St. Charles small business owner says flexibility important to survival
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| Roy Sykes photo -- Melanie Schumacher, prep chef at Adeline's Kitchen and Catering Company, prepares cookies for a meal. |
By Kalen Ponche
Tuesday, January 5, 2010 1:36 PM CST
Inside of Adeline's Kitchen and Catering Company just days before Christmas, owner Terri Roberts hustled through the kitchen, stirring the red wine sauce and placing a pan of rolls in the oven.
Roberts, 51, had just three hours to make and deliver four orders for customers - ranging from food for a small office Christmas party to meals for one family for three days.
She received one order at 9 p.m. the night before. But that was no problem for Roberts.
Flexibility has been the key for the small business owner's survival in 2009.
Roberts opened a new carry-out restaurant in St. Charles only to close it four months later.
Though the past year has been stressful, Roberts said she's learned that she shouldn't scare her employees when times get tough.
Now she's back to catering and has a new plan - and a new attitude - to weather 2010.
"It's been a learning year," said Roberts. "I can't say that I'm bored."
Roberts got started in the restaurant industry as a waitress working North St. Louis County. She liked to watch the cooks and tried to taste everything on the menu.
"Growing up, I played in the kitchen," said Roberts. "I drove my mom crazy, because I wouldn't follow recipes."
Today, Roberts still doesn't follow recipes. When she sees something on a cooking show or in a magazine, like cider-glazed pork, she uses it as a starting point.
"Recipes are ideas," she said. "I experiment on my customers all the time."
Roberts fell into catering by accident. Her first catering job was a favor for her sister who had to organize a company Christmas party, but over the next 20 years, her business grew through word of mouth.
"I got involved with a Kappa Alpha Theta Alumni sorority association," she said. "They met six times a year, and that was my first foray into networking."
After a brief break from catering in 2007, Roberts decided in 2008 to buy a building and open a take-out restaurant. For years she had cooked in halls, but with her own place she'd have space to spread out.
"I invested in the stock market for years and years," she said. "I thought, 'Why don't I invest in myself?'"
Buying a building was scary, she said. But she liked the historic St. Charles area, she eventually bought a place on Fifth Street because of its proximity to Interstate 70.
Roberts installed new floors and painted the walls a soothing green. By summer, Adeline's Kitchen opened, offering gourmet sandwiches and soups to customers who munched on cookies while they waited.
Roberts thought the restaurant would take off as soon as she opened it.
"That was just being naive on my part," she said.
Customers trickled in as they saw the sign out front. Many came back. But there were times when Roberts paid someone to stand around for hours and no one came in at all.
The carry-out restaurant also made it difficult for her to run her catering business. If someone walked in, she'd have to stop whatever she was doing to make a sandwich.
"I had to cook so much more," she said. "I had thought (the take-out business) would be complementary to what I made for catering."
But Roberts often found she had food going to waste.
By October, Roberts decided that she needed to close the lunch part of the business. She had a 200-person event to cater and found she wasn't able to find time to look at the venue.
"It was a little sad," she said. "We had regulars who we loved dearly."
Closing Adeline's Kitchen has allowed Roberts to target a new clientele: pharmaceutical representatives who often cater lunches for doctors.
Roberts hired a new employee to call administrative assistants and set up tastings. She's found several new clients that way.
"With retail, I felt trapped," she said. "We have a plan now. I am excited about that. It's a totally different market than what I had before."
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