by Andrew Reise
"I'll see you for cappuccino in the evening," Alan said as Tom walked towards the door. Tom waved at him without looking back as he went out.
As Tom left, Alan fell silent as he began to ponder Tom's words. Truth be told, Tom did have a point. People who were big eaters would still be full after eating his cake. They weren't likely to order other dishes he made when he added them to the menu in the future. Moreover, they were unlikely to stop by again around noon for another slice due to the filling effect of the cake.
Alan felt a slight headache come on as he began to realize what a problem this was.
"System, what's the deal with the effect of the coffee cake? Why would you give me a reward that cost me money?" Alan demanded angrily.
"Host, all of the system's products are top grade luxury items. They all have a place in the world's most luxurious cafe. If Host can't figure out how to make money off of them, then it simply means Host is still too inexperienced."
Alan shook his head. Typical system. "Sorry I'm so lacking, System," He said sarcastically.
However, the system didn't seem to hear the sarcasm in his voice. "Do not worry, Host. The system will give you plenty of opportunities for self-improvement. Work hard, Host."
Alan couldn't summon the energy to respond. The system really left him at a loss sometimes.
As he pushed thoughts of the system and the rising headache that he felt coming on from the conversation to the back of his mind, he turned his attention back to the problem of the coffee cake.
He knew he wouldn't be able to get people to purchase it multiple times per day. Thus, he needed to encourage many people to eat it in order to make it a very profitable item. However, that brought another problem to mind: he didn't have enough customers.
He still hadn't reached 100 regular customers. In order to really make the coffee cake a profitable menu item he would need to have at least 100 regular customers who ordered it every time they came. All joking aside, he did want the coffee cake to succeed. Coffee cake was to a cafe what a hamburger was to a fast food restaurant. It was the quintessential food item associated with a cafe. Of course, he would add other food later on once he received the system rewards, but he wanted his coffee cake to remain iconic.
Thinking over this problem, he couldn't come up with any immediate solutions. He could only continue his daily business and do his best to seize an opportunity when it arrived. In the meantime, he'd try to make sure the coffee cake caught people's attention.
Going back into the kitchen he brought the glass dish that held the cake out to the counter and set it right next to wear people stood while ordering. Then he went to the desk in the kitchen, took out card stock, and wrote a description of the coffee cake in elegant letters. He had practice from scrawling the menu on the chalkboard every day. While his writing didn't rise to the level of calligraphy, it was nonetheless attention grabbing. Another skill he'd thought was useless when he learned it in an art class in college, yet now he found a use for it.
He chuckled to himself when he thought about trying to add that skill to a resume. Even he wouldn't be impressed by it if he was hiring help. Yet in this moment it was adding value to his business.
Shaking his head he took the elegant looking card out front and laid it against the glass dish, the side with writing on it facing towards the door.
As he finished this, he noticed Claire had finished her cake. Walking over he picked up her plate. She looked up at him as he did. "It was very tasty. I'll order it again in the future." Alan smiled and bowed his head slightly. Turning, he walked back to the kitchen with her plate and put it in the dishwasher. Then he returned to the front of the cafe to await customers.
Chapter 15
Alan continued to peddle the coffee cake throughout the day, but it was harder to sell that he thought. He even sent out a tweet about it, but the response was muted.
Helpless, he could only continue business as usual. Even though the coffee cake wasn't selling well, people still ordered the coffee. He noticed some more familiar faces coming back to the cafe.
Still, he felt dissatisfied about the reaction to the coffee cake.
Evening came around and Alan began to serve cappuccinos. Tom came back to the cafe to have the cappuccino. A few other customers came. Even customers who weren't regulars still came to try the cappuccino. This was the lingering effect of his infamy on Twitter.
As Alan stood behind the counter wiping up a small coffee spill, the bell on the door rang as the door opened. Gerald stepped inside and closed the door quickly, shivering slightly from the cold.
Alan greeted him. "Cappuccino?" He asked. Gerald nodded, but also looked at the menu. Seeing the coffee cake, he asked, "Can I get a slice of the coffee cake too?"
Alan shook his head. "My apologies, the coffee cake can only be served before noon."
Gerald sighed in reluctant acceptance. His employees would be amazed to see he'd been tamed by the rules of this cafe.
He went and sat by Tom and sighed loudly as he did.
Tom eyed him. "What's with you? Why are you sighing so loudly?"
Gerald sighed again, and Tom had to resist rolling his eyes.
"I'm dealing with a work problem," Gerald explained.
Tom shook his head. "So what? Are problems new to us? You built your business up from scratch, like me. What problem haven't you seen before?"
Gerald sighed again, drawing an irritated glance from Tom. "It's really not a problem I've ever had before. You know how I run a department store right? Well, recently, we've started focusing on introducing more luxury items. We want to offer something for high end clientele."
"So what's the problem?" Tom asked.
Gerald glanced at him, irritated at being interrupted. "The problem is the brands I've been negotiating with. I've had to throw tons of benefits at them just to get them to put their brands for sale in the store."
"Isn't that expect--" Tom began before Gerald cut him off with an exasperated sigh.
"Obviously that's expected. The issue is one of the brands. It's called Allettare. It's an Italian luxury clothing line owned and operated by a fashion designer named Natasha Bianchi."
"Natasha Bianchi?" Tom interrupted again, stroking his chin pensively. "Where have I heard that name before?"
Gerald sighed. "She's a former model. You probably saw her in some magazines."
"Ah!" Tom exclaimed. "That's right. Wasn't she nominated for most attractive woman alive by Vogue like a decade ago?"
Gerald nodded. "Probably. She was really famous for a while. But the shelf life of a model is really short. Most of them end up fading away into obscurity after a few years. Natasha, though, started her own fashion line and it's been extremely successful. Allettare is already synonymous with status."
"Then, the problem is she's unwilling to have your brand in your store?" Tom asked.
Gerald shook his head. "If it was just that it wouldn't be a problem. I'd move on to the next best brand. The problem isn't that she said no, it's that she said yes."
"How is that a problem?" Tom asked, confused.
Gerald sighed once again. "I offered her the same conditions as the other brands I'm bringing in. She said yes but added one additional condition; I have to go on a date with her."
Tom sat in stupefied silence for a moment before bursting out into laughter. He drew sharp gazes from the other patrons of the cafe who were annoyed at the disturbance. He forced himself to quiet down to a chuckle.
Meanwhile, Gerald sat there eyeing him in dissatisfaction.
Tom waved his hand in apology. "Sorry, sorry, it was just so unexpected, I couldn't help myself." Gerald wasn't very convinced by the apology as Tom was still smiling as he said it.
"In any case," Gerald said. "I'm debating what to do. On the one hand, getting that brand in my store would be a huge deal. We'd start drawing in high end customers. On the other hand…" Gerald sighed and didn't finish his sentence.
Tom snorted. "There's no d
ebate. You do what's good for business. I don't get what you're complaining about. A beautiful, successful woman wants to date you, plenty of men would jump at the opportunity."
Gerald shook his head. It wasn't that he didn't think Natasha was beautiful. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't attracted to her. The main issue was that he didn't like anyone telling him what to do. It was a small thing, but extremely important to him. He valued his independence, his ability to make his own decisions without anyone influencing him.
He didn't bother trying to explain it to Tom and continued to ponder his predicament.
As Gerald and Tom returned to silence, Alan brought Gerald's cappuccino over to him.
"Here you go," Alan said, as he set it on the small end table next to the chair.
Gerald nodded his appreciation. He reached for the cappuccino and was stunned to see the image drawn in the foam this time. It looked like a beautiful woman in a long dress twirling around. Alan had somehow even managed to convey the movement of the woman.
Gerald suddenly had an idea. "Alan, would it be possible for me to bring a date here sometime?"
Alan looked at him in confusion, but Tom suddenly got excited. "That's perfect, then I can watch you fail at wooing a woman!"
Gerald gave him a condescending glance. "What I was asking was, is it okay if I rent out the cafe for an evening? I'll more than cover your losses. All I ask is that you serve us your coffee and your coffee cake."
Alan immediately shook his head. "I can't do that. Renting the cafe out is fine, but I can't serve coffee cake in the evening."
Gerald paused, then said, "Fine, how about the morning." In his mind that was even better. He could turn their date into a mere coffee date.
Alan thought about it and nodded. "That should be fine. Just give me notice about when you want to do this. I want to give my customers a heads up."
Gerald expressed that he would, and Alan went back to the counter. Only Tom was left unhappy.
"Why couldn't you let me watch? Did you need to be so stingy?" Tom demanded. Gerald snorted at him and then ignored him as he sipped on his coffee and pulled out his phone. He texted his assistant to arrange a morning date that fit with Natasha Bianchi's calendar and his own calendar and to let him know the details once it was set.
Then he enjoyed his cappuccino as he considered how to approach the future meeting.
Gerald's assistant got back to him quickly. The date had been set for two days from now. Natasha had to travel to City A, so that was already the soonest they could meet.
Sighing at his fate, Gerald walked to the counter where Alan stood.
Alan looked at him as he approached. "Is the date set then?"
Gerald nodded. "I'll be troubling you. I'd like to reserve the cafe from 8:00 AM to 10:30 AM two days from now."
Alan pulled out his phone and made a note on it. "Okay, that's fine. Now let's talk about the price."
"Would $5,000 cover it?" Gerald asked.
Alan was taken aback. That significantly exceeded his income from a typical morning. "It's more than I usually make. $1,000 would already be fine. It's only two and a half hours."
Gerald shook his head. "Don't refuse it. You're still trying to establish your business, so losing morning hours means losing chances to bring in regular customers. For it to be worth it you need the short term gain to be significant."
Alan thought about it before shaking his head. "Even if that's the case, just pay me $2,000. I really can't accept $5,000, it's not a fair price."
Gerald could only helplessly write a check for $2,000. However, he made a promise to himself to try to bring more business to Alan's cafe.
Alan took the check and took it back to the desk in the kitchen. He would deposit it using his banking app on his phone after business hours.
The day passed quickly. After closing up, Alan deposited the check from Gerald and went upstairs to get ready for sleep.
The next morning, Alan got up early and prepared the coffee cake. He made two cakes this time in anticipation of more people wanting it. He also sent out a tweet announcing he would be serving coffee cake.
Satisfied with his preparations, he made himself his morning coffee and set about his day.
Time passed quickly. The cake sold decently well, but it was mainly his regular customers who ordered it. Still, he managed to sell all of it by the time lunch rolled around.
As afternoon rolled around, Alan stood at the counter noting down his sales on a notepad. He would add it to an excel spreadsheet later. He wanted to track his sales to better predict how much cake he should prepare each day. If he screwed up he'd have to save the cake for the next day. It would keep, but it wouldn't be as good. He didn't want customers to complain about the quality as that was his main selling point.
Alan finished writing the last sale as the door opened and the bell rang. Tom walked in.
He nodded his head at Alan in greeting. "I'll take a cappuccino." Alan nodded and went to prepare it. As he brought it back out, Tom started making conversation.
"So the date is tomorrow right? What are you going to make for them?"
Alan looked at him. "Coffee and coffee cake."
Tom stared at him. "You're going to serve a former model and successful fashion designer...cake?"
Alan nodded. Tom's eyes widened. "That won't go well will it?"
Alan thought about it. "It should be fine. My cake is an effective dieting tool anyways."
Tom shook his head. "Good luck convincing her of that."
Alan shrugged. "In any case, it's what I have to serve. If Gerald wanted something different he could have gone somewhere else."
"Gerald wants the date to tank though. He's only doing it to get the fashion line in his store. On the other hand it would be a big deal for you if Natasha Bianchi said she liked your cake. She might even send some models your way. Think about it, having models in your cafe." Tom looked wistful as he imagined it.
Alan shook his head. "I'm not interested." He didn't think it would really make a difference. A few more people wouldn't help his cafe. It would at most be some temporary fame. He'd learned from his experience with Twitter last time. What he was pursuing now was a more steady client base. Even if the models came, most of them would travel too much to ever be considered regular customers.
Tom scoffed. "How can you call yourself a real man if you're not even interested in models coming to your cafe? You could treat them to coffee and take the chance to get to know them much better." He wiggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively.
Alan looked at him doubtfully. "Why would I treat them? I still have bills to pay. Besides what year do you think this is? I'd consider it if they offered to treat me to a meal."
"You still want them to treat you to a meal? You'd be lucky if they gave you the time of day." Tom was helpless in front of Alan who only cared about money.
"I have bills to pay. I don't have time or money to pursue a woman, let alone those high maintenance models."
Tom threw up his hands. "I give up. You and Gerald are crazy, only having money on the brain."
Alan shrugged and turned his attention the door as another customer entered. Tom went to his usual spot while Alan served the customer.
The sky darkened as evening arrived. Gerald stopped by to get a cappuccino late in the evening.
"Is everything ready for tomorrow?" Gerald asked.
Alan nodded. "I already tweeted out that the cafe was reserved for a private party tomorrow and would open at 11:00 AM. Aside from that, I'll make sure to have fresh coffee and coffee cake ready."
Gerald nodded. He didn't really care about the food and drink. He mainly chose the cafe because it was luxurious. He could justify it as a good location for the date to Natasha, so she couldn't complain that he hadn't taken the date 'seriously'.
Gerald drank his cappuccino while ruminating about the next day. Alan wiped down the counter as he would be closing soon.
Gerald finished his drink and l
eft. Alan meanwhile focused on the system.
"System, how much progress have I made towards the mission?"
"Host, the system has tracked how many times the same people have come into the cafe. Host has managed to increase the regular customers significantly. Currently Host has 76 regular customers."
Alan was surprised, but then he thought it made sense. He only really remembered the customers who came in nearly daily. Otherwise it was too hard to keep track of how many people came in. He supposed he had seen more familiar faces recently.
"Only 24 more to go," Alan thought to himself.
Finishing cleaning up, Alan went upstairs and thought about what else he could do to bring in regular customers. He soon fell asleep.
Chapter 16
Alan got up early the next day. After washing up and getting dressed he went down into the cafe and began to prepare the coffee cake for Gerald's date.
After he put it in the oven he made himself a cup of coffee and scrolled through his Twitter feed. He saw a tweet from Tom asking if he could come over before the cafe was reserved for coffee. Alan ignored it. Knowing Tom he'd try to find some way to stick around for the date.
Alan sipped on his coffee while allowing himself to relax. Checking on the oven timer and seeing he still had some time before the cake would be ready, he went around the cafe and swept up, making sure the cafe was spotless. Even though he didn't think Natasha Bianchi would really help him out it didn't hurt to make sure the cafe was in its best condition.
Alan checked his phone and saw it was nearly time. He checked on the oven and saw it was just about ready. He stood by the oven until the timer went off and took out the cake. The smell of cinnamon and cake filled the cafe, making his mouth water. However, he ignored his hunger and set the cake on the cake rack to cool.
Leaving the kitchen, he went to the front of the cafe and put up a piece of paper he'd prepared before that read "closed for private event". He unlocked the door when he finished putting the sign up in the window.