“Blaze, that’s an amazing idea!” I grabbed his bicep and shook it like a crazy person. “You’re getting me more and more excited by the minute.”
“This is a great idea, Chef. Seriously, it’s exactly what we need.”
Now that he was on board with this idea, I had to sell him on the actually crazy thought I’d had after all of my bridal brunches over the weekend.
“Okay, there’s something else. And this might be off the rails, so feel free to tell me I’m totally bonkers. I mean, I might still make you do it. But you have permission to tell me I’m straight up crazy.”
“You’re making me nervous.”
I laughed, but it was slightly hysterical. “Right now, we’re only open for supper. But we’re open for supper every day of the week. I’m thinking about closing on Mondays, making the supper hours more exclusive.”
“Have you talked to your brother about that?” He didn’t look convinced at all.
“Annnnnd.” I tried not to laugh at the nervous look on his face. “What if we closed for supper on Saturday and Sunday nights. And instead opened up those mornings to brunch.”
“Wait, what?”
I explained again, slower this time. “We do a French brunch instead of supper on the weekends. We could do more varieties of crepes and quiche and Austrian pancakes and a wide selection of pastries. We could offer some fruity, breakfast-y cocktails. And bring back a breakfast charcuterie with a cold meat, baguette and brie plate.”
“It’s different…”
“And there’s nothing like it in this section of the city. I did some research and drove around this morning. There are no dine-in breakfast spots around. We’d be the only one.”
“Do you think it could supplement losing Saturday and Sunday night?”
“We’re within walking distance of three churches and a strip mall. Okay, the strip mall is a bit of a drive, but not much. Plus, they’re building that apartment complex and movie theater not far from here. We make money on the weekends, but not enough. I think a brunch would amplify our presence and bring in a new set of consumers. It would be up to us to make the dinner option good enough for people to want to spend their money here all week long and to make the brunch option good enough that we could make up for the loss of Saturday night. But I think we can do it.”
He still didn’t look convinced. And I couldn’t blame him. Changing up a menu was infinitely easier than going from supper to brunch two days of the week. But I had the best feeling about it. And as it stood right now, Bianca was drowning.
If I didn’t do something drastic, we might lose her completely. And then what would I do? I didn’t think anyone would hire a head chef right after she bombed her last restaurant. Honestly, outside of my brother, there wasn’t a restaurant on the planet that would hire me for another EC job. I just wasn’t qualified for the position.
I could go back to sous chef somewhere. But I had the itchy feeling, now that I’d accepted this job, I had officially overqualified myself for the rest of the positions I was actually qualified for.
Which made me highly motivated to get Bianca back on her feet.
“Have you talked to Ezra about any of this?” Blaze asked, hesitation loud and clear in his tone.
Showing some teeth in my smile, I said, “I’m not Wyatt. Ezra gives me whatever I want. If I decide to take Bianca in this direction, it’s only a matter of when.” He flinched at the truth in my words and I knew I had to soften the news before I lost him completely. “But I can’t accomplish any of this without you and the rest of the staff. If you’re not on board with any of this, speak now or forever hold your peace. I can’t do this without you, Blaze.”
His expression softened as he looked around the kitchen he’d worked in way longer than me. “If you really think it will work, I’m willing to try anything.” When he turned back to look at me, his eyes were full of hope and gravity and concern. “What happens if it doesn’t work?”
“We could call it a trial run,” I suggested, wanting to give him a tangible solution. “And we could switch back to dinner any time we wanted.” He nodded slowly. “Or we could just work our asses off and make our own success.”
A small, confident smile broke free on his face. “I like that second option the most.”
I threw my hands in the air. “You are the actual best, Blaze!”
His smile grew. “You know you’re not like any other EC out there right?”
It was my turn to smile and be filled with something like hope and gravity and fear. “Is that a good thing?”
“I guess we’ll find out.”
He was right about that. But by the time the rest of the staff had filtered in and I’d pitched my vision to everyone, it felt like more than a dream. It felt like a possibility.
I brought in the white board I’d picked up at Walmart on the way into work and turned the morning meeting into a brainstorming session, letting everyone from sous chef to dishwasher give me their ideas.
Granted, they weren’t all amazing ideas. But there were plenty of good ones.
