The Manager

The Manager

Our interview was conducted after 4 hours of job shadowing on Tuesday, March 20th with Janice Creese. The 22-year old company, Janice's Catering Service & Sweet Harmony Café is located in Harmony Township.

It is a full service, offsite, 7 days a week catering company. They cater events such as weddings, company picnics, birthday parties, showers, funerals, and corporate lunches. There is no limit for the amount of people that they will cater for. Janice said that the most they have ever catered for at a single event was 2200 people. The average wedding has 150-200 people, while office lunches or parties are more around 75 people.

The restaurant was opened approximately 8 years ago. It is open Sunday thru Friday, leaving Saturdays solely for catering functions. It is only open from 7am to 2pm. The restaurant has a seating capacity of 80 people, but they serve an average of 200 meals per day. The restaurant was opened in the building of their catering kitchen to generate more profits during the weekdays, although the catering part of the company is the main profit.

Janice's position title is co-owner and head manager. She has a silent partner that financed the company to start it over 22 years age, but she oversees the employees and staff. Janice directly supervises the head chef, head waitress, and 10 catering/banquet employees. Janice has had no formal business or culinary training. She worked as a chef in various restaurants and country clubs before starting her own business.

Skills and competencies possessed

A good sense of business and great customer relation skills are what Janice says are crucial to a successful business. She talked about other area businesses, such as caterers, restaurants, pizza parlors, specialty shops and coffee shops, come into the area and quickly close. She says is due to the fact that they simply do not know how to run a business. The owners hire all the staff and are not present to train and oversee duties.

Communication and interaction skills are key for this position. Janice has the respect of her employees. She said she demonstrates respect towards them and in return they respect her. Much of Janice's business and clients come to her from word of mouth recommendations. They like her, the food and are satisfied with the outcome of their special events. Janice says this all starts from the first phone call or e-mail she receives from each client. It's about first impressions and she strives to communicate well with each customer to leave that great lasting impression.

Janice said she believes she has great leadership skills. She knows when to be a leader and when to be a supporter and listen to her employees. It is sometimes about personal