kiss_it_better (kiss_it_better) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-06-22 00:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, audrey, vala mal doran |
Who: Vala and Audrey
When: Early June
Where: Baxter Bakery
What: Meeting and planning
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
Vala was excited, she loved cake. And this afternoon was a veritable heaven for a cake lover since she would be tasting some of the wares at Audrey’s stall so she could potentially use her in any events she was planning.
Audrey was excited to meet this woman, as she both wanted to show off her goods in the idea of drumming up more business, and she wanted to pick Vala’s brain about throwing some sort of gala at the bakery. A big party, to celebrate... something. Anything. She just wanted a party.
Anyway, she had samples set up, and had given Vala instructions to come to her table at the far end of the counter in the cafe. That’s where they could snack, sample, and talk business.
Vala looked up at the shop sign to confirm that she was in the right place and that her phone’s GPS hadn’t sent her the wrong way again. Smiling to herself, she took her sunglasses off and slid them back onto her head before heading into the shop.
Audrey had the things set up on the far table, but one of her baristas needed help with the espresso machine. Baxter Bakery was an all-service cafe, so they had to have that machine in tip top condition. Audrey moved over to help her employee with the machine (turns out it just needed to be filled with espresso beans) and then wandered back over to her table.
The girl behind the counter would send Vala over if the woman asked for Audrey.
Vala smiled at the woman who came to greet her and was directed over to a table with the baked goods arranged on it. She purposefully hadn't had breakfast, anticipating sampling a variety of cakes and rolls. It was going to take more than her daily yoga and pilates routine to get the calories she was about to take on out of her system.
She sat down in front of the table, looking around curiously for the woman who she had been told ran the place. The woman who showed her to her seat was nice enough, but didn't have the demeanour of someone who ran a business. Ok...I guess I'll get started, Vala thought to herself.
Audrey came over a moment or two later, wearing a bright smile and her frilly apron. The rest of the employees had rather dull ones on, but Audrey’s was flamboyant. Much like her outfit. She looked as if she’d stepped straight out of an episode of really, really old television. From the 1950’s.
“Hi! Sorry, I was helping my girls with the espresso machine.” She said, wiping her hands on a towel. Then she reached one of them forward to shake the other woman’s hand. “I’m Audrey Baxter.”
"Ah," Vala shook Audrey's hand with a smile. "That's ok, I'm Vala Mal Doran," she looked her up and down with a nod. "Loving the style," she referred to the girl's apron.
“Hello, Vala.” Audrey said, giving her a smile. “Ooh, thank you.” Audrey gave a little twirl. She always looked as if she walked straight out of a 1950’s diner. She would have looked absolutely in place with a big bubblegum bubble and on a pair of roller skates.
Audrey slipped into the chair opposite Vala’s. “I see you found the pastries that I had set out for you. What do you think?”
“Beautiful,” Vala complemented, raising a pain au chocolat to her lips, a personal favourite of hers. She smiled blissfully as she bit into the chocolate pastry and hummed her satisfaction. “This one,” she lifted the pastry up. “This one is really good,” she smiled.
Audrey beamed. “Absolutely my favorites. If you can’t tell,” she added, patting her tummy. Truthfully, Audrey wasn’t all that pudgy. She wasn’t a stick, either, but she was quite a bit less fat than a lot of women would have been in her position--surrounded by sweets and pastries all day. “I’m so glad you like it.”
“No offense,” Vala started, then quickly lifted a hand as she realised a flake of pastry sat on her lip. “But, if all your pastries are as good as this, how are you and your staff not the size of houses?” she laughed.
Audrey laughed, too, joining in with her. “That’s a very good question. We should have a treadmill in the back.” She grinned. Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea. Maybe she should put one in the back room. She thought on that for a moment, then gave her attention back to Vala.
“So, I’m thinking about putting together a gala celebration here at the bakery. I have no idea why or what for, except that my customers and employees deserve a big party. What do you think?”
“Sounds excellent,” Vala smiled as she wiped her fingers on a nearby napkin. “I can do that if you want to keep it a ‘family’ affair. Or we could send out an all round invitation to people in the area to get them in to try products, get to know their local bakery and promote yourself,” she suggested, then thought about it. “Or we could do both,” she joked.
“Well, I don’t think both is out of the question,” Audrey thought aloud. “It’d be wonderful to invite the community in... perhaps to showcase the bakery and its employees?” She offered. “And the wares and services, of course.”
“Precisely,” Vala smiled. “We could hold the big showcase and then a few days later a thank you party for the staff and suppliers,” she suggested, unable to stop herself from reaching out for the cinnamon swirl that sat looking at her from across the table.
The pastries were there for Vala to sample, anyway. Audrey grinned a bit more brightly when she saw the other woman was enjoying herself. Audrey loved to cook for people, loved to make good food that she knew people would enjoy. Vala was obviously enjoying herself. “Perhaps some way to include local talent? Artwork, musicians?”
“Great idea!” Vala grinned. “There must be loads of artists wanting to get involved in a project like this! We could make it a proper community event, get the locals involved,” Vala couldn’t help but gesture to the world outside of the shop excitedly.
“I would absolutely love that. I’ll start putting feelers out. I can use that Valarnet to contact people, I can post something up... a sign-up sheet, or posters...” Audrey was really excited now, getting all sorts of ideas. “What do you think?”
“Sounds great,” Vala smiled. “I hear there’s a lot of talent around here and let’s face it, we’re in LA, someone’s bound to be good,” she joked. “So, obviously, the catering’s all under control,” she gestured to Audrey with a grin. “Entertainment’s been talked about...drinks? Would you want to serve drinks yourself? Or bring in a bartending get-up? Alcoholic? Non-alcoholic? What’s your poison?”
“We don’t have a liquor license, so if we went the alcohol route it’d have to be beer and wine only.” Audrey said. “And we’ve got the espresso machine, so we can make drinks to order. I’m sure we could hire a catering crew to come in here and work the machine, the magic, so that my girls can just be party guests for the night.”
“Not to worry,” Vala held out a hand. “We don’t have to have alcohol, in fact, we could use it as an advertising point. If you’re alright with getting some baristas in, we can give your girls the night off but still promote your business,” she suggested.
“That sounds lovely. A good idea. Safe, clean fun. We could even do some sort of theme, couldn’t we? Like... perhaps Oldies. The shop’s got an old jukebox, maybe we’ll do a Swingin’ Sixties theme or a Boppin’ Fifties one.”
“Jukebox?!” Vala grinned, turning to look around the place to see it. “That’s an amazing idea! Swing sixties would totally fit with the whole shop,” she gestured.
Audrey beamed. “It was a gift when I decided to open up the place. I’m surprised it made it through the fire.” In a different location, in its first year, there had been a fire at the shop that nearly ruined Audrey’s dream of owning and operating her own bakery. Thankfully it wasn’t her fault, there was insurance money, and a change in location didn’t kill the business. That was several years ago now, though. “There’s some great music from that era. I daresay we’ve got our soundtrack covered if we go that route.”
“There was a fire here?” Vala asked, incredulous. There was no way you could tell. “So this shop’s a bit like a phoenix rising from the ashes!” she half-joked as she gazed around the shop. “I wonder if we could work with that...” she mumbled to herself as she started thinking again.
“No no, our previous location.” Audrey said, giving her a grin. “But yes, the business definitely rose from the ashes.” She was beaming now, proud of her business. Though she wasn’t sure she wanted to drudge up the past fire. It might not be great for business... “I dunno, it feels like such a long time ago!”
“That is an amazing story for the history of your business,” Vala nodded, smiling as she reached for her glass of water. “Maybe that could be for a future event,” she winked, not a woman to always pick up on subtlety straight away.
“I’ll put together a history... perhaps I’ll get some old newspaper clippings and photos and put together a presentation. That way everyone can see how far we’ve come!” Audrey suggested, breaking into a smile. “I’ll decorate the place with information, so people can have things to look at while we all mingle.”
“Great idea!” Vala felt like she was bursting with ideas for this party. It happened a lot, she would get inspired and find it hard not to take over. Reminding herself that it was not her party was a regular part of Vala’s planning routine, so much so that she could probably hire an assistant just to remind her of that fact. “It could be like a walk through the history of the shop and into its future,” Vala considered it for a second. “Or is that too corny?”
“No, I like it!” Audrey said, smiling. “But maybe it can be... a history of bakeries in general?” She thought aloud. “Like... we could do some research... I could task my employees, too, to help me research it. How has the bakery-slash-coffee-shop evolved over time? With a focus on this particular business and it’s future.” They could talk about the rise and decline of internet cafes, how the individually brewed cup of coffee changed the way Americans drank coffee forever, where they think the business might go over time. It sounded fascinating to Audrey, but maybe she was the only one who had interest in that sort of thing?
Vala smiled and nodded as she listened to Audrey talk. "I love listening to people who are passionate about what they do," she admitted. "If you think you can direct your staff towards the right sort of research then go for it," she smiled. "You never know who might come to the event, there may be investors for you!"
“That would be amazing!” Audrey had been toying around with the idea of expanding to a second location. She wasn’t sure she was ready for it yet. But expanding her wholesale side of the business was also an option. She would love to sell more pastries, breads and other baked goods to restaurants and supermarkets in the area. She didn’t want things to get watered down, though, or for her practices to get lost in the shuffle between locations. It was a toss up.
“So, when should we aim for? I’d like to start getting my girls ready.” Audrey said, pulling out her phone to punch some notes into her calendar.
“Well,” Vala took out her BlackBerry and opened up the calendar. “Would July 13th work for you? Should give us enough time to get decorations and supplies together.”
“That sounds perfect.” Audrey said, clicking open the calendar and flipping to the day. “I’ll start hyping it up in here, and letting my employees know about it. I’m sure they’ve all got some good ideas, too.” She clicked her phone off once she had the note in there.
"I'm sure I can get some flyers together in the next few days," Vala told her. "I'll put together a template and send it over to you by email tonight so you can look it over and make any changes," she told her as the typed in the information they had talked about. She'd transfer it to her working scrapbook tonight but she needed notes for now.
“That sounds perfect! We’ll talk more soon!” Audrey said, beaming. “I should get back behind the counter. But don’t rush! Finish your samples, just give me a holler when you’re on the way out.”
Vala grinned and held out her hand to shake Audrey’s. “Great, thanks,I think I’ll do just that,” she told her, nodding happily to the cakes. They were really so good! Assuming this party went well, she hoped to be able to call on Audrey’s skills for other events in the future. Exciting prospects were on the horizon!