The ranch was doing okay but it could become way better and she had a lot of plans to put into effect. Emma knew that the next few months she had ahead of her were going to be hectic but she was more than ready for it. She was determined to raise Price Emerald Ranch to greater heights.
The evening of the last day of her first month back at the ranch, Emma settled on the veranda with her grandfather for their regular teatime.
Maxwell breathed in the aroma of his sencha green tea and sipped. He sighed at the taste and smiled at his granddaughter, “I don’t know how you can make green tea taste so good, my dear. Anytime, I taste your tea, I think to myself that Maria has no business making green tea.”
Emma threw her head back and laughed. “You better not let her hear you, Gramps.”
He chuckled and took another sip. “So, what do you think of the ranch, the structure, the workforce, the finances?”
“I think that we are doing some things right but there are also the things we are doing wrong. I drew up a step-by-stepplan that we can work with. It still needs some tweaks done but we can go over it tomorrow and know how to move forward. But it all seems promising. I am more than sure that the ranch can do better. Right now, our hosting capacity is thirty but we can double that. There is so much land and space available to construct more accommodations and put in more activities. And the staff, we need to work on them, retraining as well as hiring more hands.”
“It seems we will be having some busy months ahead of us,” Maxwell mused.
“True that, but it is all bound to pay up. Yeah, we will need to spend money to do all these but we are bound to make it all back. And think of the fact that we will be sharing what we love, the ranch life and all the beauties that we can find out here with so many more people,” an excited Emma told him.
Her grandfather laughed and he nodded, “I trust you, my dear. I am looking forward to all we will accomplish together.”
“So am I, Gramps, so am I.”
Chapter Nine
Three years later
“As we already know, the new accommodations will be opening up in two weeks. We have a lot of things to put together and most important of all is our workforce,” Emma was saying when the large doors of the conference room creaked open. A dozen pair of eyes turned towards the entrant. It was Hilda, the head of the cleaning staff. She smiled sheepishly as she hurried to the remaining empty seat.
“I’m sorry I'm late everyone.”
There were buzzes of acceptance and Emma said, “It’s fine, Hilda. We started not too long ago. The day is already over so I'll try to make this quick so we can all return to our homes. Basically, we have to decide on what we need to put in place. As you already know, the ranch has two types of accommodations, the cabins and the main lodge. The main lodge has thirty rooms and last year, we added the cabins, with their varying number of rooms.”
“Yes. Currently, we have sixteen cabins, made up of five four-bedroom cabins, three three-bedroom cabins, five two-bedroom cabins and three one-bedroom cabins, altogether forty-two rooms,” Uma, one of the floor managers imputed.
“Exactly, and so right now, the holding capacity of the ranch is seventy-two rooms. As you well know, we had to up our staff last year when we expanded the ranch’s accommodations. Such is going to be the case again, you see, the new accommodations are ready and we have the ten rooms in the new lodge and the twenty new cabins that we are adding are divided evenly, that is, five four-bedroom cabins, five three-bedroom cabins, five two-bedroom cabins and five one-bedroom cabins,” Emma continued.
“So the fifty rooms of the new cabins and the ten rooms of the new lodge, all equates to sixty, placing our holding capacity at a hundred and thirty-two. Wow, we’ve come a long way,” Jenna, the other floor manager said.
“Indeed we have,” Hilda said, “And that number is only the average figure. Remember that every cabin has a roll-out bed? So sometimes, we get more than the number of rooms. All the same, Miss Emma, I don’t think new staff is needed, at least for my end. Last year when we expanded, from the five maids, we added seven new maids. Right now, there are twelve maids and I am more than sure we can handle a hundred and thirty-two rooms.”
Emma shook her head. “You are saying eleven rooms to a maid, I don’t think that’s fair. Right now, it’s six rooms to a maid and we should try to leave it so.”
“Nonetheless, Miss Emma, you know as well that all the rooms are not always filled all at once. Of the seventy-two we have currently, the highest we’ve been booked at a time is sixty. Stay here at the ranch is five to six days so we can definitely handle it all.”
“You see, now that’s where you are missing it, Hilda. The sixty new rooms are going to be long-stay.”
“Long-stay? As in, longer than six days?”
“Exactly, which means that we will be having a higher patronage and more work on our hands as the duration lengthens. Do you understand now why we need to boost our workforce?”
“I see your point, and you are right,” Hilda said with a nod.
“I need more kitchen and wait staff then,” Laurie, the ranch’s chef said. “And the bar needs proper staff.”
Emma chuckled. “We are coming to it, Laurie.” Her green eyes flitted around the room, taking in all the section heads. “I promise that this ranch is going to continue being the conducive work environment that it is. Tell me all you need and we’ll work towards it. It’s only through our collective efforts that we can bring the ranch to greater heights. Now Laurie, what do you think about getting not just more kitchen and wait staff but also two sous-chefs?”
Laurie’s eyes lit up and she clapped her hands in delight. “That’s fabulous, Emma.”
“And bartenders. Can we not forget the bartender? We need a couple of new ones, the one we have now is even more drunk than the patrons ever are,” Jenna said, wrinkling her nose.
“I agree with Jenna on that one,” Pete, the head of security said gruffly. “I have had to pull that bum away from angry patrons several times. He needs to go.”
