, you know what, go to the offices upstairs, and you’ll have all the privacy you need.’

‘Thank you. We’ll get back to you shortly…’

On our way to the offices, I had another good look around. I know first impressions count, but second opinions do as well. I could see that the building was maintained properly, no broken windows or light bulbs. There was no nasty draft; it was actually quite pleasant despite the horrible weather outside. A lot of space was going to waste here, and I could see the advantages of having our warehouse and offices here.

‘George, I know what I think. But before I tell you what I think, I’d like to ask for your opinion. Care to share it with me?’

His eyes lit up brightly, like I had just given him a puppy. Seriously, I only asked what his opinion was..

‘Well, I think this is an opportunity for both parties. Yes, obviously it would save Samuel from having to relocate to a downsized location. If he could sell the place for sufficient funds at all, that is. It would save us a lot of time and money on transport and distribution, so we’d have even more freshness in our products. We wouldn’t have to hire someone to organize all the logistics, no agents’ fees for finding this place, share the costs of insurance and amenities. I do think that this is good solution.’

I nodded. ‘Anything to add to that George?’

‘Errr… not really, no…’

‘Well, mostly I agree with you. I do have to say that this is a good location, all your points are valid. Of course, we would be working more closely together with the baker of our products, which I consider an advantage as well. We could use his distribution channel, his material for deliveries, maybe even some of his previous employees. Right?’

‘Right?’

‘See, George,  that would make it like having to run the business together with Samuel. I’m a bit wary about this. Having to share the resources, even though this sounds appealing, could form a potential problem in the long run when it comes to availability, who pays for replacements, maintenance, etc. Now, don’t get me wrong, this is an excellent opportunity, and after what I’ve seen today, I think we need to look into the future a bit further. We could take it a step beyond working together and discuss with Alice what are the possibilities for a future joint cooperation. We could either start a joint venture, or buy the place in the long run. So I want to make sure that we have our lawyers look into this matter and see what are the options. With me so far?’

‘Absolutely. What about the short term though?’

‘I think that after we check with Alice and the lawyers, we have a meeting with Samuel and go through the details with him. I would recommend we start with a lease of a year, effective immediately. This will give us plenty of opportunities to get organized, start up what we want, and see how far we can get this. This will also give Samuel some time to see what he wants. We should play open books with him. Tell him what our intentions are, what possible actions could follow, and what we need from him to cooperate. And then make sure he lets his lawyers check it for him. I don’t know how this type of business in done in the UK, but in the USA I would even check with my lawyer before buying a pair of shoes…’

It took a second before George realized I made a joke…  Again, he gave me the puppy smile.

Odd.

‘What will we do now then?’

‘We’ll tell Samuel to reserve some time for us tomorrow morning, around 10. This will give Alice and the team some time to go through things. Don’t worry him, keep it positive. After that, I’d like to get to the hotel and catch up on some sleep.’

‘Excellent. The wardrobe is already waiting for you. Do you want me to make dinner reservations for you?’

‘Thank you George, I will get some room service if I’m hungry. I’ve got work to do as well, so I probably won’t leave the room. Can you arrange to have me picked up at 9 tomorrow morning?’

‘I will do that myself, my house is only a few minutes from the hotel.’

With that, we made our way over to Samuel and made an appointment for the next day. He must have sensed we were in a positive mood, considering we’d be coming back the next day, so his odd eyes smiled as we left the place. And of course it was still raining.