@
YachtSuites
Karen L. Gitter
bringing customer service back to hospitality
With over 35 years in the hospitality business in the Bay Area, I have a vested interest in providing the best experience my clients could ever want.
My hospitality career started at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco heading up the Banquets & Catering Department. A few years later, I left the Academy, and became the Director of Banquets & Catering for Spectrum Foods, a California based restaurant company with 16 white table cloth restaurants.
In 2001, I opted to leave the corporate restaurant world, and opened my own catering company, Karen Gitter Catering and Events. I found my niche as a caterer that could cater restaurant quality food with professional catering staff to locations that had no services. I was the caterer on Alcatraz Island, Angel Island, Stinson Beach, Blue & Gold Fleet and Ocean Beach to name a few.
In 2004, I formed Blue Water Party Rentals. My mission was to bring customer service back to the rental business. Whether you were renting for a small family gathering, or for a 200 person wedding, the same level of customer service applied for everyone.
During my party rental chapter, I discovered a personal need to give back. I was able to hire Veterans from the VA Compensated Work Therapy Program to work in my warehouse , and also volunteered at the Second Harvest Food Bank of San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.
Blue Water Party Rentals was sold in December 2013. .
Today I volunteer with Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, teaching people how to cook from scratch to eliminate obesity and type 2 diabetes. I am currently teaching clients at theProject WeHope in East Palo Alto, teaching school age girls at Girls to Women also in East Palo Alto, and teaching seniors at Peninsula Family Services Redwood City. I work in partnership with Whole Foods Market Palo Alto, Whole Foods Market San Mateo, and Whole Foods Market Redwood City.
Since moving to the Bay Area from Connecticut over 30 years ago, I have lived on sailboats. This way of life was not new to me. I grew up sailing with my family on Long Island Sound. After all us kids were out of the house, my parents took their Valiant 40 sailboat and cruised for 30 years. My husband and I live in Westpoint Harbor on our Valiant 50 and sail every chance we get.
At Yacht Suites, I get to combine my love of boating with my experience in the food and hospitality world. We offer a full concierge service to our guests. My goal is to make your stay memorable. Whether it is appetizers watching the sunset on the upper deck, a continental breakfast delivered, or dinner ready for you to heat up in the microwave after a busy day, all you have to do is request the service.
My personal goal: “To make a difference to just one person everyday”.