We were lucky to catch up with Sarah Gulotta recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah , appreciate you joining us today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

I have inherited and taken over my families 64 year old family business It was originally opened as a small gas station only. My father transformed it into a repair shop in the 1980’s. I since have closed the repair shop and opened the doors to an entire food division. Beginning with getting my feet wet with selling hot dogs on a roller grill to see if they would sell, to get my foot in the door, become licensed and learn about the food industry. Coming from a background in health care I had no idea what I was doing. I slowly became certified, and saved enough money on my hot dogs to purchase my first warmer to expand into other hot food sales. We began making cold sandwiches to go, and microwaved food to place in a warmer. We sold things like gas station Mozzerella sticks, and chicken fingers. We continued to sell out daily, and grow customer inquiry in what we were offering and how we managed to do so out of such a small space. In a place that was labeled as a “gas station” Over the next few years, I save enough money, and gained enough knowledge to expand into purchasing my first turbo chef oven, educating and certifying my staff to become serv safe certified in food preparation. Adding additional sinks, refrigeration units, counter space. A walk in cooler, and freezers throughout my old repair shop space. Engaging in the construction to remove old car lifts, and mechanical equiptment. I have lead my team through building upon layers of food service, and expanding our reach into a full fledge menu. We have grown our online space into a full webpage with a menu, social media accounts we are active on featuring daily specials, and full span of refrigerated to-go meals, and fresh hot warm meals. In addition we have added a to go line where customers can all ahead and order for pick up.
We have taken the idea of gas station food and built new pathways of thinking and doing! We are passionate in my store about fresh, meets convenient.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was brought up to understand the value of family, and work ethic. Being raised a half a mile from our family store, and my entire family lived on the same road, work and family was like one and the same. I thought nothing of going to my families store at 5am on a Saturday at 5 years old to make the daily coffee. It’s how my family operated. We took care of each other, and what took care of us. Our family store raised us all. It supported jobs for many who passed through my family over the decades. And caring for that family store was like a family farm. It kept us running, happy and together. I learned the importance of discipline from my father and grandfather. The resiliency to move through life, work and lead despite what the current circumstances looked like. My faith taught me to stay positive, to help others, and to do the work that was before me. In returning to my family business nearly a decade after leaving to go out into the world of health care, I knew my agenda was preservation. to preserve the place that raised me. While I raised my family on my own I began to learn how to run this business as it presented in the current. I learned to juggle raising my two girls on my own after divorcing my first husband, and have a thriving business. A familiar place for myself, family and business. I brought my girls to work with me, a luxury I never knew before working in health care. I quickly identified that this was the luxury I desired for my team. to provide a place that you can exercise your discipline in fostering growth for yourself, and your company. And the importance of your roots within your family. And never having to compromise or choose. I am grateful to say I am overwhelmed with an immense amount of pride daily when I see the product of my work towards not only preserving this family business, but also in growing and expanding our reach unto other families. Providing and displaying this kinds of life is my true calling. I am home.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

In 2014 I left the father of my two children, filed for divorce and compromised everything I ever had. He, an abusive alcholic, took every dollar I ever had, emptied my bank accounts, stole my vehicle, and went missing. I resorted back to the discipline that I was raised with within this business, and this family. I knew that through discipline and showing up every single day, even every hour it’s a choice to show up, to decide to exercise dedication to the outcomes. The outcome I desired was survival, was independence, was self reliance. To get out of a life that no longer served me, and move towards one that meant I was self sufficient. That very much meant building my business along side building my family. One would not exist without the other the way it does. My discipline to this time period in my life, and exercising the resiliency to show up despite being broke, tired, and in court for many years fighting lead me to all the goals I had laid out for myself. I lean back on this time in my life as replication of the ability to produce anything you desire in life. It takes a goal, and the discipline to remain faithful to seeing that goal to fruition. Your thoughts drive your actions, and your actions create your results. Identify the result you are looking for, utilize the discipline to show up inside the actions, and develop quality thoughts to drive your ability to show up.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Self development-Communication- expectations and time management.

When you are leading a team the enterprise begins with you. you are the enterprise of you. When you rise, they all rise. You must learn that the greatest tool you have is yourself. And when you are unwell anyone you are leading is unwell. The relationship you have with yourself is the relationship you will replicate with everyone outside of yourself.
So #1 learning how you operate, lead and work are crucial to the development of yourself, your business, and your team. And caring for that and yourself is an ongoing commitment to that business and team.

#2- communication to your team- accessing vulnerability to connect with them. Not just lead them But to really get into their realities WITH them. To learn about their position, their daily habits, struggles, and realities. To do the job they do daily to learn what they experience makes them feel valued. They will produce better, feel better and show up better when they are seen, heard and validated.

#3expectations- do you have realistically expectations of your team? And have you communicated, and indicated these the way you desire them ? Have you learned about them, their learning styles. Their communication styles, and ensured that you understand them and they understand your expectations. You cannot hold them accountable if they are not in the reality of your desires of them as an employee.

#4- time management- in managing any amount of people on a team you must possess time management for your own time and theirs. Realistically what do they need from you on a daily, weekly., monthly basis? How can you serv them? Ask yourself a series of quiestions to reveal realistically how much time, and when you can manage them into your work schedule. Schedule team meetings. Allot time for group communications, individual concerns, and prospects for the business. Time for problem solving, time for connection to management concerns within your team , and time to connect with your customers weather online and/or in person. This is an important factor in the growth, and developmental stages of your business.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.gulottasinc.com
• Instagram: Gulottasinc
• Facebook: Gulotta’s
• Linkedin: Sarah Gulotta
• Yelp: Gulotta’s
• Other: Tik Tok- Gulotta’s inc.

Image Credits
Tracy Stoddard