Island Caterer Honored by Chamber

Christine Bohn stands in Christine's Cafe and Catering,

this year's Small Business of the Year.

Jonathan Dyer/The Island Packet

BY PETER HULL, The Island Packet

Published Friday, February 10, 2006

Getting a business off the ground requires dedication and hard work. Getting the business to 25,000 feet, well, that requires a little extra effort.

Yet in just five years, Christine Bohn, owner of Christine's Café and Catering on Hilton Head Island, has done just that.

After starting as a catering service for private parties and corporate functions, Bohn's business has grown to include a popular cafe, contract catering registered with the S.C. Film Commission and catering for private and corporate jets that fly in and out of Hilton Head Island Airport.

And she hasn't stopped there. Bohn said this week that she planned to open a second cafe this spring on the island, but would not reveal the exact location.

The rapid growth of the business -- achieved debt free -- work ethic and charitable efforts saw Christine's Cafe and Catering named 2005 Small Business of the Year by the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce.

Bohn received the award at the chamber ball held at the Marriott Beach & Golf Resort on Saturday. The award honors a local business whose achievement and contributions to the community set the highest standards.

The winner's name is kept secret until the night of the annual black-tie event, and as Bohn and her husband, David, sat at a table to the rear of the Marriott's ballroom, she felt sure the award would go to someone else. It wasn't until presenters began describing the winner that she realized they were talking about her.

"This is truly an incredible honor and surprise," Bohn said from the stage. "(The business) has been a dream of mine that has become a reality."

Bohn started the company in 2000 in a space she shared with Philly's Cafe and Deli. By 2003, the business had grown and moved to its present location on Palmetto Bay Road, when the cafe opened. That expansion saw Bohn's client base grow by 42 percent, she said, as the cafe proved the perfect shop window. Today the cafe represents a quarter of Christine's revenue.

Meanwhile, the off-premises catering thrived. Christine's has catered for musicians John Mellencamp, Janis Ian and Earth, Wind and Fire, and for the cast and crew of "Come Away Home," a movie set and filmed on Hilton Head. Bohn catered at least two meals a day for about 90 people for five weeks, said Gregg Russell of island-based High Tide Entertainment, who wrote the story the movie is based on.

"I never saw, through the five weeks, when she wasn't smiling," Russell said.

Bohn's charitable work includes donating food and staff to Hilton Head Heroes, a group founded by Russell and his wife, Lindy, that provides island vacations to terminally ill children between the ages of 4 and 12 and their families. Christine's has six full-time and 12 part-time employees.

The award winner is determined by a five-member subcommittee of the chamber's Small & Minority Business Council. There were 12 nominees for this year's award, chamber officials said. The winner must satisfy certain criteria, such as community contributions and innovative approaches to business, something Bohn does with ease, said Phillip Wright, president of the Hilton Head market for SunTrust Bank.

Christine's has catered many events for the bank, Wright said, and each one has passed without guests noticing she was there. In the service industry, that's the mark of detail, quality and commitment.

"One thing I'm quite sure of," Wright said, "is anything that appears effortless is anything but effortless."

For Bohn, it's a piece of cake.