A tisket, a tasket

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A tisket, a tasket -- Woman succeeds, thanks to kosher gift baskets By TERESA M. McALEAVY, STAFF WRITER Date: 01-05-2003, Sunday Section: BUSINESS Edtion: All Editions.=.Sunday

Quitting a lucrative job to launch a gift-basket business from home after having a baby takes chutzpah.

But Caryn Starr-Gates has never been one to shy away from taking risks.

"I was raised to believe I could do what I want as long as I'm willing to accept the consequences of my decisions,'' says Starr-Gates, who grew up in Paramus.

That made it easy to ditch decent-paying jobs -- writing advertising copy, cooking, and, most recently, managing key operations for a chain of popular restaurants - to start Get It Together in 1996.

Starr-Gates, 45, runs the personalized gift-basket business from her Fair Lawn home.

"It's a little scary to give up a nice paycheck, but I wasn't going to have a baby and not be there,'' she says.

The business has evolved into one that sells kosher products exclusively. Starr-Gates initially offered personal organizing services to help fund the gift-basket aspect of Get It Together.

With the blessings of her husband, Larry, who also runs a business from home, Starr-Gates charged about $2,000 on credit cards for start-up capital to purchase inventory and begin marketing the business. She set up shop just a few months after the couple's daughter, Ariana, was born.

"It was hectic, but when you love what you do, it isn't a burden,'' she says of crafting decorated baskets filled with golf gear, gourmet coffee, specialty foods, country-music CDs, or just about any other personal item a recipient is likely to appreciate.

"I love it because it's like arts and crafts every day.''

Starr-Gates first recognized a need to offer kosher products when customers began requesting gifts that their Orthodox Jewish friends or clients could enjoy.

"I realized that 80 percent of my business was coming from 20 percent of my customers,'' she says. "It was like, 'Duh, why not go 100 percent kosher?'-''

About half of her sales these days come from business owners.

"Something like 90 percent of all the gift baskets we send to clients need to be kosher,'' says regular customer Jennifer Luke, who manages the offices of First Financial Equities Inc. in Englewood. "Caryn fills that need with beautiful, personalized baskets and makes my life much easier.''

Other business comes from return clients, word of mouth, and networking through her membership in the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners. A link to the business' home page, www.getagift.net, from an online gift registry, has also proved fruitful. The Web exposure has her shipping goods to Canada, Israel, England, and other parts of the world.

"I never believed in the Internet, but I was wrong,'' says Starr-Gates, who also hand-delivers some of her North Jersey orders.

Shortly after Starr-Gates began selling only kosher products three years ago, the gift-basket business turned its first profit. They range in price from about $25 to $200, with most customers spending $35 to $50.

In 2001, Starr-Gates logged her best year yet, with about $42,000 in revenue. She acknowledges the modesty of her share of what trade magazine Gift Basket Review calls a $2.8 billion industry.

"It's not about making a million dollars," she says. "It's about being there for my family and building something for myself.''

She attends trade shows, including Kosher Fest at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan and the New York International Gift Fair, for fresh ideas and new products.

"In this business, it's all about being creative,'' she says.

Starr-Gates raised additional capital for the business by selling her talents as a personal organizer. She recently gave up doing that to focus full-time on the gift baskets.

"I needed to finance the gift baskets,'' she says, "so I helped people organize their closets and clean up their homes.''

New Milford resident Marla Levine says Starr-Gates ability to turn chaos into order eased her through a somewhat difficult pregnancy.

"I was on bed-rest and needed to get ready for our second child,'' recalls Levine, who has since had a healthy child. "Caryn came in, helped me sell or donate what I no longer needed, and get the house ready. She was absolutely wonderful in a very trying time.''

Levine is only somewhat disappointed that Starr-Gates no longer helps folks get organized.

"But I'm not surprised,'' Levine says. "She has an ability to see a need and fill it.''

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Teresa M. McAleavy's e-mail address is mcaleavy@northjersey.com

Get It Together

Incorporated: 1996

Owner: Caryn Starr-Gates

Revenue: $42,000 in 2001

Employees: 1

Motto: "Kosher gift baskets for all occasions.''

Illustrations/Photos: PHOTO - DANIELLE P. RICHARDS / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER - "I love it because it's like arts and crafts every day,'' Caryn Starr-Gates says of the job of assembling gift baskets she sells from her Fair Lawn home. Food, coffee, and CDs are among the items that go into them. "When you love what you do, it isn't a burden.'' Keywords: BUSINESS, GIFT