Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Store Had Quite The Rise And Fall
NEWS
By ELIAS NASH
Ina Garten recently celebrated the 46th anniversary of launching her culinary career when she purchased a little store in the Hamptons, called Barefoot Contessa.
However, she said that at the time, she thought the decision to buy the store “may be the stupidest thing I've ever done, but it was also so exhilarating.”
To prepare for a change in ownership, Garten and the store’s original owner, Diana Stratta, worked 22-hour days leading up to Memorial Day weekend.
Although the shop only grossed $87 on Garten's first day, the rest of the holiday weekend was more prosperous, and she soon gained confidence.
Garten routinely worked 12-hour shifts at the store, making the same cake over and over until she got it right. She kept up the exhausting schedule for almost 20 years.
In 1996, she finally relinquished control of the business to a pair of employees, but retained ownership of the property and built herself an office right above the old shop.
The store closed in 2004, but she wrote her sleeper best-seller, “The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook,” in her office above the shop in 1999 and the rest is history.
