Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 18, 1992 TAG: 9203180095
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BEA LEWIS NEWSDAY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
After 60 cartoon years as a happy homemaker, Blondie, the curvacious American icon, finally got a paying job. She started her own catering business last fall, thus joining one of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. economy - small businesses owned by women.
Blondie's creator, artist Dean Young, decided it was time for her to go to work because she was getting bored with her cooking and cleaning chores and needed to "spread her wings." There also was a growing need to add to the family's income.
"She's in it because we're in financially strapped times. And I'm convinced that Mr. Dithers will never come through with that raise for Dagwood," said Young, referring to Dagwood's mean-mouthed boss. Catering seemed right for Blondie, said Young. She loves to cook; Dagwood loves to eat. As a caterer in her own business, she can be available when her teen-age kids, Cookie and Alexander, come home from school; she can still be there to cater to Dagwood's needs.
But Blondie's new working life has not been the smooth sailing she had hoped for, and that is getting a lot of chuckles from real-life caterers.
"Oh boy, can I can relate to Blondie's ups and downs," said Cheryl Stair, co-owner of the Art of Eating, an East Hampton, N.Y., catering company that she and a partner started in the back of a motel in 1987.
Stair connected with the time when Blondie and her best friend, Tootsie, bragged how they got everything ready "without anyone's help."
But, as in real life, Stair said, the waitresses Blondie had hired for the party did not show up. Nor did they call. So, in the last frame of the cartoon strip, Young drew aprons around the waists of Dagwood and Herb (Tootsie's husband) and showed them passing around trays of chicken puffs and champagne mousse wedges.
No-shows often create problems in the catering business, said Stair, who compensates by hiring more people than she needs. "Rarely does everything go right."
Stair and other caterers also are concerned that Blondie does not have a board of health certificate needed to operate a food business from home.
And while there has been some discussion about whether Blondie will get the necessary papers, there is hope Blondie will do well enough with her business to move out of her house and into larger quarters, said Amanda Hass, a spokeswoman for King Features, the distributor of the comic strip that appears in more than 2,000 papers worldwide.
But before she makes that leap, the pros offer some advice.
Learn what you need to be a professional, advises Jane Umanoff, partner in Umanoff & Parsons, a Manhattan catering and baking business. As Umanoff grew from baking for friends in her Manhattan apartment in 1978 to occupying three floors in a building in the Tribeca area of Manhattan, she took numerous courses along the way. Starting with a professional baking class at the New York Technical College, Umanoff learned the many business aspects of catering, taking courses on insurance, taxation and marketing.
Experts advise women who want to go it alone to check local schools for continuing-education classes, to hire a lawyer and an accountant.
Blondie should have a good handle on math, said Carol Durst, who heads New American Catering, a Manhattan-based company.
"A lot of people may know how to cook, but unless they keep a handle on the numbers, a small caterer will have a tough time surviving this economy," Durst said.
She purposely keeps her business small, less for economic reasons than to spend time with her 5-year-old son: "I've given up the bucks to have the balance in life."
Although balance is hard in the beginning, when some caterers said they worked as many as 18 hours a day, Umanoff suggests Blondie pay attention to her relationship with Dagwood.
With both spouses now working, "their relationship will have to equal out more. While she can't beat him over the head to help more around the house and with the kids, they will need to talk things out a lot," said Umanoff.
And, because a caterer's life is not a 9-to-5 job, Dagwood and the kids will need to adjust to last-minute changes.
So will Blondie, added Stair, who recalled the time when the fish company from which she had ordered smoked salmon for a fancy wedding party went out of the business three days before the event. After years in the business, Stair had learned to "roll with the flow." Instead of crying, which was her first reaction, Stair and her partner rolled up their sleeves and spent many hours overtime smoking their own salmon - starting with making the brine.
Although catering is "a disaster waiting to happen," Durst said Blondie has the tools to cope under stress. Because she is always making things better for Dagwood, she should be able to transfer those talents to her catering business to make the unexpected problems work out.
And even though she's a good cook, the dishes Blondie is serving at parties - chicken Kiev with homemade biscuits and chocolate fudge cake for dessert - could use some updating, the food pros said. "People are eating a lot lighter today."
Chicken Kiev is old hat, said Stair, who would recommend that Blondie try her hand at a "nice, Thai-roasted chicken with garlic, ginger and coriander." Marinated grilled shrimp with Mediterranean vegetables and a white-bean salad is another popular dish, she added.
Little extras are important to clients too, Stair has found. "One piece of cake isn't enough anymore. A scoop of homemade caramel ice cream alongside [Blondie's] fudge cake would be better. So would a platter of wonderful fresh fruit."
And Blondie will need to keep changing her menus as the years go on, said Umanoff, whose menus now include fare reflecting the latest popular cuisines: Caribbean and South American.
by CNB