Easter Under Wraps

Fiona Gubelmann,Brendan Penny,BJ Harrison,Alvin Sanders

As the lucrative Easter season approaches, Seattle-based but nationally distributed Cavendish Chocolates, a three-generational family business known for its hand-crafted chocolates, faces tough times with changes in the industry and increasing competition, especially from aggressive and trendy ChocMate. Director of Operations Carter Daron recommends a move toward going fully automated, despite its initial automation changes having not reaped the desired turnaround in the company's sagging fortunes. Before doing so, company president/CEO Foster Cavendish wants to talk to the employees at the company's flagship factory in Sweetwater, Washington to get an "at the ground level" perspective of the already-made changes. Fearing that the employees will not be forthright to a Cavendish, he instead decides to send someone to the factory undercover to get that unfiltered perspective. He chooses his daughter, business graduate Erin Cavendish, who Foster was able to convince to work at the company following graduation in the role of Director of Marketing, albeit only temporarily. Her move to a new company in the fall is more wanting to be her own person in not having Cavendish Chocolates be her de facto life rather than running toward that other company and job. In reluctantly accepting the assignment, Erin has two major challenges: hiding her identity in Sweetwater; and being able to do factory work at which she has no experience. In getting that at ground intel, Erin faces another challenge: dealing with the guilt of deceiving her new friends, especially head chocolatier Bryan Bailey, a recent widower. Furthermore, are she and Bryan falling for each other?—Huggo