Rye shakes his head. ‘Not yet.’
My mind races and comes to a screeching halt in Byron’s hotel suite. ‘They surely aren’t in his room?’
Rye pulls a face. ‘No, nothingthatbad. They went for a pre-dinner walk along the beach.’
Kit takes a swig from his bottle and gets hold of the bar menu. ‘Anyone fancy a snack while we wait for them to reappear?’
Rye grins. ‘Perhapsnotthe seaweed salad this time.’
I’d already eaten but I’m always hungry. ‘Chips would be nice to nibble?’ I’m imagining how this upmarket bar will serve them. Maybe in a whelk shell? Or in a hand-hewn driftwood bowl?
Rye’s straight in. ‘I’m afraid Chef doesn’t do chips.’
I let out a sigh of disappointment. ‘If the restaurant is rammed, I can understand that.’
Kit frowns. ‘Except it isn’t. Given current progress with hotel occupancy Rye is going to be an OAP before he’s free to go out.’
Rye rolls his eyes. ‘That’s sad but true. Since the first flurry of freebies we’ve been running close to empty. We aren’t even picking up local business.’
I’m the last person up for helping High Tides, but this is such bad news for Plum, I’m going to push this. ‘So canyoumake changes to help that, Rye?’
Rye purses his lips. ‘It’s entirely my responsibility, but when I’ve put in so much effort getting the place up and running it’s hard to pinpoint where the problem is, let alone decide how to tackle it.’
I’m looking around, speaking as I’ve found it. ‘The ambience is great, the staff and treatments are lovely, the hot tubs are fab, and the price point goes with the territory.’ I hesitate as I work out how best to say it. ‘Any negative comments I’ve encountered have centred on the food.’
Kit nods at Rye. ‘That’s true. It’s great to have a cutting-edge kitchen, but there’s very little on offer we’d willingly eat ourselves.’
Rye blows out his cheeks. ‘David’s vision was so pure, but clearly Cornwall isn’t as ready to detox as we imagined.’ He pauses as his phone beeps, then shakes his head as he reads the message. ‘That was David. He and your mum are eating at The Harbourside, and they’ll get a taxi home later. When the owner can’t face eating at his own hotel, that says a lot.’
My heart goes out to Rye because he looks so crestfallen. ‘You’ve nailed it for the people wanting an experience focusing on health and abstinence, but anyone visiting the website who’s looking for indulgence will take one look at the photo of kelp flatbread, and book elsewhere.’
I’ve pored over both their websites these last few weeks, and I know how a single image can make or break a business.
Rye looks doubtful. ‘The hedonist market might not be what David was aiming for, but it would certainly help our bottom line.’
‘It would only be until you get going.’ I’m working out how to make this better without completely ruining their concept. ‘If you have a space that’s slightly apart from the rest you could offer hidden treats there without compromising your original ethos. If you add even one mouth-watering photo to your website, it might translate into bookings.’
Kit laughs. ‘A space at a distance – that sounds a lot like The Hideaway, Floss.’
This really isn’t me touting for business. ‘Hopefully you’ll get a lot more guests here than I can fit at mine.’
Rye narrows his eyes as he looks at Kit. ‘We could use the Shingle Studio as our “spoil yourself” area. It was meant for yoga, but so far they’ve been running that on the beach or in the Pilates lounge.’
Kit nods. ‘That would work. It would make sense to test the idea before you make any big in-house changes. You could always get the scones from…’ he stops to wink ‘…our usual supplier?’
Rye turns to me. ‘Would you be interested?’
I’m opening and closing my mouth in shock at where we’ve landed. It might be the last thing I planned, but there’s no time for wavering, I need to seize this before he changes his mind. ‘Clemmie’s the afternoon tea specialist, but I’m sure we’d be able to get the basics up and running pretty quickly.’
There’s a smile lilting around Kit’s lips. ‘Cake stacks would go down well too. And you could design some special puddings to have in High Tides cups.’
I’m on a roll here. ‘Why stop there? We could do cocktails too!’
Rye grins at me. ‘This sounds a lot like me setting up my own personal pantry.’
I can’t argue with that. ‘You’ve got great taste. If you like it, the chances are that customers will too.’
Kit laughs. ‘We’ll have to rename it the Pleasure Dome.’ He looks at Rye. ‘See, I told you she was good.’
