April Lambatos is owner, chief operation officer and head honcho of happiness at Footers Catering, Social Capitol Events and mibe.
In 2010, Lambatos partnered with her husband Anthony to purchase Footers Catering from his father and make it a second-generation family business.
“The very first thing we did with our leadership team was define our mission and core values,” Lambatos said. “We knew we all needed to be crystal clear on why we do what we do and how we were going to do it. Since then, our core values and mission still hold true today, and our team knows them by heart. They have been our guiding compass during some of the most challenging and exciting decisions we have made.”
The company’s mission is to “Love what we do, make it better every day, and create exceptional experiences for our clients and their guests.” The business has nine core values that make up the acronym FAB TIGERS: Fun, Awesomeness, Balance, Teamwork, Innovation, Growth, Ethics, Respect, Service.
Lambatos said that one of her greatest recent accomplishments was navigating her team through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While we were able to retain most of our team through the event catering downturn, we still faced enormous challenges along the way,” she said. “Everyone on our team needed to wear multiple different hats in addition to their core job function while the restrictions were in place on and off until early 2022. Once we had confidence in events returning, we were able to rebuild the team and ensure everyone was back to utilizing their world-class strengths in their roles. We are so grateful for our incredible team.”
Under Lambatos’ leadership, the company had record-breaking revenue in 2022 with projections for further growth in 2023.
In the coming years, Lambatos said her priority is to support and lean into her team.
“Fun and productivity go hand in hand, and when people are cared for, find purpose in their work, and love what they do … their happiness and productivity both increase,” she said.
“The hospitality industry has been known for poor work environments, high turnover and toxic workplace culture. It has been tolerated for too long. We are on a mission to revolutionize the hospitality industry through heart leadership and intentional culture building. If you do not create a culture by design, you’re left with a culture by default, and our industry has allowed this to happen for too long.”
