Chapter 3 - Acquisitions

Not many people knew about Kai’s past, her abusive ex or the lengths that she had gone to, to hide where she lived and stay under his radar. Her ex was a powerful man that could find anything or anyone he wanted, yet so far she had managed to elude him. She wasn’t on social media, her phone number and address were private and never appeared on any third party lists, and she had left the state after that night 3 years ago with Sara’s help. She had started working on VCafe a year later while studying for her Business Degree online.

Richard knew Sara, threw their past business dealings, and subsequently met Kai only after she started working at the cafe. The day he walked into the gym with his multi toned purple plaid suit with matching lilac shirt, shoes and tie; Kai just about died laughing at the powerful statement he was making. It was something. Afterwards, He became the protective Uncle that would go out of his way to help you, but also held you accountable for any of your own screw ups. Whether or not Richard was apart of the kink community like Kai and Sara were, no one really knew. Kai had her suspicions but kept them to herself, not her place to say anything.

“Sometimes i don’t like you,” Kai grumbled rolling her eyes and letting out a deep sigh before looking at him again. “Building a legacy was not on the list of my priorities at 23 nor was taking over a potentially million dollar franchise. Im just getting my sense of self again with Cam’s help. I don’t know if im ready for this. Can i think about it and get back to you?”

“Of course this is a big decision that will determine your future. I would expect nothing less than for you to consider it,” Richard had finished his sandwich while she had been pondering the offer that he had just given, “How about you give me your answer on Friday.”

“Thank you,” Kai bobbed her head finally picking up her sandwich to take a bite. Her stomach was still doing somersaults with nerves, “This opportunity is more than i ever expected from anyone. I didn’t do everything to take over someone else’s position, i did it to serve our customers better.”

“And that is what makes you the perfect person for it,” Richard was gathering his briefcase and standing to greet Tony, the senior manager of Virgin Active. “I will send you the contract from our acquisitions department. It will give you all the numbers and projections to help make your decision. I look forward to your decision. No matter what you choose, you are the reason we owe to the success of VCafe and i hope you will continue to be apart of its development.”

He extended his hand to Kai, who took it in a firm grip. Richard squeezed her hand briefly before dropping it and turning to follow Tony into the offices of the gym. Kai watched them go before turning to stare at her cafe and her team as they moved as the well oiled machine they were. Holy shit that just happened! Virgin Active wanted to give her Bianca’s franchise. Could she do this? Was she ready to take on something this big?

The week went by in the blink of an eye. Kai didn’t say anything to anyone in the gym about the franchise proposition she was considering, nor anyone else in her life. She did reach out to a lawyer to look through the contract so she was covered from any backlash or potential fall out and determine if the projected figures were accurate. Lawyer came back impressed at the thoroughness given to the projections as well as the timeline for completion of future gyms. On paper it was the perfect acquisition proposal, with everything setup to favor Kai as the new CEO of D.A.R.E, eliminating 2 Delicious 4 Words from the equation. Virgin would maintain 5% ownership, while an Angel Investor would hold 30% ownership until the principle of the investment was paid in full. The principle investment in question, $3million towards the purchase of D.A.R.E and VCafe franchise rights and a further $2million to be held in trust for marketing, expansions, research and development other the next 5 years. The investor would choose to remain anonymous through various shell corporations and subsidiaries which would be responsible for ensuring repayment on the investment for 5% interest compounded annually. Would an opportunity like this come around again? Probably not.

Friday morning, Kai could even sit through her morning yoga practice because she was too nervous to see Richard again. It had been a rough 4 days trying to convince herself that this wasn’t a good idea, that taking this opportunity would be too much for her to handle. Yet every time her inner badass would come back with every word Richard has said to her to convince her to at least think about it. The last 3 years were hell, running and hiding from your ex-boyfriend; who openly admitted to having connections to Biker gangs, constantly looking over your shoulder, making sure all your contact info never showed up on public databases and moving to a different state because he always seemed to find you. Yet she knew she wouldn’t have survived if not between the support from her friends and martial art family, she moved in with Sara, who also became her therapist for 2 years; and become an unstoppable force of confidence and intelligence. Not to mention she could take down 4 opponents without breaking a sweat if she really had to.

There was nothing on paper that could prove to her that this was not the best opportunity that had ever been presented to her. 845am rolled around, Kai and her team where at the tail end of the breakfast rush from the gym; she looked up from the coffee machine as Richard made his way to the head of the line.

“Good morning,” he said politely as he started to hand over money to pay for the order his entourage had placed, “Trust it was a productive week for you.”

“You aren’t very subtle,” Kai quipped at him, already making the four coffees and smirking at him, “Yes i have made a decision.”

“Excellent, can you spare an hour and join me at 9am for a meeting?” He took the first sip of his coffee, leaning against the counter.

“Give me a moment,” Kai turned from the coffee machine, “Justin can you take over for me? I have a meeting to attend and will be back at 10:00”

“Sure,” traded places with Kai and she walked out around the counter to stand next to Richard, her own coffee already in her hand.

“Whenever you’re ready,” She pulled off her cafe hat and walked towards the front desk of the gym, smiling at the attendant as they opened the staff gate to admit them to the offices, “Morning Beth.”

Richard moved ahead of Kai, leading them towards the conference room. There was 2 men dressed smartly in expensive 3 piece suits and turned to acknowledge Richard and Kai as they pulled out chairs to sit at the table. Kai gave them a tight lipped smile and polite nod before the black folder on the table in front of her drew her attention. As she opened the cover, she was greeted with the contract for Virgins acquisition of D.A.R.E and the franchise of the cafes turned over to her.

“Richard always a pleasure. Who might this be?” The elder of the other two men in the room spoke up, steel grey eyes looking down the table at Kai; somewhere between intrigued and boredum.

“Reece Summers meet Kai Toll,” Richard gestured towards each as he named them.

“Kai Toll,” Reece rolled the name around in his mouth, “This is the woman whose hands we are putting the future of VCafe in?” He wasn’t being rude, more genuinely surprised as the thought clicked into place for him. “I apologise young lady but you are not what i envisioned when Richard said he found a business revolutionary to continue building on the D.A.R.E and VCafe legacy.”

“I rarely am what people expect of me,” Kai took a slow sip of her coffee, hands opening and closing around the cup as she weighed her next words carefully, “I have lived through experiences no one should have to face in life, which have built my determination and the ability to adapt to any situation. Mr Branson has presented me with a once in a life time opportunity that i fully intend to see realized. Yes i may be young, yet no less certain of my ability to not only build the VCafe brand but also to turn D.A.R.E. into a nationally recognized company. Your faith in me will no go unrewarded.”

The room fell into silence as several equally well-dressed men enter the board room, taking their seats at the table. Kai let her eyes wander to each individual in the room picking up different emotions and levels of stoicness as she went. Richard was smiling like an idiot next to her while Reece seemed to be boring his eyes into Kai, truly contemplating her final words, something close to amusement.

“Gentlemen,” Richard stands from his seat hands sweeping in front of his body, a gesture of welcome, “As you know the future of Virgin Active has been a topic of heated discussion and ruthless negotiating. Today we start the next phase of expanding our Virgin community footprint and Kai Toll,” he gestures for me to stand, “Has graciously accepted our offer to become franchise owner of VCafe under the Virgin umbrella as well as take over the ownership and operations of D.A.R.E.”

All board members clapped politely, each taking a turn to walk around to her to shake hands. “Congratulations... There was much heated debate about you... We expect big things... Such a feat for someone so young.” Among a few of the comments that went back and forth for a few moments. Richard remained quiet watching everyone until everyone had returned to their seats. Talk turned to reservations and any final conditions the board members had about Kai taking over the reins of the VCafe franchise. As much as she wanted to explain the thought of how best to grow and commercialize D.A.R.E that was forming in her mind, she thought it best to wait for now and let them be surprised when she was exceeding their expectations over the next 5 years.

As the meeting drew to a close, a knock came on the glass door to the board room. Tony was on the other side waving Kai towards the door. Clearing her throat as she stood, gaining the attention of the room, “Excuse me a moment,” she says moving towards the door, “Tony is everything alright?”

“Your team is getting swamped and they asked us to call you,” Tony said sharply seeming a little panicked, “There are three birthday parties and 5 classes just let out. Everyone needs their cafe fix before they leave.” He grinned and turned away heading back out towards the main floor. Kai turned back to Richard and the rest of the board members.

“We are done here, do what you need to.” Richard was the first to speak, pointing to the door to which Kai smiled and ducked out. Making her way through the mass of gym members towards the cafe and her team. This is what she thrived on, bringing order to the chaos. Taking over the coffee machine she was quick to set her team to their tasks of catching up orders. In less than 45 minutes the frantic chaos became a steady hum of precision and teamwork.

Kai saw Richard and the rest of the board members at the back of the line, he waved at her and she motioned for them to take a seat at the booth area to the left. She already knew what to get them. 6 specials of the day, Blackened salmon on a bed of wild rice with stir fry vegetables.

“Lill!” She called towards the kitchen. Lillian came through the double door, a short woman with sharp golden eyes, waist length black hair that was starting to silver around her temples; a bright pink “kiss the cook” apron adorned proudly, “Richard and the board are sitting the booth can you get 6 specials ready for me please.”

“On it!” She beamed her favorite grandmother smile and returned to the kitchen. It was only 15 minutes later when she returned through the doors with 4 plates, “The last two are in there.” She called over her shoulder as she made her way to the booth table.

Kai had just finished 6 flat whites, disappearing into the kitchen to retrieve the 2 plates, then sweeping out from behind the counter collecting two coffees as she went. She passed Lillian on her way asking her to bring the other coffees over as well please. Her team really was a well oiled machine.

How was she ever going to take a step back and focus on many other aspects of running VCafe and maintain her vested interest in D.A.R.E? How would she maintain her training schedule and teaching at the dojo’s? Maybe that was going to be the biggest challenge of all, not doing too much. As she walked back behind the counter, reality starting to set in that she was really doing this. She was taking on the franchise of VCafe and become the CEO of D.A.R.E. Whoever the angel investor was, one day she would have to find them and thank them profusely.

It was going to be tough, there were going to need to be sacrifices made. They say that nothing good ever came easy, if she could pull this off it would be greatest achievement she had ever accomplished. One step at a time. That is the only way this was going to work and hiring the right people to support the existing teams and ensure consistent delivery across the four new cafes as well.

She had 2 years to prove it was possible to make this vision, on paper, a reality. It was going to take all the help she could get to make it happen.