When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. That was Alice Garretti’s outlook when the pandemic hit the service industry especially hard. The Acquolina catering director — alongside her mother and Acquolina co-founder Yolanda Garretti — knew that, like so many other businesses right now, their popular catering company would need to change course in order to weather the storm. Enter Acquolina To Go: delicious made-to-order food delivered straight to your door. Here, we spoke with Garretti about the healing power of a “home-cooked” meal.

I was inspired to launch Acquolina To Go…

Acquolina, as with the entire service industry, was completely turned upside-down by the pandemic. We quickly pivoted and launched a new to-go business, focused on bringing Acquolina straight to your door. Now you can host beautiful family dinners at home, without the need of an on-site chef and without sacrificing presentation or quality. Acquolina To Go delivers made-to-order food in beautiful ceramic containers that can be easily popped into your oven. We deliver to the Hamptons, Connecticut and most of New York State.

The most rewarding part of being a business owner…

Having a business is like having a child: you live for it; it keeps you up at night; and you put in all your energy and goodwill to make it flourish. The most rewarding part is seeing it grow.

And the most challenging…

Feeling responsible for the people that work for you and knowing that the decisions that you make could affect them and their families.

The thing I am most proud of…

The impact. Food brings happiness and we love being able to spread that joy. We are also lucky to have a team that feels like family — from the owners to the dish washers, we are all in this together.