The Reason Ina Garten Sold Her Barefoot Contessa Store

The culinary celebrity, small business icon, trained pilot, and Nancy Meyers' muse Ina Garten continues to captivate home cooks and pro chefs with her memoir, "Be Ready When the Luck Happens." Since its publication at the start of October 2024, we've gained more insight into Garten's favorite cookbook, her professional acumen, and even the impact of baking brownies for her husband Jeffrey on her early love for cooking. After a print, television, and retail career seemingly abundant with nothing but moments to shine, this might just be the industry idol's brightest time. But, like most that appears only to glitter, the Barefoot Contessa's trajectory hasn't always been lined with gold alone.

The brick-and-mortar store Barefoot Contessa, which eventually became eponymous with Garten herself, began to lose its luster after 18 years of ownership, especially after a demoralizing discovery of long-term theft. Following a confounding conversation with an alleged shoplifter, Garten writes in her memoir, "the resolution to this nasty episode was long and complicated and left me disheartened." By 1996, she had sold the store.

Eyes open to the five-finger discounts in her store and with nearly two decades as its proprietor, Ina Garten's passion for operating the Barefoot Contessa had gradually waned. "What I didn't like about running Barefoot Contessa was overshadowing what I used to love," Garten writes, adding, "I felt that I wasn't doing anything new, and I certainly wasn't bringing any creativity to my work." By the point of feeling "pretty miserable," she made the decision to sell the successful specialty market.

Garten maintained a monetary stake in the business and helped the new owners, her chef and her store manager, during the transition period, but lost the sense of purpose that had come with managing dozens of employees and virtually endless baking. She describes this period as the hardest of her life, as she devised a path forward amid a paucity of the adrenaline her previous life was rich with. Spoiler alert: It all worked out. Garten has now been known as the Barefoot Contessa for even longer than she actually operated the enterprise that would go on to title her very own Food Network show and many published cookbooks.

Purchase Ina Garten's memoir "Be Ready When the Luck Happens" for $34 on Amazon.