The Uncles

Tomorrow morning, I am meeting with my uncles and my mom about Jim’s Spaghetti Sauce. They own the family restaurant, each with one third. My mom has run the store for twenty years. One uncle, who lives in Huntington, is relatively involved in the business of the restaurant, but he’s a lawyer with a full time career. The other uncle, also a lawyer, lives in Virginia, and is not very involved in the operations of the store… He’s available for owner meetings, but does not have his hands in much of the day to day business. I sent them my business plan for the sauce business a couple of weeks ago, and secured this meeting to talk through my vision. I don’t know what they specifically want, personally, from the sauce business, and that is one of the topics for tomorrow.

Though they have known my intention for months, there has been little feedback from them on their feelings about me hoping to grow their dad’s legacy. My pitch will come with passion, authenticity, research, transparency, and openness. I don’t really have anything to lose. They have much to gain. We have talked about marketing the sauce for forty years, and not one thing has been done toward that idea, until I started this endeavor. I can only hope that we land on the same page gently and find a way to move forward quickly.

My goal is to expand the reach of the most delicious spaghetti sauce (bolognese) that I have ever tasted. It is certifiably spectacular, and people outside of this region in West Virginia deserve the chance to delight in its flavor. I hope that tomorrow brings me several steps closer to the goal.