At the bus stop, Zach does his best to convince the students at the high school to work for him. He can't promise them all the crumb cake they can eat because that would eat away all his profits. Maybe he can save them some of the cake batter. Put it in ziplock bags.
Another idea is to have a giant bowl and a bunch of spoons, so they can all have a taste. What if they ate too much. Then he won't have a product. And contamination. Can adults sue teenagers if they become sick? It shouldn't be the case if they're under 18.
Should he put in a policy that high school seniors be exempt from lawsuits as well. Zach will put it on the back of the packaging. That's something that will make him unique and stand out from his competitors especially Brendan.
Zach noticed that Brendan revised the packaging and offers chocolate and banana strawberry filled crumb cake. Zach"s mind's telling him that Brendan is unleashing these changes and flavors because a student from school, a hater, a teacher or a plant tipped him off.
And Brendan is the type that doesn't want to give up the lead. He wants to stay in front and rule the store shelves forever. Brendan is only an upstart. Anyone can take the throne from him. His money is that long yet. At least he hopes it isn't.
If it is, then there's a chance that he can crush him. Where did Brendan get the money for his enterprise? Parents, loans, who's sponsoring him? Zach knows that he's only a high school student and he can't keep up with Brendan's sponsorship. He has to worry about school work and his own business. For now, everything is in his head. He hasn't made one crumb cake yet. Should he just stick with the original crumb cake or go with his plan to release the original and assorted flavors. That's more money. What he can do is test the original and once it takes off he can offer more flavors. But he has to get in the kitchen.
Meantime, Brendan has a meeting with his team in the conference room. There's a platter of food on the table. Mostly fruit and Brendan's Crumb Cake. The Food Scientist loads up a plate. Brendan stops talking until he's done.
"I would say that they need to put whoever made these crumb cakes on the payroll, but we're already here and everyone's on the payroll except for maybe the interns, sorry guys", says The Scientist.
He then takes a seat at the back row. The people in the row don't seem to mind as he distributes extra crumb cakes that he took from the platter. Gregory is sitting right besides him, gobbling up his plate of food. He's paying more attention to the food than the talk until Brendan introduces him. He raises his crumb cake in the air.
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"We have another competitor people, a high school student, he interviewed with us not too long ago. His name is Zach. An ambitious fellow, we don't know how dangerous he is, in this industry you can't sleep on anyone. We can't afford to be number 2. The Lemon flavored is still doing exceptionally well. And the new and improved original is doing well. We can't rest or the number one crown will be snatched from under us. Gregory has been watching our young entrepreneur. When Gregory stands he drops a wrapper on the floor. The people frown until one of the team members remind them that he's only "a kid". Everyone relaxes except for the Interviewer who interviewed Zach for the job. He doesn't like the fact that Brendan is solely depending on a teenager for answers. And he hasn't forgotten how Brendan treated him during the interview. He felt that Brendan didn't trust his decision-making with Zach.
The overriding of authority ticked him off. And to do it when a kid's in the room is uncalled for. Brendan asks Gregory 'to take the stage'. He hesitates a bit and then finally walks up the aisle to the stage. The crowd claps. The interviewer who interviewed Zach raises his hand to deflate some of the energy.
"What is it, speak to us Bredford, you look troubled or should I say concerned, speak Brother", says Brendan clapping as Gregory finally takes the stage.
"The product is the most important thing, we're winning, why waste resources following a broke student?" says Bredford.
"Zach is hiring people, he's been asking teachers and students to work at his company. So far no one is willing to take the risk as far as I know", says Gregory.
"We're hiring someone to guess what's happening, c'mon Brendan and everyone here, ya'll are smarter than this, we're over here following a hunch, this is beyond me".
"May I leave, I have some resumes and cover letters to read and prospective applicants to get back to"
"No, you may not, you can take a break from that, I need you and everyone else here, so ya'll can stay in the loop, and we have to gain control of the high school, we can't let Zach influence the kids and the school staff, Gregory, I'm giving you some samples to take to school".
"Can I have some too?"
"Yes, I know school policy is that companies can't market and sell on school premises. We're not marketing or selling, we're introducing. we're curbing the teachers and students hunger, teachers can't teach, students can't learn and administrators and principals can't do their work to the best of their ability on an empty stomach. We're lightening moods. What we have here is a transformative product. Look how Mr. Gregory came up to the stage after eating our products. It gave him confidence and the will to express himself."
"I had some fruit too Mr. Brendan."
"You had more crumb cake than you had fruit. It wasn't the watermelon, pineapple or grapes. It was the lemon flavored crumb cake and the other flavors."
"Artificial flavors are not better than fruit", says Bredford.
"And yes you can have some too Gregory, what's your favorite flavor?"