Dvance p raise for minding Their Own Business

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jobs several times and, eventually, she found a job that “involved being 
a liaison for projects in a computer science atmosphere between this 
user of the technology and the technical supporters of this technology.” 
She went on to explain that she “had no technological background, I 
had just learned how to turn on a computer, didn’t even know word 
processing, or any of the sort.” She was “completely green” when she 
did an interview and got the job. She was “totally surprised” but was 
excited to start in a new area, and in her typical learning style she 
approached it so that she could “learn very quickly, soak up all the 
information, read everything” and showed them that she could “figure 
out how to do what they are asking you to do.”
Gina read restaurant news “even though I am not in the restaurant 
business,” because she wanted to keep abreast of what is happening in 
the food industry. She made it a point to read “advertising magazines 
because I have to do a lot of marketing and advertising.” She included 
advertisements, “magazines from boxes and bows so I can see what my 
Christmas offering is going to look” like and that hunt starts in February. 
She also included “cookbooks, recipes … work on the internet looking 
at new trends” so that she could follow the lead on the customer brands. 
And then, of course, she read “management books” because she under-
stood that her direction of the members of her team had to be based 
on the sound principles of running a successful company. The efficiency 
manager in her was compelled to do things by a mathematical equation 
so that the outcome was predictable and positive.
What is presented on the web site for Island Caterers, Gina 
explained, “came through hard work of mine, night after night, and 
envisioning what I wanted to share with people about what I do.” She 
found an independent business consultant who was also starting his 
business from home and together they collaborated on the work that 
was eventually put on display on the site. Gina saw the results of her 
tireless efforts when she “kept looking, just researching on the web, 
searcher[ing] for web designers.” When she found the person who she 
wanted to hire, based on what they promised to do for their clients, she 
employed him because she was sure that it was because “somebody 
understands what I need!”

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minding
their
own
business
Since the metro area where the business is established draws a lot 
of people who have been to the Caribbean and want to keep up the 
memory of their visit to the islands, Gina capitalizes on the popula-
tion’s interest in the “exotic” food and music that they learn about on 
their travels. She broadened her marketing efforts to include “in-flight 
magazines or in the video that you see in flights coming to this area … 
in festivals, especially the Pan-Jazz,” and a lot more publications and 
“sponsorship of those events” so that the business profile was seen.
Gina’s dream for herself, as a writer who creates copy for the com-
pany, is that she “be able to write something that … anybody … in need 
of my service can read and just know ‘oh, that’s what she does’ and I 
know that I can.” She planned to write “that perfect cop” because she 
understood that “in advertising you have to say a lot in few words” and 
she planned to work to “get those 6 words, not only for one person but 
for 100’s of people reading it to get what you mean.” And, she pointed 
out, that all the emotion that she felt around the food preparation and 
service would come across to the reader.
She was confident when she began writing contracts for her chefs 
and staff because of her previous experience with legal documents on 
her jobs at the bank in Trinidad. In fact, Gina admitted that the lawyer 
who advised her on her contracts for the chefs and staff had to do very 
few adjustments to the documents when she provided them to him for 
review. Gina explained:
… the chefs that I use are at-will employees, typically they work for several 
caterers in the area. So I have a contract that I have written up with them that 
says that they would not divulge the recipes and processes that we use within 
our establishment. In a typical employer agreement you have a non-compete, 
you will not work for or trade your secrets with another company … so the 
contract had to be written a little bit differently for the at-will employees. I do 
it also with the servers ….
This approach to protecting hard-won expertise in the kitchen ensured 
that the chefs guarded all “the secrets” in order to do the work for 
which Island Caterers is famous.

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