Like Mike

My partner Danielle was recently arranging for one of those large milestone birthdays for me.

The ‘Like Mike’ theme asks guests to wear bright Hawaiian, Mickey Mouse and even BC Lions Canadian Football team clothing. With the added note that nothing has to match, I knew then that my comfortable and casual fashion style was going to be the butt of many jokes.

We booked at the Kirribilli Club in March, 2024 - but after a Saturday night dinner in mid-May just to make certain that the ambience was right, we started thinking there could be an issue as the small number of staff out numbered the patrons, which is never a good sign!

So when we heard that the Kirribilli Club went into receivership mid-June, we were not astonished - we were panicked. We now had less than 3-weeks to totally re-arrange an event for a 35 person seated events.

That’s where a good business, a real family business, stepped up.

Danielle spoke to Fran who runs a local café called Charlie&Franks and within just a few hours the entire event was planned all the way down to a 3 x option menu which included all guest dietary requirements, music, tablecloths and more.

Charlie&Franks gave easy venue access for us to set up and bring a cake with energetically happy and helpful staff. On the night, their food, service and prices were all superior to the Kirribilli Club.

The ‘Like Mike’ birthday event was an evening of humorous fashion statements along with Mike face-masks for every guest. This added added even more laughs and a great night.

The moral of this story is that there are two major factors in life:

• Business; A family business is where they happily go above and beyond and nothing is too much trouble; Like Charlie&Franks.

• Personal: Multi-coloured shirts with non-matching shorts with brightly coloured shoes works when you a fashion leader; Like Mike.