We were lucky to catch up with Marisa Roberts recently and have shared our conversation below.

Marisa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

Am I happier as a business owner than a “regular job”? Absolutely! I went to culinary school to become a chef. My goal was to open a high end restaurant in the Kansas City area that focused on great food, cocktails and wine. But, after working at several restaurants, and getting married, I realized that owning a restaurant doesn’t leave much time for a new marriage or starting a family. I wanted to work in the hospitality industry in some capacity as a chef, so I gradually started catering while I was working at a restaurant. It took off! My husband built me a commercial kitchen on the lower level of our home. It was large enough to seat 60 guests and overlooked a pond. It was perfect for small weddings, rehearsal dinners or Holiday parties. Eventually we grew and we were taking on so many outside events, we stopped hosting events at our kitchen.

Keeping the business in my home afforded me the opportunity to raise my family and still work. I was able to control my destiny, so to speak, by taking on business that worked for my schedule. However, that isn’t to say, we didn’t work long, hard hours. In the early days we worked as long as 18 hours with shopping, prep, packing up for the event, working the event, driving home, unloading and doing dishes sometimes until 4:00 in the morning! As a new business, I didn’t have the budget to hire people to do the dishes, so I did it with a tight crew. It was crazy, but I loved every minute of it. I loved that we worked hard and met some great people along the way, It was satisfying to work with people that I genuinely enjoyed to be around.

As the company grew, my responsibilites grew with it. When I hired full time chefs, event coordinators, cooks, started purchasing bigger equipment, vehicle maintenance, the weight of making payroll, keeping up with licensing, insurance. overhead and million other things that business owners juggle every day start take its toll. When you have the heart of a chef and creative, the day to day things can be overwhelming. So I bake!

What if I was a chef at a little bistro somewhere working for someone else? Would I feel as fulfilled as I do now? I don’t think so. My career is now about logistics, creating menus, writing proposals and taking care of all the things that keep a business running. I enjoy working side by side with best people in our industry and I love to be challenged, so this career is perfect for me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am the owner of Olive Events, a boutique catering company in Kansas City and I also own The Venue at Willow Creek, a wedding venue located on 10 acres, also in Kansas City. We are dedicated to preparing the best food possible. The entire culinary team is proud of the product we serve. Our servers and coordinators have a high regard for food, and keep us in check to be the best. This means ordering the freshest meats, fish and produce. Baking from scratch. Finishing onsite, and not bringing food in hot boxes that sit for hours. It is a little more complicated when we are at events, but the end product is stellar. Attention to detail and high end service go hand in hand with what we do. The wedding venue staff collaborates with our clients to create an experience that is unforgettable.

Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?

I didn’t actually purchase an existing business, but I purchased 10 acres and built a wedding venue. It had been on my list of things I wanted to accomplish. As a caterer, it was a natural progression to building up my business. I had no idea it would take so long to create something from the ground up. My husband owns a landscape company and also owns a small construction company, so I thought this part would be easy!

Once the property was purchased, we hired and architect to design the venue. That was the fun part! My husband was really good at keeping me within my budget. We used to joke that if we could survive building this venue, we could survive anything!
I think the hardest part was working with our local government getting build permits, inspections, licensing, etc. ( Who knew you needed a permit to let DJ’s do their thing?).

The Venue at Willow Creek has been up and running since 2015 and we have a wonderful team managing the venue. They have a passion for weddings and work closely with each bride to make their day just what they imagined. We offer all-inclusive packages, and my catering team works closely with the venue to create menus and bar packages that are fresh, delicious and beautiful. We had some growing pains getting to this point, but we didn’t have a manual to look toward. We knew our experience as caterers that work in venues all over the city would give us some insight on what works and what doesn’t. As a caterer who built a venue, the kitchen design was super important to me. It needed a commercial oven, warming ovens, dish machine, plenty of refrigeration and ample table space to work on when expediting menus.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

March 2020 I think we all had to pivot! The pandemic hit the country and we were all affected by it in many different ways, but I think the hospitality industry was particularly devastated. All of our weddings, corporate and social events were cancelled or postponed. Both my catering company and wedding venue had to pivot and pivot fast!

My catering company immediately started hosting a weekly family meal that included a salad, entre, bread and dessert. They could pick up, from their cars, heat the food at home and maintain social distancing. We also offered a cocktail to go or wine pairing. Anything to keep us working. The money wasn’t enough to cover payroll by any means, but I felt it was important for us mentally to keep working. It was a scary time for our country and we weren’t going to sit at home and feel sorry for ourselves. This also kept us connected as a team. It was a lonely time for many people, and our comradery did a lot for all of us. Many people in our industry lost their jobs and many businesses closed, ultimately they lost everything. I was fortunate to keep my full time employees on payroll. I had been saving to build a new kitchen for us, and used that money along with the PPP to keep us rolling. It was a setback financially for sure, but I didn’t like the alternative. Our part-time bartenders and servers did lose the extra income without events, but fortunately, most of them have full time jobs and this is their side hustle.

We came through the other side of the pandemic stronger, We were able to work on so many aspects of the business that we were too busy to tackle previously. We worked on our menus, websites, procedures, we decluttered and cleaned house. I also worked on new business ideas and felt more creative.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.oliveeventscatering.com www.willowcreekkc.com
• Instagram: @oliveevents @willowcreekkc
• Facebook: @OliveEvents @VenueatWillowCreek
• Linkedin: Olive Events + Catering

Image Credits
Melissa and Beth
Black Coffee Photo