Treading Water by Kate Pavelle

Author:Kate Pavelle [Pavelle, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mugen Press
Published: 2015-08-09T22:00:00+00:00

SEBASTIAN Gillen, the second-in-command of Gillen Frozen Desserts Company and his father’s heir-apparent, looked over the new product lineup with a frown. Everything was full-butterfat, as gooey as one could make it, dense and rich and expensive. He looked at the nutritional content first.

Swim…bike…run…

His thoughts drifted to Jesse, who used to love Gillen Ice Cream. He’d been partial to chocolate, which had always had the richest formulation. He knew the other man hadn’t bought any since January. If it had been perhaps just a bit healthier…

It irked him that he was unable to enjoy the very products he was forced to sell. There must be a better way to make frozen confections. Still all-natural, but with less sugar, less fat… no lactose. That way even he might even be tempted to at least taste the stuff and see what all the hoopla was about.

“This is unacceptable,” he said, lifting his eyes from the proposal.

The representative of the New Products division squirmed in his seat at the sudden and unexpected assessment. So did the marketing director.

“But Mr. Gillen, our market surveys indicate that the richest ice cream commands the highest price.”

“True,” the CEO nodded. “However, this should not only be about price anymore.” He pointed to the products and their respective lists of ingredients. “A major competitor has a new product line out – they use only five ingredients. Five. No more. Have you tried it?”

The team members shook their heads.

“Neither have I, since I can’t eat the stuff. However, I’m told it’s rather good.” He leaned back in his chair and eyed the ceiling as he thought which approach would create the least amount of controversy. He wanted to take Marketing out to the woodshed for not knowing their competition well enough, but if he wanted to promote a different line of thought, he had to make them believe it was their idea all along.

“We’ll take a break while I send Paulette out to buy two pints of each flavor available at the nearest store. Then we’ll have a tasting. I see absolutely no reason, for instance, why we should use corn syrup when they don’t.”

“Mr. Gillen, the corn syrup is necessary to soften the ice cream a bit and prevent crystallization issues.” The food chemistry director looked uncomfortable as he uttered his statement.

“If others make do without corn syrup, so will we. I am no longer pleased by our product line,” Sebastian said. “In fact, I am no longer pleased by our values. I believe it’s time to make some changes in the way we do things around here.” His words resonated through the small conference room, bouncing from wall to wall.

There. He’d said it. Sebastian didn’t know what possessed him to speak so openly. He’d been cultivating his position with care for several years now, and all of a sudden his words were full of heat and discord. His team was made up of men almost twice his age. Younger men – and women – occupied more junior positions.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.