Ina Garten found one of her career experiences very challenging, she believes it might be the “stupid thing” she did. Her husband Jeffrey assured her that she was the right choice and her encouragement made all the difference.
How Ina Gerton became ‘Barefoot Contessa’
Garten is best known for her nickname, Barefoot Contessa, but not everyone knows how she was called. The previous day, Garten had been working as a government official, but was buzzing about buying a specialty food store to sell in Westhampton, New York.
The store was called Barefoot Contessa.
As the new owner of an unfamiliar business, Garten suspected he had made a good decision. For during an interview Munchies: Podcast, Reminding Garten of her self-doubt, wondering if it was the “stupid thing” she did.
The former owner of the store helped Garten transition after the store was purchased, allowing the current famous food guru to shade that owner while she was learning ropes for a month.
Ina Garten shared Jeffrey’s advice that calmed her worries
Garten jumped into the deep end of owning a business and got a disappointing initial return on his investment given the amount of hard work required for his new store.
He told the interviewer how much he doubted himself in those early days.
“Over the weekend, I just told Jeffrey, ‘This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done,'” she recalled. “It’s going to be the worst summer of my life and I’ll never learn.
Jeffrey, his biggest supporter forever, uttered some wise words when Gerton needed him the most. “He told me, who was really smart, he said, ‘If you learn a business in a week, you’ll be bored in two weeks,'” she recalled what he had said. “And he was right.”
“It has been like this big sandbox ever since. There was always something interesting to do, ”he added.
Related: Ina Garton refuses to use this ingredient in her favorite cocktail recipe
Garten was put to the test and her way was found
The interviewer asked Garen how he overcame difficulties and doubts. “Well, for the first week I really thought, ‘I’ll never learn this business.’ I thought it was really difficult, “he explained.
Garten recalled how the woman who sold his store was tested. “She used to come with me every day and really had me and also show me what I needed to show,” he shared. “And then it was about 10 days. After I bought the store, she didn’t show up one morning.”
Garton was concerned that the former store owner was not going there to help her, but she has managed to run the business without her.
“And by the end of the day, I realized I was fine. And I said to him the next day, ‘What happened?’ He said ‘I knew you didn’t think you could run a store and I think you could do this. So I didn’t come in a single day to show you. ‘”Garton remembered.
“I thought, what a great teacher she was,” he explained. “I was very lucky that she was both enthusiastically knowledgeable about how to run a specialty food store, but also my enthusiastic assistant, who was incredibly beautiful.”
