“Fine. I’m not exactly an MBA,” Theo acknowledged. “Business savvy kind of skipped a few generations. You want to roast my outfit while you’re at it?”
“Oh, more than you can possibly know,” Alanna replied. “Seriously, have you bought a new shirt in the past decade? No, don’t answer. We’re getting off topic.” She took a breath and refocused. “I’m going to help you clean this place up and rearrange some things, and then I’m going to get people begging for your wine.”
Theo raised an eyebrow. “You will? What’s the catch?”
“No catch.” Alanna the Great White could smell blood in the water. “I’ll work my ass off for you for three months and get so many people through your door that the fire marshal will threaten to shut you down. After three months you’ll be able to afford me if you want to continue my services.”
“And if I don’t?”
Alanna could only smile at Theo’s utter naivety. “You will. But if not, no hard feelings. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
“Why does this feel too good to be true?”
“It’s not,” Alanna assured him. “But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. We’ve got a lot of work to do, and you’re going to have to trust me. We need to make some major changes to this place.”
Theo’s eyebrows shot up, and Alanna could almost hear his internal smoke alarm start blaring. “Change? What kind of change? People like this place the way it is.”
People, as in Theo. Alanna held in her sigh. Theo’s father, James, had been the same way. They treated The Rose and Thorn like some sacred tomb that must be forever preserved in its current dilapidated state.
Alanna chose her next words carefully. “If The Rose and Thorn stays the way she is, she won’t survive. Not with the way Yucca Hills is changing and especially not with Desert Bloom stealing your customers.”
Pain flickered in Theo’s eyes. He knew the truth, but could he admit it to himself? To Alanna, this pitch wasn’t just about bringing on a new client. It was also about helping her friend save the thing that got him out of bed in the morning.
“Just hear me out,” she told him. She pulled her tablet from her shoulder bag and set it on an upturned wine barrel. Pulling up her presentation, she took Theo step by step through her 12-month turnaround plan for The Rose and Thorn, culminating with a big reopening in a year.
Clearly and concisely, she began to walk him through the design changes that would spruce up the winery without losing the historic look and feel that defined The Rose and Thorn. Ignoring the growing look of unease on Theo’s face, she explained how she wanted to turn the back area of the winery—the very room they were standing in—into additional seating and a small store.
“We’re also going to add an outdoor patio with an awning so people can sit outside and enjoy views of the vineyard and see the whole town from the hilltop,” Alanna told him, switching to the slide with her simple outline. “This space is your greatest asset, after your wine, that is, so we’ve got to use it. I’m suggesting that we can add a simple stage for live music, a play area for kids, and room for private outdoor events, like weddings.”
“Weddings?” Theo croaked. “How are we going to do weddings?”
“By partnering with a wedding planner. That’s on slide 31,” Alanna responded. “The point is, visiting a winery isn’t just about drinking wine. It’s about having an experience. That’s what we need to give our guests. Speaking of which, we’re also going to partner with food trucks to offer meals on the weekend.”
By the time she reached the promotions section that would encourage customers to post reviews and check in to the winery on social media, Theo was looking a bit faint. He squinted at the text on Alanna’s slide.
“Selfies with Great-Grandma Rose?” he squeaked.
“We’re going to blow up that picture you have hanging on the back wall, probably remaster it, and put it in the new tasting room.”
Theo gaped at Alanna.
“Moving on to the wine memberships we’re going to create,” she said, then paused. Theo looked like a trapped animal about to flee or possibly flop on his back and play dead to get her to go away.
“I said you’ll need to trust me,” she told him.
As if he’d lost the strength to form speech, Theo merely nodded.
Twenty minutes later, Alanna finished listing the local media and wine influencers she’d invite to the grand re-opening and switched to the last slide. Theo’s eyes bugged from his head when he got a load of her profit projections at the end of her three-month trial period.
“Do you really think that possible?” he asked.
She’d actually lowballed her estimates. “More than possible,” she told him. “But we have a lot of work to do. Step one, we’ve got to replace your tables and seating.”
Theo looked dazed. “Weirdly, someone just offered to help me fix up this place at cost.”
“At cost?” That sounded suspicious to Alanna. No one gave away anything for free… well, except her, right at this very moment.
“You sure this offer is legit?” she asked him.
