April 2005. FMG is still printing money. D’Vine has been going very well since opening in October last year. We have been looking for opportunity to create synergy for d’Vine. We hear that a conference center, Weaver, not far from us needs some love. We concoct a plan and approach the owner with a deal. This is a small town so we know she doesn’t want to be there. It’s apparent that she has no clue or will, it must be said, to make it happen. The deal is heavily weighted in our favour, she’s an accountant so we weren’t holding our breath. But she takes the bait, in fact she takes the hook too. Basically, we agree on a joint venture where she walks away and we share the profit that is made. We manage it, we market it and most importantly we get to use our existing kitchen facilities and staff to produce food that we internally invoice to ourselves. For us it’s a no brainer and before long we morph ourselves into wedding planners and conference co coordinators. The place starts to work, the phone starts to ring, bookings are made.
And the kitchen at d’Vine starts to hate me with a passion. There are no more quiet times!
It was about at this time that my mate and business partner decided to resign his position and partnership, wanting to travel. So we unravel everything and he goes on his way, only to be devastatingly refused a visa to the UK
A while later I’m tipped off that the conference center is now on the market. I have money invested in there and no lease or any protection. So I phone the owner and unbelievably she gives me a lease. So here I am, I now have a lease for a business that I paid not one cent for and because I have a lease I can now sell the business as a going concern. Once again the gods were smiling! But the business is going well, we have lots of forward bookings and it seems starting to get a reputation for good weddings too.
The added, and at that point unknown, spin off to this whole story is that not only was there synergy with d’Vines kitchen but we also started hosting 21st’s and the like that migrated to FMG as the night went on, so we had them from now much earlier and for much longer.
Life was good, we were working like dogs but the money was good. We didn’t stop to think and perhaps we should have, perhaps we should have slowed down a bit, perhaps we should have done it differently. Perhaps things today would have been different had we done this. There was a lot going on, in early 2006 we identified the need for an Italian restaurant in ‘texas so went ahead and did that too – God my wife hated me at that point - and because we were now turning millions and it showed no sign of changing, I invested in a head office and quietly opened a bottle store too, primarily to supply my own businesses but also to supply others.
I think we (and by we I mean me) lived on the adrenaline of the moment. Working hours were insane and it wasn’t unusual to only have three or four hours sleep over the whole weekend. Crazy shit!
And then out of the blue in about August 2006 I meet a guy who tells me that he wants to buy the conference center from me. I laugh at him, he’s an instrument technician and has never worked in hospitality before. I laugh it off but he asks me for my bank details. And he pays me. R350k! For a business that I didn’t pay a cent for. Does it get better than that? Leases are hurriedly arranged, training is given, its now September, bookings are nearly full for end of year functions. And this guy doesn’t have a clue. And, here’s the kicker, he continues to use the kitchen at d’Vine for his food supply. Win win all round in my opinion!
Until tomorrow.
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