Elizabeth Copeland: a recipe for success.

• Author: Beers, Heather
• Position: People

IT'S NOT THE KIND OF GIFT many would expect, and it's certainly not the one Elizabeth Copeland had on her wish list, but in 1995 her husband, Richard. called with a surprise. "He phoned from a business trip to say he'd just bought me a sandwich shop," recalls Copeland, "I was shocked. Especially because we lived in Delaware, and the sandwich shop was in Salt Lake City."

Stunned, the school teacher, music instructor and mother of five relocated with her husband to Salt Lake to try her hand as a restaurateur. "We had always toyed with the idea of having our own restaurant someday--that day just came sooner than I expected. Richard had complete confidence I could do it," says Copeland.

He was right. As president of Elizabeth's Custom Catering, Inc., Copeland has not only built a successful catering business with her husband, but she has earned significant recognition. Copeland serves on the Utah Presidential Business Commission as a small business advisor, and her company has been named to the MountainWest Venture Capital Utah 100 in 2001 and 2002.

The journey from hoagies to world-class catering was almost as unexpected as the move to Salt Lake City. It began when Copeland started adding a daily "hot food item," such as her special-recipe lasagna, to the cold-cut sandwich fare. She had always been adept at cooking, a talent she and her husband inherited from families with rich culinary traditions.

"I prepared things that had been family favorites, and Richard and I researched market trends to add popular menu items such as Southwestern and Asian foods," Copeland recounts.

Within a month of opening the shop, she had her first request to cater a board meeting. Demand for catering continued to...