invigorate things and that it’s the perfect time with the change in ownership and everything. We can bring our own flavor—so to speak—to Hot Cakes.”
Aiden had run this all past Grant and Ollie a few days ago, and Grant was completely on board. Not only would a new product bring in additional revenue, which would help cover the costs for improving their employee benefits, but this was a great thing to get Ollie focused on. His visionary friend needed projects or he got bored and came up with his own. Which were usually wild and expensive and sometimes completely unrelated to anything else. This would give him some creative outlet while also benefiting the company.
Grant also liked this chance to pull Whitney in more and get her involved with the team. She was sharp and experienced, but he got the impression she hadn’t been encouraged to share ideas or head up projects when her dad and grandfather had been in charge. Grant would love to see her shine, and this seemed a great place to start.
“More cake? Bring it on,” Dax said. “I’m feeling lemon.”
Dax was no longer a partner in Hot Cakes so was here this morning as a consultant only. Well, he was here because they always had a morning meeting, and he would have wanted to know if anything happened between Grant and Jocelyn after they left the McCafferys’ together last night. But he was also here to weigh in on the new idea. There was rarely an idea that Dax couldn’t embellish.
For better or worse.
“You’re ‘feeling lemon’?” Cam asked.
“Yeah,” Dax said. “We don’t have anything lemon.” He looked around. “Do we?”
“No,” Cam said. “But if we’re doing something new, it better be coconut.”
“Come on,” Dax said. “No way is coconut better than lemon.”
“It most definitely is,” Cam said. “And then there’s caramel. That would be the second thing we do. Way before lemon.”
Cam was here, though, because he was a partner, and he had to have a say in big initiatives. A new product would mean work for all departments from actual production in the factory to legal paperwork for trademarking and so on. They all had to be involved.
But that meant he had to work—at least partially—with Whitney.
Aiden had been concerned about that, and after he’d shared more of Cam and Whitney’s history with Grant and Ollie, they’d agreed. But Grant would love to see them working together and getting past some of their heartbreak and history.
And if Cam was a nice, guy-next-door type, Grant would think that was a possibility, and they’d have nothing to worry about.
But Cam was Cam. He loved to argue, which had drawn him to law school, and he could hold a grudge like no other. To think that he might have a little revenge on his mind was not a stretch.
“We’ll have to vote,” Dax said. “That’s the only fair way to do it.”
“You’re not a partner anymore,” Cam reminded him. “So your vote wouldn’t count anyway.”
“But you all really value my input,” Dax said.
Cam snorted. “I could arm wrestle you for it,” Cam said, seemingly nonchalantly flexing his arm.
Dax shook his head. “Ping-Pong tournament.”
“No fucking way,” Cam said. Cam sucked at Ping-Pong.
“We have a better plan than any of that,” Ollie broke in. “We’re going to have a contest.”
Cam cocked an eyebrow. “A contest?”
Ollie nodded with a grin. “Tell them, Boss,” he said to Whitney.
She swallowed and glanced at Cam, then quickly looked at Dax instead. “I was thinking that if we had a baking contest, then a few things could happen. One, we don’t have to develop a brand-new product from scratch without knowing if anyone will like it. Our customers can bring products they’d like to see to us. We can pick and choose from the entries. That gets us the basic recipe to adapt. Two, it gets the community involved. It would have to be open nationwide, I would guess.” Again she looked at Cam. These were the kinds of things they needed legal counsel for—“but even so, it would get our customers involved. They could compete to be the ones to submit the final recipe to us.”
Dax was already nodding. Clearly, he liked the idea. Of course, he liked any kind of game or contest and was a pro at interacting with fans. Customers of Hot Cakes weren’t exactly the same as the fans that played Warriors of Easton and showed up at Comic-Con, but they were still the people purchasing from them repeatedly.