Ina Garten's Unique Return Policy Helped Make The Barefoot Contessa Iconic

If you didn't already know why Ina Garten is called The Barefoot Contessa, she gets the name from the spot that made her famous in the first place: her very own specialty food shop. Plenty of factors contributed to the rise of Garten's store, and some of them she shared in her brand-new memoir "Be Ready When the Luck Happens." One thing she really wanted was a great return experience. 

Since Garten was a consumer long before she was a store-owner (she was 30 when she opened up her shop in 1978), she was familiar with how stressful it can be to return merchandise. From nit-picking the condition of items to lost receipts, the process can be troublesome. Garten didn't want this same experience for her customers, so she worked hard to ensure every employee in the shop became familiar with Barefoot Contessa's unique return experience.

First, every customer was guaranteed their money back during a return. Next, employees would ask customers why they were returning and then give the customer an item on the house so they had a chance to try something that, hopefully, they'd like. "Based on the answer — you don't like a dense chocolate cake, or the cake you got was overbooked — you got something free, such as a different chocolate cake or a new caked that wasn't overbaked. People were stunned," Garten shared in her book. (If you're having a similar problem with your desserts, give Ina Garten's game-changing cake a try.)

Not only was this return policy good for customers, it was great for Ina Garten and her store, too, as it brought back repeat happy faces. So, what was typically a stressful or awkward experience Garten actually flipped around on its head and turned into a golden opportunity.

While this policy made for plenty of return customers, it wasn't the only tactic Garten used to turn Barefoot Contessa from an obscure specialty food store into an iconic destination in the culinary world. She thought a lot about customer experience before opening up her shop, and as she also shared in her memoir, one of her more unique ways of encouraging customers to browse the store was that she always removed an item off the shelves on her displays so that the merchandise didn't look too perfect. This way customers would feel encouraged to pick up items and shop, without feeling any remorse about messing up the shelves.

After 18 years as the thoughtful owner of Barefoot Contessa, Garten eventually sold the store to her manager and chef in 1996. She built an office above the shop where she could channel her culinary love into a cookbook, and just three years later, "The Barefoot Contessa" hit the shelves. The rest is truly history.