April 12, 2004
Moveable feast | A chat with Lisa Van Zile, owner of Poppy's Catering in Bowdoin
By Brendan Hughes
Founded: April 2003
Revenues, year one: $45,000
Projected revenues, year two: $100,000
Address: 297 West Rd., Bowdoin
Phone: 353-5795
Describe what your company does.
We are a full service catering business, primarily using catering trucks. We cater down to [Bath Iron Works] Monday through Friday, serving them for lunchtime. We also do pig roasts, barbecues, weddings ˆ either elegant or casual ˆ showers, business functions and auctions. No parties are too big or too small. We go from hamburgers and hot dogs to filet mignon and lobster.
How many employees do you have?
I have five employees full-time, and I have [part-time] people for jobs. My younger brother and my mother help, too. Everybody does a little bit of something.
When did you first get the idea for the company?
My parents catered out of New York City all my life. My father was in the fish business, so my brother and I grew up with it. I was a social worker for quite a long time, and then I decided I wanted to work at home. So my husband said, "Let's do it." We put into place everything our parents taught us. We turned our two-bay garage into a commercial kitchen and bought catering trucks and here we are.
What was the biggest challenge going from idea to reality?
Getting into BIW was a big challenge. We sat out at the gate and gave away free food. So the guys started asking "Why can't we get you guys in here?" and the shop stewards gave me the numbers of people to get in touch with and we were in within a week. We've been in BIW since July. It is a big chunk of our business. We load three trucks five days a week.
How did you finance the launch of your business, and what did it cost?
We're self-financed. The cost was about $100,000. We have a 10-burner stove, a convection oven, we have a five cooler refrigerator, countertops, tables, everything. Catering trucks alone are $20,000 a piece. We have two catering trucks and one pick-up truck with a portable unit on the back.
What could this company become?
I don't really know. I'm going by the seat of my pants to be honest with you. I started out [catering for] an auction company. They called us on a whim and they were so impressed with us that they signed us on for one auction a month. I just got off the phone with them and they want me to do four auctions in the month of April. Those are $1,000 or $1,200 days, just for cooking hamburgers and hot dogs. I'd like to do more of that, but we're pretty committed to BIW and I'd also like to get more trucks on the road.
What could stop you?
Knowing what equipment to buy when, and how to use [equipment] to better my business.
What's the competition like?
Right now there's one other competitor, but they're really not on the same scale as us. They're larger but they don't prepare their food onsite, they have a lot of packaged stuff. Ours is all home cooked meals ˆ soups, chowders, homemade deserts ˆ where theirs is more of a vending type operation. He goes to 35 or 40 stops on each truck and he doesn't always sell out. We go to two to three stops and we sell out every day.
Describe a mistake you've made in your business and what you learned from it.
I went into it blind, so anytime you do that you're bound to make mistakes. I bought a camper concession stand. I thought it would be great, I could take it to different jobs, but I don't have time for it, so now my camper concession stand sits [unused]. It's very cute, but it's not very helpful.
If you were given $500,000 toward your business, what would you do with it?
I could probably use another truck down at BIW. I'd like to own a hall and just do banquets out of that. I think there's a lot of money in that. I'd probably expand to serving liquor. We don't have that right now because of all the liability.
Who is Poppy?
I named the business after my father.
New Entrepreneurs profiles young businesses, 6-18 months old. Send your suggestions and contact information to editorial@mainebiz.biz
Revenues, year one: $45,000
Projected revenues, year two: $100,000
Address: 297 West Rd., Bowdoin
Phone: 353-5795
Describe what your company does.
We are a full service catering business, primarily using catering trucks. We cater down to [Bath Iron Works] Monday through Friday, serving them for lunchtime. We also do pig roasts, barbecues, weddings ˆ either elegant or casual ˆ showers, business functions and auctions. No parties are too big or too small. We go from hamburgers and hot dogs to filet mignon and lobster.
How many employees do you have?
I have five employees full-time, and I have [part-time] people for jobs. My younger brother and my mother help, too. Everybody does a little bit of something.
When did you first get the idea for the company?
My parents catered out of New York City all my life. My father was in the fish business, so my brother and I grew up with it. I was a social worker for quite a long time, and then I decided I wanted to work at home. So my husband said, "Let's do it." We put into place everything our parents taught us. We turned our two-bay garage into a commercial kitchen and bought catering trucks and here we are.
What was the biggest challenge going from idea to reality?
Getting into BIW was a big challenge. We sat out at the gate and gave away free food. So the guys started asking "Why can't we get you guys in here?" and the shop stewards gave me the numbers of people to get in touch with and we were in within a week. We've been in BIW since July. It is a big chunk of our business. We load three trucks five days a week.
How did you finance the launch of your business, and what did it cost?
We're self-financed. The cost was about $100,000. We have a 10-burner stove, a convection oven, we have a five cooler refrigerator, countertops, tables, everything. Catering trucks alone are $20,000 a piece. We have two catering trucks and one pick-up truck with a portable unit on the back.
What could this company become?
I don't really know. I'm going by the seat of my pants to be honest with you. I started out [catering for] an auction company. They called us on a whim and they were so impressed with us that they signed us on for one auction a month. I just got off the phone with them and they want me to do four auctions in the month of April. Those are $1,000 or $1,200 days, just for cooking hamburgers and hot dogs. I'd like to do more of that, but we're pretty committed to BIW and I'd also like to get more trucks on the road.
What could stop you?
Knowing what equipment to buy when, and how to use [equipment] to better my business.
What's the competition like?
Right now there's one other competitor, but they're really not on the same scale as us. They're larger but they don't prepare their food onsite, they have a lot of packaged stuff. Ours is all home cooked meals ˆ soups, chowders, homemade deserts ˆ where theirs is more of a vending type operation. He goes to 35 or 40 stops on each truck and he doesn't always sell out. We go to two to three stops and we sell out every day.
Describe a mistake you've made in your business and what you learned from it.
I went into it blind, so anytime you do that you're bound to make mistakes. I bought a camper concession stand. I thought it would be great, I could take it to different jobs, but I don't have time for it, so now my camper concession stand sits [unused]. It's very cute, but it's not very helpful.
If you were given $500,000 toward your business, what would you do with it?
I could probably use another truck down at BIW. I'd like to own a hall and just do banquets out of that. I think there's a lot of money in that. I'd probably expand to serving liquor. We don't have that right now because of all the liability.
Who is Poppy?
I named the business after my father.
New Entrepreneurs profiles young businesses, 6-18 months old. Send your suggestions and contact information to editorial@mainebiz.biz
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