ArchivedLogs:Business Plan

Business Plan
Delicious, delicious business plans
Dramatis Personae Hanna, Jayna, Melinda	2013-09-21 Plans begin to form over dinner
Location <NYC> Melinda and Tag's Apartment - Lower East Side
The apartment is composed of four bedrooms, two baths, a living room and an entry space attached to the kitchen, near the door. That kitchen is covered in tile, from floor to countertop to back splash on the wall, all white, with light, thin blue stems and flowers. The cabinets are newish, with blond wood kept meticulously clean of fingerprints. It is also outfitted with an excellent coffee maker, or two, with all the accoutrement to go with it. The living room is mainly furnished by found pieces, two chairs and a couch. None of it was constructed at the same time, but it all has been reupholstered with the same cloth, the surfaces colored similarly and with a regular weave. The wood has all been refinished as well, dark and able to hide stains well. The walls are colorful, but that goes with the territory of having a mutant roommate with Tag's ability. Today, it is a sage green with some abstract blue and orange intermingling in different places. Tomorrow it will be different. A cursory inspection shows that five people live in this four bedroom apartment, so it's difficult to pick out what belongs to any one person. With her work week finally over, Mel wants to unwind like a normal adult. She invited Hanna and Jayna over earlier in the week and has made dinner. It's their first time over, so she's made sure to make the place as clean as possible. She's even dressed up for the occasion, throwing on a flowy, blue, asymmetrical skirt, one that shows just a little more right knee than left, a hold over from older fashion trends. Her shirt is a white peasant's top with embroidery near the hems, but far enough away to not be trimming. And her playlist of the night? Late 80s music. Right now, 'Hungry Like the Wolf' is floating through the air. Mel's in the kitchen, her head bopping along to it as she leans against the counter, grating ginger root into a cup, her kettle starting to rumble, almost ready to boil, but there is no whistling yet. A long work week over, just in time to start in on the next one - but there is always time to enjoy a post work dinner with friends. As such, Hanna and Jayna make their way towards Melinda's appartment building, directly from the bakery from the looks of it, with Hanna carrying a crisp white box of assorted pastries from the bakery under one arm. The other arm is linked through Jayna's arm as they approach the door to the building - Jayna is herself carrying a shimmery bag with a bottle of wine in it, as well as a small metal looking bag. Both women are dressed tastefully, as they often are seen at the bakery - Hanna in a cheery rust colored, long sleeved day dress, belted around her waist with a thick black belt, sensible flats in black, and her long hair twisted up and held in place with a series of picks; Jayna wears a billowing wrap dress in a deep emerald green, contrasting with the fall colors wrapped around her folliage. They buzz the appropriate appartment number, heading up to Melinda's appartment once granted entrance - Hanna gently knocks on the door, a cheery smirk on her lips at the musical stylings coming from inside. Melinda buzzes the pair up before returning to the kitchen to pour hot water over the ginger bits in her cup, adding some lemon and sugar in the time it takes them to get upstairs. She also peeks inside the oven to eye the stuffed squashes roasting inside, inhaling the spiced maple scent and then closing the oven once more, eyeing the timer. Yep. Still counting down. Good. She stirs her ginger tea before taking it out to the dining room in anticipation of her friends' arrival. Her cup rests on the table as she heads to the door and opens in. "Hanna. Jayna. Glad you could come. How is it out there? Still warmish or do you think it'll rain?" The music has shifted to Billy Jean by Michael Jackson. Hanna smiles cheerily when Melinda opens the door, offering a happy, enthusiastic wave in greeting, although she has to let go of Jayna's arm to do so. Jayna chuckles and offers a slight bow of her head in response to the greeting, shifting her cargo to both hands once she has them free. "Oh! Thank you for having us over, Melinda. We brought goodies - because I honestly don't know how to contribute anything else to a social call - cupcakes, cookies, a few brownies, and there should be some scones to go with tea or coffee in there too," Hanna offers happily, holding up the box as an example. "Getting too cold for my tropical blood - which, of course, means that the rest of you are quite comfortable," she adds with a snort and a grin. Jayna smiles, "I doubt it'll rain tonight, but there's supposedly some storms on the horizon for early tomorrow. And it is a wonderfully temperate last night of summer, so there is that at least. Despite what Hanna says - it is lovely outside right now." A chuckle and a gesture to her own parcels, "I figured you might like to try some. I've got a roasting machine for coffee - trying out my own blends, and I figured you would be an excellent one to ask for opinions." Melinda waves them in and closes the door once they are inside. "Oh, well, pastries are fine, Hanna. They kind of are your trademark at this point." She grins a little and takes the box from her and turns to Jayna, accepting the wine and coffee. "Thank you. I'd love to taste what you've roasted. Come on, take it easy in the living room or something. The food is almost done." She heads back to the kitchen to put the gifts down, "I figured that we could have sort of a season transition dinner. I've got some lovely bruschetta for the appetizer and some stuffed squash for dinner. Summer fading into fall." Hanna and Jayna step through when invited in, and Hanna offers a grin, "Well, yeah, I suppose it is. At the very least, it is what I'm good at. Jayna's had to suffer through my cooking enough to know why I went into pastry as a career." A brief pause by the door, "Do you want us to take our shoes off before we come in further? I know a lot of people are particular about that - just wanted to double check." Jayna responds to the statement with a roll of her eyes and a grin at Melinda, "Well, that sounds like an absolutely lovely spread, Mel. Had to believe fall is already here, though. Not sure quite where the summer vanished to." The leafy haired barista offers a glance up at her hair with a sigh, grinning slightly, "I've gotten good reviews so far, at least. Hope you like it." Jayna and Hanna proceed into the living room once instructed, Hanna offering with a happy smile, "Oh, the food smells absolutely amazing. Wow." "I tend to take my shoes off because I like the feel of bare feet, but you won't find an impeccably clean floor that has never had shoes on it." Melinda shrugs. "I mean, well, I vacuumed before you came. I just - I'm not as spotless as some." She gives a little embarrassed shrug and then moves to bring a tray of bruschetta out of the kitchen. She moves into the living room and sets it down on the coffee table for eating. She heads back to the dining room only for her mug of tea, then turns back to find a place to sit down. "Summer will be back, just like your leaves. I do have to say that the color looks nice on you. Kind of wish I was brave enough to dye my hair to match the seasons, like Jax does." Hanna kicks her shoes off as a matter of habit at this point, though Jayna apparently leaves hers on. "Oh, sorry. Force of habit, asking. It's a culture thing from around where I grew up, sorta just assume it's safer to ask and be told 'meh' than to tromp in with shoes on," she explains sheepishly, suddenly feeling bad for having asked. Hanna looks at the bread that is set down, smiling brightly, "Wow, Melinda, this looks awesome, and smells absolutely amazing." Jayna chuckles at the leaves comment, "They're still around, at least for now. Just changing colors, like a normal tree, I suppose. I won't be bald until some time closer to the first frost. That said, I am really sorry if I end up dropping a few leaves before we leave tonight. It happens at the most inopportune times." Hanna selects a piece of bruschetta from the tray, waiting for it to cool down, offering a grin and nod about the hair discussion, "I think you'd look lovely with some red or gold highlights in your hair. They do have some dyes that will just offer a little tint, without being a radical change. Decent place to start, though I can't say I've tried it myself." "Dig in - you know, cautiously." Melinda leans back in her chair and sips at the fragrant tea, letting her eyes flutter closed for a moment. "Sorry, I'll get drinks in a minute. I just want a quick sip." She listens quietly to the others speak, head tilting to the side. "Wait, really bald, or just without leaves? I honestly can't remember right now if I saw you in the winter before. I feel like you've always had the wispy branches." She takes another sip and smiles at Hanna. "Oh, I'm very low maintenance with my hair. I barely trim it. Just let it grow and grow. I'd probably have to invest in hair care if I started dying it, to counteract the damage, and that just seems unappealing to me." She takes another sip and then asks, "what would you like to drink?" Hanna accepts the invitation to dig in, gently blowing on the appetizer in her hands before taking a cautious bite, while Jayna takes a moment to explain, "Fully bald, by about Christmas or so. Leaves usually go by Thanksgiving, and the branches start getting brittle around then. We arrived here just before Spring started - so chances ar you haven't seen me in all my shiny headed glory yet." She has a laughing tone to her voice, and offers a resigned shrug to the whole thing, "I've gotten used to it at this point." Hanna, having finished her first few bites of bruchetta, offers a nod and happy smile, "I'm the same way. Can't really remember the last time I got a trim, let alone actually cut it appreciably. Just keeps going and going." She takes another bite of her bruchetta, grinning at Mel, "This is amazing bruchetta. Compliments to the chef. I think we're both good with water - did you need any help with anything?" "Bah. No help is needed. I just have to get two glasses of water." Melinda leans forward and places the mug on the table before getting up and heading back to the kitchen. She fills the glasses from a pitcher in the fridge, and then refills the filter side of that pitcher with water from the tap. When she comes back out, she hands the glasses to the two women. "So, strangely enough, I might have found a financial backer for that silly little speakeasy notion we had a while ago, Hanna." She moves back into the arm chair and pulls herself into a little ball with tea. "If you're still enticed by the idea." Jayna accepts the glass of water with a quiet grin and a bob of her head in thanks, before taking a long pull of the water. Hanna takes the offered glass of water, though she doesn’t immediately take a sip, holding on to the cool glass for a moment, “Thanks, Melinda.” The mention of a potential backer for the idea gets a curious raise of her eyebrow and she nods slowly, laughter in her voice, “A financial backer? For an openly mutant friendly establishment? Who did you have to blackmail to get /that/ sort of support?” She finally takes a sip of her water, smiling, “I’m still quite interested in the idea, just had not had the impetus to move forward yet. Any more thoughts on a location? Or does the backer in question have a preference on where this little venture is located? There are a few places I’ve seen around the city that would be a decent fit, possibly.” "The backer is a nice young man named Christian, who is angry at his parents for how they treat his mutant sister. He wants to fund a place where she could be safe and enjoy herself, partially because he cannot reach out to her anymore." Melinda explains briefly, but she sounds a little distracted as she does. "He's set up a fronting business that he funnels his shares in the family business into, which will give him the anonymity he needs, as he's sure the family won't like the business." She takes another long sip of her tea. "And no, he has no preference as to location. He just wants it to exist. He'll be checking in to make sure that we keep with out mission statement, but otherwise, the donations have no strings attached." She straightens out her legs and refocuses on the other women. "I'm still all for Chinatown or Alphabet city, if you've found anything good there. We are still making this somewhat secretive, right? It is some of the appeal." Hanna listens and nods, answering quietly, “I understand where he’s coming from, entirely.” There’s a knowing glance exchanged between Hanna and Jayna, “It’s a difficult thing, finding places people can be comfortable in their own skin, as it were, and even harder keeping them that way.” Hanna nods again, “I have a few leads in Chinatown, and a few more Alphabet City, possibly - but we want to be absolutely certain the area is safe for open mutants to be seen in. I thought TriBeCa was safe, but,” her voice trails off with a helpless shrug. “Secrecy is good - need to know basis, invitation, generally being quiet about it. Not necessarily passwords and bouncers - but building on that idea could be fun. Have a drink special available only if you know the password for the day,” she chuckles. “Have we yet pinned down the exact details of /what/ this thing will be, besides mutant friendly, and vaguely speakeasy themed?” Jayna listens as well, nodding, quietly contributing, “I know I’m not particularly business minded - but something else to consider is a willingness to hire visible mutants for staff. Bartenders, waitstaff, busboys, that sort of thing. Not give preference to, but, well, getting a job is hard enough when you look obvious.” The voice of experience talking, here, from the touch of exasperation in her tone, “It can be… reassuring, for lack of a better word, to see that sort of thing in a business. If we can do it, it would go over well with the target audience.” She then falls quiet again, sipping her water from the glass held in both hands. "Oh, definitely, Jayna. I know a few people who could actually use the work on top of it making our clientel more comfortable - my roommate Tove for one. Shane could definitely move to front of house, providing his dad approved of the change of venue." Melinda begins rattling through a short list of possibilites, wetting her lips when her enthusiasm dries them. "Of course, it would be their decision." She blushes a little and moves back to business. "We'd have to sell enough food or booze to break even, but both you and I have an idea of how to make food and coffee happen. We could keep it as a laid back cafe theme and keep the alcohol to a minimum for the time being, unless we wanted to go directly into the idea of opening a club. I... don't really want to just call it a replacement for Evolve, but that definitely left a huge hole in the market that needs to be filled. Hanna smiles at Melinda’s excitement, nodding, “I’ve got a few regular customers who have asked about employment before - depending on how big this gets, I don’t think we’ll have any trouble finding workers.” She rubs slightly at her chin, thinking, “I don’t know if we want to jump right into running a club as well. I’ve got bartending experience, but that brings with it a whole different atmosphere. Maybe stick with coffee shop, deli - we can probably keep the food offerings to sort of a satellite of Montagues and Happy Cakes - prepacked wraps, veggie trays, cakes, cookies, sandwiches, and the like, to go with coffee. Not necessarily too much on the kitchen side - possibly a way to heat up foods in a little mini oven or something?” She nibbles on another piece of bruchetta a bit, mulling over ideas, “I think free wifi would be nice, if we can swing it? Keep people there and drinking coffee longer, at least. Laid back, inviting cafe seems like the way to go, though.” "We could even combine our skills and make pizzas, Hanna. You supply the dough and I bring the toppings. We could do it." Melinda smiles as she snags a bit of bruschetta to nibble upon, now that her tea is less full. "Yeah. I guess we just need to write up a busines planc, pick a place, and work with our connections to get this up and running." She smiles to herself, turning that excited grin upon the other pair moments later. "Honestly, I can't wait to get this going." “Oh, wow, I haven’t made pizza in forever. That is an excellent idea - most people like some variety of pizza - and if nothing else, there can be wraps and suchforth to purchase for on the go,” Hanna says with a grin, nodding, though her grin fades slightly, “Not sure how well pizza and coffee fit together, though, since they both have rather strong smells.” She mulls over the ideas offered, “I think a coffee shop would be best - start with that, add some food offerings, and go from there. Evolve left a big gap in the life of people in the city, but I don’t think we want to expand too far too fast - we run the risk of attracting the attention that doomed Evolve.” She grimaces slightly at the memory, shaking her head, “Caution and discretion are probably best, at first.” "Yes. I agree." Melinda nods readily and munches thoughtfully, finishing off the bruschetta in her hand. "Sounds like we are on the same page and all we need to do is pick a name and move forward. I don't know if it should be a riff off of coffee puns, like most cafes seem to be, or if we should delve into 1920s themes. Do you have a..." There is a beeping sound in the kitchen, which draws Mel to her feet and carries her toward the kitchen. "Do you have feelings either way or a name in mind already?" “Names? Oh, crap. Right. You have no idea how long it took me to come up with “Happy Cakes” for the bakery,” Hanna says with a hearty laugh, before finishing off her own bite of bruschetta. “Everyone does coffee puns. On the one hand, they can be great, and everyone does them - what’s the big deal about one more? On the other hand… 1920s is a rich source of material,” Hanna muses, while Jayna just sits quietly, apparently lost in thought over the idea of names for the shop. “Eh, we’ll mull it over during dinner. Maybe there’s some middle grounds between bad puns and flapper dresses,” she snorts slightly, although Jayna looks at her, almost unsure if that was meant as a pun or not. "Okay, well, we should move ourselves to the dining room table because I'm going to plate these suckers and then we can eat." Melinda is already pulling plates out of the cabinet and setting them down next to the oven, pulling out the tray of acorn squash and setting it down on the unused burners. Then, she carefully moves them over to the plates. "Probably be easier to have a very boring name - to keep with the mystery and the secrecy… so people don't notice if others are talking about it." “Just Another Coffee Pun?” Hanna offers, shrugging as she moves the water glasses to the table. “Meh, maybe we should start up a poll - ‘which name makes you suspect a secret mutant friendly speakeasy coffee shop the least?’” Hanna says with a snort, pulling out a chair for Jayna to get seated, before settling in herself. Talk of names, plans, and other, slightly less secretive talk continues well on into the night, with the three women trading stories of working in the food industry and life in general. Perhaps, by the end of the evening, there might even be a name and business plan settled on for the crazy idea taking shape.