Emerson explained from the beginning, the sequence of events from the storm, to the insurance, to the loan being recalled.
When she was done, Jake and Olivia sat in silence.
“I really screwed up, didn’t I…all those years ago when I thought I was helping out?” Olivia said, finally.
Emerson shook her head. “Do you remember the first time Jake nearly blew up Patience, and she was off-line for a month? And we thought Dad was going to throw a fit?”
Jake groaned. “Do we have to bring that up again?”
“Yes, we do,” said Emerson. “Because Dad screwed up by not talking to us about the financial problems. I screwed up trying to do this on my own. My point is, we’ve all screwed up. And we are going to screw up again while running this place, I’m sure. The proof in this pudding will be what we do next.”
“Do you have a plan?” Olivia asked. Jake turned her way, too. It suddenly hit her that she’d chosen the seat their father had always sat in, instead of the one next to Jake she usually took.
“I do. It’s ugly, and it will take work on all our parts, including you, Liv.”
Olivia smiled. “I’m ready.”
“Me too,” said Jake.
Emerson was boosted by the unmitigated support. “You guys don’t even know what it is yet.”
“Fair enough,” said Jake. “Me too, as long as I get whatever botanicals I want for the next iteration of the Dyer’s Medallion.”
Emerson shook her head. “I’ll set a cost per bottle, and you can have whatever botanicals you want within it.”
Jake laid his head down on the table theatrically. “This is going to be worse than negotiating with Dad.” He lifted his head. “Fine. I agree.”
Olivia laughed. “Go ahead, Em.”
“First, we sell Dad’s house. Jake and I are willing to put our shares back into the distillery to ensure the loan gets repaid and the bank doesn’t come after us. We’ll need a quick sale, so the sooner we can get the house ready, the better.”
“I want to put my share in,” Olivia said.
“No,” said Jake. “You are the least financially secure of all of us. Em and I own our own places, and we can cover the mortgage and bills. You’re twenty-six and—”
“I’m twenty-six, and I can save for a frigging deposit like you two did,” Olivia said firmly. “Getting a roommate in a rental for a couple of years is not going to kill me. Next item.”
Olivia’s sass reassured Emerson that she really was back on track. “If that’s the case, the plan just got better. We pay back the loan and use the rest to renovate the actual distillery. It’s not enough to do everything we want, but we can change the layout of the main floor and buy a new efficient still. We hire a second distiller to work with Jake. We could even split production into two shifts. Earlies and lates, so the stills run for sixteen hours a day with breaks in between. The second distiller takes on our old lines, Dad’s recipes.”
“We could call them Dyer’s Vintage. New packaging with new promotion behind them,” Liv said. “See if we can breathe some new life into them. The London dry style never goes out of fashion, but perhaps Jake could just tweak them a little…different juniper source or something.”
Jake nodded thoughtfully. “I agree with the plan, I’m a little concerned with the execution. Check on the Dyer’s Vintage, we can definitely spruce that up, and it’s a great idea.”
“Medallion is exceptional, Jake, and we need you to take it forward. Expand the range,” Emerson said.
“I’ll give it some thought. I’m killing myself trying to get production out, but I’m loathe to hand it over to anyone else just now because quality is our superpower. I see what you’re trying to do, but let me think of a different way to do it. Perhaps promote someone and separate the preparation from production; have them start earlier. I don’t know. But I’ll get you the improvement you need.”
“Liv, Jake will also need your help on Medallion, too. Let’s find a way to ride the momentum. Let’s issue press releases, let’s update our social media, let’s revisit how we use our tasting rooms.”
Liv tapped her pen on her notebook. “One of the things I’d been thinking about was renting it out during the day for corporate events. We’ve focused on big events…like weddings. But there are lots of smaller conferences we could cash in on.”
The idea felt solid to Emerson. “Whatever you’ve got. I’m going to tackle the costs, overheads, and pricing. Jake made a point that we should review our price positioning, given the success of the product, which I’ll do. I’m going to renegotiate everything from our utilities to the blessed seaweed you use that will cost us a fortune, Jake. Literally line item by line item.”
Jake leaned forward. “We can’t compromise quality, Em. It’s why we won the Best in Class.”
Emerson nodded. “Agreed. I wasn’t so much thinking about changing sources but renegotiating on the grounds that we need a higher quantity thanks to the extra volume the still will give us, and therefore deserve a better bulk price.”
Olivia grinned. “I like it, Em. We’ll make more, sell more at a possibly higher price, and it will cost less to make.”
“It means we’ll have to wait on the events hall. But with the increased production, we should be able to afford it before next year, or perhaps be in much better standing with the bank to take out a loan.”
Emerson sat back in her chair and took a bite of her doughnut.
“One hell of a plan, Em,” Jake said.
It was.
And she had Connor’s pep talk to thank for giving her the confidence to come talk to Jake and Liv. When they were done, she was going to go to Connor’s to update him and say thank you.
And perhaps work out some of
