Posted Under: Entrepreneur, Our Heroes

Our next guest under the “Our Heroes” series is Bibby Gignilliat, a former marketing manager, now Founder & CEO of Parties That Cook, the business where she bring people together with the universal language of food. let’s talk to Bibby and find out how it all happened…

DD: Who are you and what kind of corporate job were you at?

BG: My name is Bibby Gignilliat and I am a corporate convert leaving behind a successful career as Marketing Manager with Williams-Sonoma, Inc.

DD: What made you leave the job? When did you realize that you wanted to be an entrepreneur & why?

BG: While at Williams-Sonoma, one day in a boring meeting on linear regression programming, I made the decision to leave my job and “feed my soul” by fulfilling a dream to attend Tante Marie’s professional cooking school in San Francisco. After completing the program, I conducted a culinary team building event at Tante Marie’s for a bunch of inebriated attorneys from a prominent San Francisco law firm. I was very directive in order to keep the masters of the universe on task. At the end of the night, the partner came up to me and said: “I LOVED how you handled me tonight. Would you stage a cooking event in my home for 40 Japanese businessmen?” “Sure” I said. The night of the event, the businessmen timidly arrived at his home. Keep in mind that many of them had never cooked in their lives let alone in their non-native language. You can imagine how anxious I felt when I said, “Who’s excited to cook?”, and no one raised a hand. After I gave a lively interactive demo, I divided the men into teams. Within minutes, they approached me, covered in flour from making shortcakes saying, “Chef, give me another project”. By the time they sat down to dinner, the decibel level had gone from 0 to 10. Two weeks after the event, the host contacted me. “Bibby, your cooking party was the highlight of their 2-week stay in San Francisco.” I knew then that I had a great concept – bringing people together with the universal language of food. In December of 1999, I founded my company – Parties That Cook. Since pioneering the mobile and in-home cooking party concept, culinary team building has blossomed as a nationwide industry. My company now stages hands on cooking parties and team building events in the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago and Seattle. Next stop, Portland.  So you see, entrepreneurship found me!

DD: What did you do to break the corporate jail? How did you prepare for the employee to entrepreneur transition?

BG: Once I decided to leave my job, I gave 6 months notice so that I could save my money to attend culinary school.  I joined as many culinary networking groups as I could and I asked established culinary professionals for informational interviews so that I could learn as much as possible about my new field.

DD: What is one resource (person, coach, book, organization etc) that helped you the most?

BG: The E-myth by Michael Gerber was a great resource and still is!

DD: What do you know now that you wish if only you knew when you made the transition?

BG: Choose business partners carefully, or better yet, go it alone and hire contractors & employees. Partnerships are like marriages – they take work, even more so if you are don’t see eye to eye on the direction and success of the company. In an ideal partnership situation, you outline priorities, objectives and business roles up front.  Hire an attorney to draft a partnership agreement (like a pre-nuptial agreement in marriage) and clearly spell out all exit scenarios in case it fails.  Ideally you and your partner should each have an attorney so that your interests are protected.

DD: What are your suggestions for aspiring entrepreneurs?

BG: Provide “fanatical” customer service. Respond quickly to clients. If you don’t take care of your customers, someone else will. Strive to give clients more than they expect. Your clients will notice because plenty of companies don’t go the extra mile.  Happy clients are your evangelists/raving fans.

DD: How are you doing and how do you feel now?

BG: Parties That Cook is booming!  In the last 10 years, we have served over 40,000 guests at 1500 events in 3 (and soon 4) cities.  We are having a record year.  Looking back, starting a business was definitely the biggest challenge of my life but it was also the most rewarding.

DD: That’s Bibby Gignilliat, employee turned entrepreneur, Founder and CEO of Parties That Cook! She mentioned networking at culinary groups and conducting informational interviews with industry professionals to learn about her new field. What a simple and brilliant move! Interviewing the industry experts and professionals is the best option to quickly learn about the industry and make significant/ influential contacts. Information is credible, current, and relevant, plus this tactic saves you hours of reading time and tons of time, money, and frustration of learning by own mistakes. Always connect with the experts and established professionals in your field and leverage their knowledge to your use by simply interviewing them.

Success to all!