Confessions of a Worried Caterer

Big Fat Daddy's of Baltimore is Speaking Out About Depressed Economy

We don't think much about the guy on the corner selling hot dogs, or the food booths you see at the local fair. We don't gander a second thought if the caterer that we used for the wedding is still in business. We do often think about fast food, stopping as we're on the go. McDonald's and others reported figures were consistently steady, even with the economy.

So why is it that Big Fat Daddy's owner Wayne M. Schafer is sweating bullets the first time in twenty-six years over this crumbling economy?

"I'm worried. For the first time in my whole life. I wonder what this year will do in regards to me providing for my family. All these years, I've invested back into my business and now I'm really stressing. " This coming from a six foot burly man that looks more like a Baltimore Raven's Defensive End in his Ray Lewis football jersey than a food vendor.

Wayne wasn't worried at age sixteen when he dropped out of high school to work full time for a Five Star restaurant in Little Italy. He would help his parents occassionally on weekends as they had started the family into the food vendor business. When he announced to them at age 18 that he was wanted to open his own food business, with his first wife, the response was more than unpleasant.

"They of course wanted myself and my first wife to work for them and saw this as some sort of competetion against them. I saw it as a way to express myself. There were methods I believed I could do better, and things I could improve on, but they didn't want to hear my suggestions. They thought of me as a kid. I suppose I was, but I had some great ideas. They were set in their ways and I respected that.. So I assured them I wouldn't go to the festivals they were at, and I kept that promise all these years. We pretty much go our own ways. No doubt they've always held it against me, though."

Wayne and his first wife started a small business called J&W Foods. Operating out of a wooden stand, their staples included pizza, lemonade, and onion rings at fairs and festivals.