Principal branches out into business

WHO: Jennifer L. Vail, with her husband, Alan W., of Cape Vincent, opened the Watertown location of the meal preparation business Make and Take Gourmet at 1222 Arsenal St. in the Stateway Plaza.

The company was founded by advertising executive Michele Bellso of Syracuse, whom the Vails met last year at Make and Take Gourmet in Cicero. After their conversations with Ms. Bellso, the Vails decided to start a local store while holding down full-time jobs. Mrs. Vail is principal of Carthage Elementary School, while Mr. Vail is a financial adviser.

Their business has 20 employees, several hundred regular customers and an e-mail list of 3,000.

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO TAKE ON A SECOND JOB? "And it is! It's like a 24/7 job. People ask me that all the time. I guess I just kind of needed or wanted something else. I've been working in education for so many years. I just wanted something else that would branch off into another direction. And this seemed to be a great fit. And it has been. It's been phenomenal. I've been very lucky."

HAVE YOU EVER WORKED WITH ANYTHING CULINARY BEFORE? "Never. But that's the great thing about owning this franchise, because they give us all our recipes every month and they give us all the prep instruction and they tell us how to do the station layouts and all of that. It's pretty easy."

HOW DID YOU CHOOSE YOUR LOCATION? "We have 4,200 square feet here, which makes us the largest Make and Take Gourmet. It had to be in an area that's well lit, in a safe location, because we have a lot of women that come here by themselves and we're open at night.

"Alan and I also decided we wanted it to be in a high-visibility location. Some of the Make and Takes are in the back of complexes and aren't as visible. We have a great walk-in clientele, which is very, very important. We also wanted to have one that's large enough in case we wanted to expand."

WHAT SORT OF SPEED BUMPS DID YOU ENCOUNTER ALONG THE WAY? "The hardest thing for me, and it continues to be the hardest thing, is the time issue. I'm really 100 percent committed to both of my jobs. And when you're a school principal, you're not working a 9 to 5. You come in early, early in the morning and very often there are late nights. So it was very key to me to hire an outstanding staff. I've got about 20 people that work for me now. They are phenomenal."

SINCE YOU WERE ONE OF THE TWO BUSINESSES THAT STARTED OUT WITH TAKE-AWAY MEALS IN THE AREA, HOW DID PEOPLE RESPOND TO THE CONCEPT? "It's key to get people in the door. Once we get customers in the door, then we're golden. It's kind of a glitch having people not really understand exactly what it's all about. It's the convenience. We're all so busy anymore that most people do not want to go home and cook."

IN A MONTH OF BUSINESS, HOW MUCH WOULD THE AVERAGE CUSTOMER SPEND? "Probably, on average, $100."

AS YOU WERE FIRST STARTING OUT, WAS THERE ANYTHING THAT DIDN'T WORK? "We've learned a lot — what things to keep in our cooler, what things sell. I've had to adjust staff-wise; I've had to put more people in the kitchen because I didn't do that in the beginning and I realized I needed to do that, have more people working out there. I also have a receptionist now that works the front desk."

WHAT'S NEXT FOR YOU? "I don't know. Not another Make and Take right away, that's for sure. This is time-consuming enough for me, at least for another year. Ask me next year. I tend to love the change process. It keeps everybody hopping."

ANY OTHER CHANGES THAT YOU'RE PLANNING? "Not really. Instead of changing our menu every month like we always do, this summer we decided we would do a July/August menu and add on a whole bunch of things, so we have a gourmet burger station and a gourmet kebab station and grilled chicken.

"We didn't know whether that would work and it's been wonderful. It's just a learning experience every month or every couple of months. So by September we'll be ready for brand new things again."

If you know someone with an interesting job, contact Times staff writer Rachael Hanley at rhanley@wdt.net.