Monday morning

Monday morning dawned clear and a bit breezy here by the Atlantic Ocean. At a little before ten Susan and I walked up to Gerrish’s to meet with the new owner and hopefully learn what the future held in store for us.

Upon arriving at the café Rosemary – who had just arrived this past Saturday from Boston to start cooking up some food to go for the café – was just finishing up prepping a number of dishes before she had to leave to return to Boston. She won’t be back until later in the month.

A few minutes after we got to the café the Russians arrived and a couple of minutes later Michael Boland, the new owner drove up.

The seven of us went inside and sat down to talk about what was going to happen now that the business had changed hands.

Michael dealt with the concerns of the Russians first and allayed their fears over their jobs. They were pleased to hear that not only did they still have their old jobs but that if Michael would also provide them with additional hours at one of his other restaurants in Bar Harbor if need be. Moreover, he gave them the OK to take on second jobs if they wanted. Winter Harbor is a very small community but this time of year it attracts a fair amount of seasonal work, particularly in the other two small eateries in town. The kids were very pleased with this turn of events to be sure.

After the Russians left the three of us talked at some length about our future here. Michael wanted Susan to know that he had every intention of following through on the pastry program as outlined by Patrick before the café changed hands. That was certainly good news.

Michael did speak a little to what he and his partners had in mind for the future of the café: some expansion of seating, a deck extension, table service in the evening at least, and quite possibly a beer and wine shop in the existing garage to the rear of the café. It was quite possible that I would still be utilized working out front, and even perhaps in the wine and beer shop once it was up and running next month.

Susan and I expressed our concern about the living arrangements and Michael told us flatly that they would remain as they are.

The plan, we were told, is to open the café Thursday or Friday of this week. Susan hopes to get back into the kitchen sometime today and I hope to hear from Michael in the next day or so what he would like me to do, at least early on in this adventure.

Patrick will be supervising the transition over the next two weeks. I know little else other than I might be tackling the front end chores while someone else handles the kitchen end of things, at least for the short term. So I’ll be spending quite a bit of time over the next couple of weeks trailing Patrick and culling as many tips and information as I can to be sure. He certainly has a handle on this business and there is so much to learn from him.

Our only other concern right now is what has happened to the payroll from the previous owner. Michael’s company uses a completely different payroll service so we also assume that we will be filling out more forms this week as well.

So lots more to come this week -- as we open the cafe and adjust to whatever the gods have in store for us all.

Wish you were here,

Steve