After retiring as a public school teacher of 22 years, Betty Barker decided to begin making gift baskets at home. She told her friends and family: "Don't send flowers .... send a Gift Basket!"

She listed her business in the local telephone directory and slowly began to build a clientele. Actually, "word-of-mouth" became one of her best advertising tools. She soon moved into a store in the Oyster Point Commercial Park and really began to see her business grow. She worked along side another experienced "basketeer" where she learned how to better operate her business. The two women made gift baskets, did the bookkeeping, made deliveries and tried different approaches to sales and marketing.

After joining the Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, Betty found many friends willing to teach her more about how to grow her business. In February 2003, Gourmet Gift, Corporate and Holiday Baskets became Incorporated. Soon afterward, a shopping cart was added to their website and they began to sell gifts on the Internet.

Today the business continues to grow from Internet sales, telephone, fax & e-mail orders, as well as from customers visiting the Showroom. "It's such a fun business!" Betty says. "It's great to get paid for doing something you really enjoy," said her helper.