Journey of a Caterer, by Crystal Provance

I met my husband when we were both studying food and beverage at college in Pennsylvania. This began a thirty-year love affair and a shared love of the food and beverage industry. We had so many exciting years as we developed our talents and skills in large hotels, country clubs, and restaurants; to the point that we decided to go out on our own. I actually opened one of the first Coffee Cafes’ in Charlotte in 1995 that featured coffee in the morning and jazz into the night. Every jazz musician around played in my place at some point. But despite having a manager and employees, it was exhausting so around 1999, I decided to leave retail and go into catering. Within a few years, we found ourselves back in retail and opening Southern Gourmet with another catering couple, but the partnership only lasted six months because they had a young family and the hours were too demanding for them. Our dream was to build a little empire and then sell and have a nice retirement. 

Suddenly, in December 2015, I lost my husband to a brain aneurism. I came home to find him lying on the bathroom floor, still alive and apologizing. We had a loving marriage and within a few hours, all of that was gone. My husband’s death changed me forever. With his passing all that had changed.I had lost my passion for the business. My husband took care of the business end like payroll, taxes, and paying all of the bills. My job was meeting with clients and setting up parties. I loved setting up receptions, rehearsal dinners, and other big events. Creating memories for people with our food and services for once in a lifetime event. When he passed, I lost interest.

My immediate reaction was to run. Just get away from the rat race. First I went to Costa Rica but I found that while it wasn’t my cup of tea, it opened my eyes to the fact that I needed to stay anchored with my business, my social, and business community. I needed to stay where I was. So I did for almost five years.  But I started exploring Baja on the recommendation of a client but, again, it wasn’t for me. I also visited Todos Santos but felt it was too small and that I would be bored there.

The search continued and I took courses and trips with International Living. I then attended an International Living conference in Atlanta and got to look at so many beautiful and wonderful places but each had drawbacks.  This is how I found Lakeside and started coming to visit every year and fell more in love with every trip. in 2019 I attended a Focus on Mexico seminar and that was what sealed the deal.  This seminar covered virtually every aspect of living Lakeside, they provided actual connections with doctors, lawyers, real estate professionals, restaurants, shopping, banking. The Focus on Mexico seminar made it so easy to make the decision to move.

The year before I had already put my business up for sale, and had offers on the table, but then the pandemic hit and everything stopped. So, life had to go on even though there was no business. My catering business and event center was completely closed but I had a lunch cafe that would still operate as take-out only. But this gave me time to do something I had wanted to do for a long time. Write a cookbook. So I told my team, “Girls, we are going to write a cookbook!” Then the search began for a company that published cookbooks and they made it so easy. Nevertheless, we had a lot of work to do in selecting recipes and cutting them down from event size to home size, kitchen testing, and so forth. This all had to be entered into the publisher's app and checked many times. So this was one of my bucket list items completed!

This all happened in the beginning of August, so flew to California,  met a friend and we flew to Guadalajara and had no problems getting to Lakeside. The puzzle pieces just fell into place, I found this house here in Ajijic and my cookbook was published and delivered! So I flew back to Charlotte, NC and within two weeks I had sold my business and a real estate friend came to look at my house. He walked through and said, “You won’t have any problem selling this house, in fact, I expect there will be a bidding war.” And that is just what happened and it sold for $20,000 over the asking price. The Universe was right there with me; everything just fell into place. I was blown away at how fast and easy everything was.

I had a great team of women working with me. In particular, was my chef who came to me at nineteen and was almost thirty when I left. While I non-discriminatory in my hiring, the male chefs I hired just didn’t cut it. I must have gone through three, highly trained and recommended men, in six months. When I hired them I explained that 80% of the work is planning and every one of them boasted “I got this! I got this” and every one of them crashed and burned; a lot of ego with them.

By contrast, the young female chef I hired learned quickly and could soon create the menu, order the food, supervise the production of the dishes, she could do everything and I had complete confidence in her. My business was very successful and we even had three weddings in one day, each one with different requirements and my staff handled it flawlessly. So my team was with me for fifteen years and they went with the business when it sold.

When I announced my plans to move to Mexico some of my friends were like “You go girl” because they have an adventurous spirit. Others said “aren’t you afraid? The cartel?” And my reply was “what about all of the gangs in Charlotte?” Actually, this year alone, to date, Charlotte has had twenty-six murders. I wasn’t about to live in fear. I like living in our bubble. I walk my dogs and in the evening I ride my bike around; I would not feel safe riding my bike in the evenings in Charlotte.

As a teen, my mother would have to rein me in, afraid something would happen to me. My reply to her, “Let me find out” so I have always been rather fearless. Did I get knocked down at times? Yes, of course, but through that, I learned to get up, dust myself off and continue. I came from a family of strong women, this is why we butted heads sometimes. I don’t think I could have become the businesswoman I was had I not come from this background.

Now that I am retired, I have no list of things to do. I just want to be. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that I don’t have to rush out of the door. Someone recently asked if I would offer cooking classes and it was a resounding “no!” I have been organizing parties for others for almost thirty years. Now I am ready to go to parties, and dinners and be served. I do; however, cook for friends and neighbors in my home;  enjoying good food, some of the recipes from my cookbook, wine and conversation. And now that I’m mostly settled in here, I have been enjoying helping other “Newbies” come to Lakeside and find the community, happiness, and contentment I have discovered. 

I am also having fun discovering the wonders and beauty of this incredible country; meeting new people; and finding my tribe. A rocking chair life was not for me in retirement, but the busy social lifestyle that is so prevalent here is absolutely appealing. From hiking, biking swimming, dancing or walking the Malecon, there is a fun healthy lifestyle activity for everyone. Speaking as a Chef & former restaurateur,  the food scene here is abundant and incredibly creative. It will take me a while to discover all that is offered, but I think I'm up for the task! I have also been warmly welcomed and supported by kind and loving locals, businesses, and ex-pats in this one-of-a-kind community. Every day is an amazing discovery and  I look forward to each day of this new and exciting life adventure.