It started out a simple idea. A party in a box. Friends and family had been calling out for help for years with their home entertaining concerns. Those years working in catering in college were valuable! And as I shared menu ideas, decorated tables and gave out catering secrets… I figured I had a product. Nothing like Martha or Julia or Julie and Shelia of the Silver Palate fame…..no something much simpler. For non-cordon blue trained. For the woman or man, who simply wanted to throw a nice party for friends and not freak out!! Entertaining had gone from potlucks and easy going gatherings to kitchen meltdowns and hysterics as people tried to keep up with Martha’s perfection.
And so began the journey of outlining, writing, menu development and parties. Yes, always tasting parties. In 2000 I graduated with an MBA and was ready to start a full-fledged business. So were my classmates.. and so was Pam Kietzman, my first boss at the City of Pasadena (yep, she hired me because she new if I could cater, I could juggle a lot and deal with customers) and now colleague, and we met at night working up the business plan for the Digital Wife. Three women and three men starting planning, writing, developing and creating. And of course, looking for seed money. The Tech Boom was Booming and we wanted a piece! Money was flying in the hands of Internet Startups. Our hands were wide open! But we didn’t catch anything and we later decided our business model wasn’t going to work. We didn’t have a way to monetize our website. We didn’t see any venture capital in the near future… and so we turned out the light on our borrowed conference room and parted disappointed but still friends.
Of course, Pam and I still saw each other everyday! Well, not exactly, but you get the drift. And our passion for food did not die with the death of our digital wife. And so Pam joined forces with me on developing Carefree Gourmet Buffets. She created new menus and took all the photos! I did the writing and together we tested and cooked and hosted parties. We had a ball! Did we get discouraged? Sure. Did it take forever? Sure! We have families, full time jobs, commutes (well I did) and other commitments on our time and energy. And so, after 6 years our baby was born. That was 6 years work in partnership… that didn’t include my three years prior. Sometimes ideas and dreams take awhile to achieve. The goal is to not give up! And to enjoy the journey… and we did!
And now we had the result of all of our hard work and dedication… now what?