BWR 005: Maxine Turner: A Family Catering Company Is Olympic Size

Published February 19, 2014 | By Katie Krimitsos

How does a family company win HUGE contracts like the Olympics and the Sun Dance Film Festival?

Listen to our Interview with Maxine Turner, Founder of Cuisine Unlimited to find out!

Maxine Turner started her company in 1985 and all these decades later, Cuisine Unlimited Catering & Events has 130 employees and brings in $3.5 million in revenue each year. Her company has become known for catering huge events, such as multiple Olympic games, the Republican National Convention and the Sundance Film Festival. She is full of passion and shares with you how she’s grown her family business, the countless times she had to be uncomfortable and change for the sake of the business’ growth and where her sights are set for the future.

Maxine’s Kick-A$$ Quotes:

We go in with these fabulous ideas, but we forget that we need to know how to read a Profit & Loss statement, we need to know how to read our books…you have to come fully prepared.

I’m not going to say that it was easy along the way…nothing worthwhile ever is.

It’s how I reacted [that determined] whether we made progress or whether I stifled that progress.

Great Advice From Maxine to You:

Write down the 5 most important things to you and put those in front of you every single day…and then LIVE them, work towards them. And slowly, but surely, they will be accomplished.

Katie’s Favorite Take-a-Ways

Creating and Advisory Board For Success

In order to help shorten her learning curve in those first few years of business, Maxine brought on an Advisory Board of people to help her. She found people she admired in a variety of industries who could give her feedback and guidance on her business growth.

Working With A New Generation

Maxine first said no to her sons who approached her about buying the business. After going through 5 years of getting their hands dirty in every part of the company, they have now had ownership in the company and have been managing it for 13 years. Dealing with a new generation’s attitudes and ideas towards running the company was a hard pill for Maxine to swallow. But, she was able to see that all generations had the growth of the business as the number one priority…they just had different ways of approaching it. Ultimately, she acknowledges that her company could not have grown without the innovation and technology her sons brought to the table.