PIMP (Completed)

thirty-four: P I M P

SIX MONTHS LATER

EGYPT CUNNINGHAM

"Boss, we're borderline over capacity and the waiting list had surpassed it's quantity." My hostess ran into the kitchen to let me know.

"Again?"

"Again." She nodded with a grin.

"Alright, shut it down. Let the last person in the line know that they are the cut off. Get Jerry from the back to regulate and make sure know one else joins in." I glanced up at the time before me as I finished plating a steak, putting it right under the overhead heater. "Order!" I yelled before walking around to wash my hands, "don't forget to update online that we are closed due to the rush. I don't want anyone wasting their time and coming if we aren't able to serve them."

"Got it." Madison nodded before heading to the back to go get our bus boy, Jerry.

"How are we looking on that Lobster mac and Maple Salmon order?" I dried my hands off while looking up at the screen displaying the orders.

"Everything's good over here!" my father and his assistant yelled out.

"And Kyle you're good over there now, or do you need me to continue helping you?"

"I should be good." The young chef said while placing another couple of plates under the heater. "Isaac comes back from his break in the next thirty, I should be able to survive until then."

"I like that, don't forget to ask me if you feel overwhelmed." I tossed the paper towel into the garbage and cleared off some of the completed orders from the screen before me. "Bronx, you got two orders sitting, ready to go!" I said towards the waitress that had been too occupied, laughing with her colleagues to notice.

"Oh shit," she placed her phone into her back pocket and grabbed a tray so that she could retrieve them.

"You know the five-minute rule, come on man." I reminded her of the mandate that this restaurant carried. Here at Cloud 9, we made it our policy that food had to be out of the kitchen within five minutes or else it would have to be remade. This normally coming out of the pockets of whichever server was the reason behind that. We had extra food runners like Bronx who were put in place to help the busy servers out, depending on how busy and it made the job a lot easier.

"My apologies E, it won't happen again."

Just as she made her exit, my mother made her entrance rolling in a cart of what looked to be empty desserts. "We're done already?" I asked raising both my brows.

"What did you expect? Don't you see that crowd out there?"

"Damn!" I ran my hand down the side of my face, "no matter how we overprepare it still just isn't enough."

"Don't worry, I got Louise whipping something up in the back. It's a good thing we prepped for tomorrow. If anything, I'll just stay late to remake the ones for tomorrow, this time making much more of course."

"Thanks mom."

"Don't even sweat it, if anything this just means we're doing better than expected." With a wink she made her way into the back and I continued helping out with whichever line I noticed was backed up. Whether it be the pasta bar, salad bar, seafood or meats; I had a hand in everything because I made it my duty to go over and above for my customers. It was my goal and aim to leave them with a long-lasting impression that would bring them back for more.

In fact, over here at Cloud 9 we didn't even invest in advertising nor did we do any promotions. Opening day, we had a line up that wrapped around the building, every day after was the exact same. I believed it was due to the media coverage around Priya's case along with Jailah and Cairo making regular visits; making sure to get it on their Instagram stories. Between the both and just general traffic, we exceeded past our set goals every single night.