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The stories from the places where people gather.
Dana Kadwell (01:30)
And today we have the amazing Kelsey Correa. With more than 15 years of experience in hospitality and event leadership, Kelsey brings a rare combination of operational expertise, strategic vision, and creative problem solving to every business she leads. Her background spans sales, marketing, operations, and personnel management, all with a consistent focus on driving measurable growth and delivering exceptional guest experiences.
Kelsey discovered her love for events during a college work-study position and quickly became the go-to planner for gatherings and celebrations in every role that she held. In 2018, she officially entered the event industry, training alongside seasoned professionals and developing her own approach, One that is honest, thoughtful, and refreshingly streamlined. While working with a busy Newport, Massachusetts-based planner, she helped design and execute weddings and events at some of New England's most sought after venues.
Kelsey felt the pull towards entrepreneurship. And in June of 2023 founded Beach Rose Events, her wedding planning firm. And in 2024, venue management opportunity led her to launch County Road Hospitality, which serves as the executive operator of Floriana in Ipswich, Massachusetts.
Under Kelsey's leadership, the team revitalized a struggling venue, increasing event volume by more than 300 % in just two years. And today, Kelsey is known for her ability to anticipate needs before they arise, combining humor, creativity, and practical problem solving to produce seamless, well-executed events. She and her team remain deeply committed to delivering exceptional guest experiences while Kelsey continues to seek out new challenges and opportunities for growth. Welcome to the show.
Kelsey Correia (03:01)
Thank you so much! That's a whole feel.
Dana Kadwell (03:04)
I I was
going say, that's very impressive resume. I am like ⁓ impressed. I have to admit, I didn't read it before. I just read it I was like, awesome. Yeah, okay. That's amazing.
Kelsey Correia (03:14)
It sounds real nice, but
it's just little old me.
Dana Kadwell (03:19)
little old you working very, very hard to work your way up into, which is what I love so much about your story. So why don't you start there? Let's talk about like kind of the abridged version of really how you became the owner of the operations of Floriana.
Kelsey Correia (03:33)
⁓ well, ⁓ I, I like to tell people that I've lived many lives. ⁓ I graduated with a degree in public policy, thought I was going to, you know, maybe run for office or work in politics, change the world. And then I got a job in that field and was like, I am way too blunt and honest for this. Like I can't do this.
Dana Kadwell (03:49)
Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (03:56)
So I, know, meandered a path as many young 20-somethings do trying to find my way. And I met a really great wedding planner in Newburyport where I lived at the time and just fell in love with weddings. And she was very successful.
but her style was like a little too chaotic for me. So while I realized I loved weddings, I was like, this isn't the place for me. And it wasn't really like a full opportunity or anything, but I realized I can do this and I really like it. So I ⁓ sought out a position that I saw for this venue on the North shore of Boston. So Massachusetts is...
North shore versus south shore. We like don't cross the city. We don't go down. So I, this is, this venue is one of the most popular venues in not only the North shore of Boston, but New England. So I saw this position. was very like random, like corporate social sales. And I'm like, that's not really what I want to do, but let's get my foot in the door. I interviewed for the position and they ⁓ basically ended up
Dana Kadwell (05:09)
Right, let's try it.
Kelsey Correia (05:16)
creating another separate position for me also in corporate sales because I sold myself. I was like, I want this job. I want to work here. ⁓ After a year there, someone else was kind of moving up into a different position because they expanded, they had a second venue. ⁓ And I was moved into the position of director of events, which was pretty wild because I was just like going from sales to over here.
Dana Kadwell (05:23)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Hmm. Yeah,
yeah.
Kelsey Correia (05:44)
because
I had the previous like full service planning experience. And so at that point I was managing the team of coordinators, which was four and a half girls at the time. There was a fifth person, but she only did like half. So, and then I would take on full service planning clients that had already booked with the venue. So then I would just like do everything with them.
Dana Kadwell (06:01)
Like, halftime, yeah. I gotcha.
Kelsey Correia (06:13)
then COVID happened and we all kind of freaked out a bit. In Massachusetts, we had extremely strict guidelines up until like the summer of 2021. when everybody got furloughed, but when we were gonna start events again, they only brought me back. And that year I just did everything with a very, yeah, it was,
Dana Kadwell (06:23)
did.
which is probably so many, yeah.
Kelsey Correia (06:42)
small weddings, but everybody noticed everything that much more because there was only 25 or 50 people or it was tough doing it in a mask. And I had more acne then than I had in my life. But at that point, you know, some of the people that were on the team,
Dana Kadwell (06:45)
Yes. Yes. Right.
Yeah.
Mmm... yes.
Kelsey Correia (07:03)
weren't sure that they wanted to continue or some people maybe weren't the best fit at the time. And so I looked at this as a really great opportunity to rebuild. ⁓ And we rehired, we had a whole new team. Many of them are still there to this day that I call very close friends and we were really rocking and rolling. And I was in that role until June of 2023.
And then I started Beach Road Events and I ⁓ booked my first wedding two weeks after like forming the LLC, which I was like, it's amazing. But it was a struggle, you know, for a while. But that first season, I really assisted a lot of other planners because I didn't have so many in that summer.
Dana Kadwell (07:46)
Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (07:54)
And then the following year I had a number of great clients, both ranging from event coordination to full service planning all throughout New England. And I was enjoying this, but the venue life just called to me. I just loved the operations. I loved it. And I heard a rumor that this venue, it was at the time called the Hellenic Center.
Dana Kadwell (08:10)
Yep.
Great, yep.
Kelsey Correia (08:18)
Hellenic means Greek community, which I didn't know at the time.
I heard that they were struggling and potentially looking for someone new to come in. And I know a guy that's Greek that lives in this town. And I said, get me somebody's number. I need to talk to someone. They didn't want to talk to me. And I just kept covering them. And then eventually one woman called me.
Dana Kadwell (08:37)
Hmm. Hmm.
Kelsey Correia (08:46)
and we had many phone conversations and I convinced them to meet me. And my colleague that had worked at the other venue, she had also left and she was starting to think about what she wanted to do. And I was like, come with me. You're gonna like, let's pitch ourselves together. And she's like, well, I don't want to take on any responsibility. I'm not sure how, like, cause she had always worked like part-time, had little ones, which is perfect.
Dana Kadwell (09:08)
Yeah. Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (09:10)
so Jenna and I came in, we pitched ourselves to the committee and it took months for them to think this was the right move because for the venue was purchased by the Greek community in the 60s.
Dana Kadwell (09:23)
Okay.
Okay.
Kelsey Correia (09:25)
And they quickly started doing weddings there because it's naturally a beautiful place for that. And it was just, you know, where everybody in their church and their community would go and get married. That was the sixties, you know, things went along. They were always like a decently busy place. But in the 2000s and the 2010s, this area venues are popping up everywhere.
and the competition was very steep and they just had one employee that sold everything and executed all the weddings. So it was very old school. that person eventually would get burned out. They would quit. would replace it with another employee. Then they took a chance on hiring an event planning company and that did not go well. and by the time.
Dana Kadwell (10:09)
Mm. Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (10:14)
We came along a venue that had always consistently done 60 or 70 weddings a year, only had 25 booked for the following year. So they were looking at, can we keep the lights on? Can we even keep this property? Cause it's a massive three story mansion with acres of property. it's expensive to keep and they were very scared to trust someone again, because they had trusted these people and got burned.
Dana Kadwell (10:21)
Wow, wow, yeah.
Right. Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Right,
right.
Kelsey Correia (10:43)
So we came in, we changed everything. We said to them, if we're gonna do this, we need to rebrand the property. The original name of the mansion was Floriana, which means blooming or blossoming. It was owned by a very wealthy Boston woman who just needed a country home. that's people did. They just built houses and ⁓ named them. And...
Dana Kadwell (10:51)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (11:07)
we felt that this was like a brand that we could create that would speak to the client that we've really loved the property. So that was in December of 2023. And then, so it's been two full seasons and we're heading into our third and we're crushing it. have 80 weddings this year and I'm really proud of what we've done because we had a plan and it worked.
Dana Kadwell (11:10)
Yeah.
Wow.
amazing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Dana Kadwell (11:35)
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Dana Kadwell (12:48)
Well, I think what is so cool about your story you're my first person actually that, venue ownership has so many different, ⁓ avenues to it. Right. And I think that some people get really stuck on this idea that in order to own a venue, you have to also own the real estate. And that isn't true. Like you can just walk in and own the operations specifically. Right. So, ⁓ was there ever a hesitancy? Can you talk a little bit about, were you nervous about starting a venue where you're just,
Kelsey Correia (13:07)
Yep.
Dana Kadwell (13:16)
You're just the operations, you're gonna all your energy and effort into this, but you don't have any like, I don't wanna say asset, but you don't have like a true asset behind it. how did you kinda, did you think about that at all?
Kelsey Correia (13:27)
I think about it all the time. thought about it a lot after leaving the masterclass this year. because I, so when I came into this, I was like, I don't have any money. I have like a very small business and it's somewhat paying my bills, but I don't have money to buy something. And I'm like, but this is my path to ownership because this could be a proof of concept and.
Dana Kadwell (13:33)
Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (13:57)
If I make this work, maybe in five years, a bank will give me a bunch of money and I could buy something. So I have to think about that all the time every day because I'm pouring money into something that I can't sell. So it's terrifying at the end of the day because if they said to me, okay, our contract's gone, get out. What do I have? Nothing. I don't think that's gonna happen, but it is scary.
Dana Kadwell (14:11)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (14:22)
When we came in, the property needed a lot of TLC because they had had so much financial trouble. They were only able to do some things. So I personally invested a lot of money into new furniture, all the branding, the website, everything. But I knew that I would get a return on. I hoped I would get a return on that. And I did, but it was really scary.
Dana Kadwell (14:45)
Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (14:49)
so to do this, I took out a $25,000 personal loan, which my fiance co-signed, and I took everything I had and just was like, let's swing for the fences. And there was a point where that money was running out and I was really scared. And...
Dana Kadwell (15:02)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (15:11)
I was paying Jenna and ⁓ as I should not paying myself anything. And I was like, I don't know if I'm going to have, I don't know how much time I have left to pay her. And I was absolutely terrified. And then I held on a little bit and then the wedding started and money started to come in and I've never, not never, I worry, everybody worries about money all the time, but.
Dana Kadwell (15:12)
Yeah. You're right. Right.
Sure, right,
right, right.
Kelsey Correia (15:38)
I've never worried about making payroll again. So that was terrifying just to say like, I cleaned up, I have no savings anymore. This loan is running out and I hope it's gonna work.
Dana Kadwell (15:41)
Wraith, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, I totally understand that. And I think that's like such a brave, a brave thing to do. ⁓ And I think that there's so many people that they have great ideas and they probably are fantastic what they do. And I think you see it a lot in the industry, people who, especially planners are like, ⁓ cause they, you know so much about weddings when you are a planner. Like you get so much of the behind the scenes, you understand so much of it.
⁓ But they're so afraid to take that step and they think that in order to do it you have to have a million dollars to have hundreds of thousands of dollars and it's really no you just need to find the property that needs you and that believes in you really their only investment is trusting you at the end of the day. So can you talk a little bit about you so you mentioned it in your story that you that you had lots of meetings with them you had to convince them was there anything that you really like
you had to convince them of truly for them to give you that kind of like seal of approval. Like, yes, like we're going to, we're going to believe in you to like run this, this business.
Kelsey Correia (16:51)
Everything, everything there. I love them all. But the Greek culture is not a trusting culture. Very suspicious. But again, I understand because they were burned by somebody in a similar model as me. Rebranding was a huge hurdle. I said, if this is gonna work, we have
Dana Kadwell (17:04)
Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (17:16)
to get rid of that name. Nobody wants to put center on their invitation. A lot of people don't know what Hellenic means. Maybe they think it's like a Masonic Lodge or something. Well, it's a beautiful Georgian mansion with gardens and property. It doesn't translate. And for them, because they have so much cultural history in this property, it was kind of a point of pride.
Dana Kadwell (17:26)
Right.
Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (17:42)
which I didn't want to be insensitive to, but I said at the end of the day, this is a business and you guys need this to make it work. so that took a lot of convincing. ended up creating like a survey that we sent to every person we knew with the name Floriana and then like four other options that we had come up with, which were like very blah, if you ask me. And it took them seeing that data.
Dana Kadwell (17:44)
Sure.
Kelsey Correia (18:09)
to agree to do Florian because it kind of sounds like an Italian word. It's actually Latin and they're like, we're not Italian, we're Greek. ⁓ they kind of, and they felt that it sounded like this Italian restaurant that's in Boston. It's very well known. And I was like, I don't think anybody's going to think that. But then it took the data. We do data with them a lot to say, okay, we're getting this feedback or
which I know you love things like that. know you love that because you don't know if you don't know. And so we've talked a lot about like our conversion rate, where the leads are coming from. but that, that was definitely the rebrand was vital to our success, but very hard to get them to agree to. but it so thank God.
Dana Kadwell (18:38)
I do, yeah. Yep, right.
Yeah.
Yeah. Well,
it sounds like you walked in like, the way you talk about walking super confident, like you're like, I can do this. And I think you said it like, I can do this and I like it. and so there is this passion behind it. But was there ever a moment of doubt when you were like, I don't know. Like this could have been, this was a bad move.
Kelsey Correia (19:17)
All the time. Well, it's like I never at this point now. I'm I don't regret anything I never want like I'm so happy I would never look back but yeah when I was talking to them in those early meetings I was laying awake at night just the chest pain being like this is scary and like what if I fail? What I'll start something new
Dana Kadwell (19:18)
Yeah
Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (19:42)
And that's my attitude now because what if this blows up in my face? I'll figure it out. it's just my personality. so a former employer said to me once, in this employer, and I didn't part on the best of terms, so I love thinking about it. She said, if you put a goal in front of Kelsey, she's going to reach it.
Dana Kadwell (19:42)
Yeah, yeah.
Kelsey Correia (20:05)
And she didn't mean that in the nicest way because I think she was a little bit irritated that I kept reaching all the goals and then they would have to pay me money. So I, but I love thinking about that because if I set a goal, I'm going to find a way to make it happen. It might not be exactly the path that I think it's going to take, but I'm going to figure it out.
Dana Kadwell (20:27)
Yeah, I
love that. I think there's a lot of things to unpack there like one. I think that it's really hard to deviate from a path you thought you were going to take. Like it's really hard to think, OK, I'm going to do ABC. And then when you get to be like, oh no, I got to jump to G and then maybe I had to come back to see. then there's and sometimes I think for entrepreneurship you have to be OK with that pivot. You to be OK with that kind of windy, twisty road of like what you know you're not doing. But ultimately.
what it all comes down to, it comes down to instincts, right? Like instinctually, you believe that this is gonna be fine. So like even the fact that you're like, I know we have to rebrand it. Like, you know it to the core of everything that you were gonna rest, you know, your whole business on it to the point where you're like, I can prove it. Like, I'm gonna go out I'm gonna get the answers that I need to show you that this is exactly what it is. ⁓ Were you born with that kind of like...
Kelsey Correia (20:58)
Yes.
Dana Kadwell (21:22)
trusting that gut instinct or is it something that you had to develop over over time?
Kelsey Correia (21:27)
I think, yes, I was born that way. I've always been, like even on the schoolyard, I was the one deciding what we're playing, like what game we're playing. I've always been kind of a leader, not a good follower because, and that's gotten the best of me in the past because I wanna do it my way. But I really do trust my instincts, but every time I go against them,
Dana Kadwell (21:35)
Mm,
Sure,
Kelsey Correia (21:51)
I'm wrong. I'm like proven right. I'm like, I should have just trusted my gut. I just had that recently where I hired someone that I was like, I don't know. And I had to, you know, just part ways and it wasn't really like, you know, crazy or anything, but I was just like, this isn't working and I'm going to nip it in the bud because I'm not going to ignore that this isn't working. But I went against my better judgment, trying to make something work.
Dana Kadwell (21:53)
Yeah. Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (22:20)
But every time I do that, I'm mad because I was like, I knew better.
Dana Kadwell (22:23)
Yeah.
Yeah, well, what makes you what makes you go against your better judgment? Like, what's the thing that like what a compromise are you trying to make in your head for this employee?
Kelsey Correia (22:34)
For that person, I was feeling empathetic. I think that, you know, when I maybe saw parts of myself in this person, in that, you know, maybe she tried to do her own thing, didn't really work out. Maybe she had other positions that didn't work out, which, you know, we've all felt through our lives. I think... ⁓
I really thought it was going to help me in a way to get some things off my plate because we talk about this and I took this away from the first year of the Venue Masterclass. was like, I've got to get out of being in every part of this. And I was able to do that within the next year and I'm still working on getting out of some of it. And I tried to bring this person in to take a lot off my plate and it just.
Dana Kadwell (23:22)
Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (23:27)
we're not ready for that and that person wasn't the right person for that. but I think I just looked at the person and said like, want to give this person an opportunity to like join us. Like what we're doing is awesome. But I said to every person that I've hired, I only want people here that want to be here. I know what it is to have a job and not want to go there every day.
Dana Kadwell (23:31)
Right.
Right.
Kelsey Correia (23:55)
I want you to want to be here and I want you to be having fun, making money, feeling fulfilled, also having balance with your life. You have a kid, go pick up the kid. I don't care when you do your work. but it's really important to me to create that environment where people are happy because if you have people that are not happy, they're going to suck out everybody else's happiness. so that person very quickly.
Dana Kadwell (24:04)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yes.
Kelsey Correia (24:23)
started with that stuff and I was like, we can't have that. Goodbye. I love you. Goodbye.
Dana Kadwell (24:26)
Yeah, yeah,
yeah. I think that's so hard. think, like, I love that I'm an empathetic person. I love that about myself. Like, I don't want to give that part of me up. I think it's what makes me very human, very approachable, but it bites me in the ass more times than anything else in my life. Like, my empathy and care for others is what screws me over more than anything else. And so sometimes I struggle with the either or. Like, would I rather be this ruthless person
you know, and just say kind of fuck it at the end of the day. Like this is my business. I need to do X, Y, Z. Or would I rather have had these like mistakes where I listened to that, that empathetic side of myself or was more human. I don't really know. And I honestly don't know if I have the right answer for it. Like, I don't think, I feel like every single time that I've put myself out there and I've kind of messed it up because I cared too much, it taught me a really valuable lesson that allowed me to be a better business person.
in the end in a lot of ways, ⁓ but it doesn't mean that the fall wasn't like super painful and terrible at the same time.
Kelsey Correia (25:32)
I struggle with
that all the time. have some people that we end up having to work with because of the property ownership. And I really care about those people as people, but when they're not doing their job to the way that I, if they were working for me, they wouldn't be working for me. But I really care about them as people and I struggle with it all the time. And my fiance's like, this is business stop
stop caring about people and I'm like I'm never gonna not care about people but I do have to you have to separate it out a little bit.
Dana Kadwell (25:58)
Yeah.
Yeah.
separate it. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's,
it's really hard not to, not to intermingle it in general. Like it's just, it is hard, but you're, it's, you're absolutely right. It's something that we have to do in this only way that you're going to like get to other side of what you're really trying to accomplish.
Dana Kadwell (26:22)
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Dana Kadwell (27:41)
So when you were talking, one of the questions I had was about risks. So you mentioned like, obviously you took a massive risk, like not just from a, I'm going to start a business side of things.
not even just a financial risk, but even the risk of trusting these people to be good people, right? That you even said, like you didn't really know them, you were like forced someone to introduce you to it. But ⁓ we always said that was a big risk and that risk paid off and it was successful and all that stuff. But is there another risk that you have taken that, or any risk you've taken in this kind of journey where it didn't really pay off well and you're kind of like, I don't know if it was worth the risk.
Kelsey Correia (28:17)
In this particular instance, with this company, we're so young. honestly, I'm really lucky that I've taken some pretty crazy risks. So when we took over, the contracts allowed for three different caterers.
And I think that that was part of the issue of why they weren't booking because basically people were coming in and then they were lost. Like they didn't know, okay, we call three people. don't know which one works this other place. They just have an inclusive package. We're going to go with them. So the first year, because Jenna and I were trying to figure out how this menu even worked and to take on the rebrand and everything, we decided to work exclusively with one caterer that was in.
Dana Kadwell (28:44)
Mm.
Kelsey Correia (29:07)
Ipswich that had been catering weddings for 40 years at the property. They felt as though they kind of owned the place. You know, they did a lot of great work there over the years and that was fine. But I like things a certain way. And because they've been in business for so long, a lot of the things that they did were not really up to like how clients want to see things aesthetically.
service-wise and you know we would fight about things like they have these gigantic salt and pepper shakers and they put two sets on every table and I'm like how about we just you know don't we only give it to people if they ask for it because it's really like obscuring the centerpieces and they're they look like they come from a diner or let's get the little baby ones
Dana Kadwell (29:51)
Great.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Right.
Kelsey Correia (30:01)
Like I'm everything I think about is visual and then like the visuals that I'll be able to then use as marketing materials. And we would fight about this stuff all the time. And then I just got to the point where I was like, you know what? I know how to cater. know how to manage staff. I'm going to find a chef and I'm going to do this myself. So I broke up with the caterer that had been at this venue for 40 years and everybody was freaking out like the whole.
Dana Kadwell (30:07)
Correct. Great.
Wow.
Kelsey Correia (30:31)
community was like, this is controversial. And I just said, I might fall on my face. This might go horribly and I might be calling them back and being like, come back. But it is the best thing I ever did. I have control over the product that we're putting out. We hired a small catering company and they do the kitchen and then we serve everything. And so I ran.
Dana Kadwell (30:32)
Yeah.
Mm.
Kelsey Correia (31:00)
I choose the linens. I purchased all of the glassware, flatware, plates, everything, and spent a lot of money on that. This happened in our second year. So we're finally like doing well. Chris here and I'm like, let's just throw it out the window and do this. And it paid off in spades. Not only do I, created a revenue channel where I could bring on
Dana Kadwell (31:05)
Mm-hmm.
They're like, writing another check, yeah. Just throw the money away, it's fine.
Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (31:30)
event coordinators so that I personally didn't have to do every wedding. Our quality is so much better. I had control over that service. To get a review saying this is the best wedding food I've ever had makes my heart swell. That is what I want. And that's, I want people to leave a wedding at Floriana and say that was the best wedding I've ever been to. I don't want them to say it was beautiful. The food was fine. It is such a huge, important part of the day that I
Dana Kadwell (31:54)
Yeah, it is.
Kelsey Correia (32:00)
I really passionately about that, it could have been a disaster. And it's been great.
very lucky that my insane choices ⁓ have paid off. And I always talk with our friend Sarah that owns Olio. She is very risk averse and I'm like, let's do it.
Dana Kadwell (32:17)
Mm-hmm, yeah.
Kelsey Correia (32:24)
So we balance each other off really well. And she's a great person for me to talk to about things, but I'm not gonna know if I don't try. that's sort of, I feel very lucky that nothing's gone too badly so far.
Dana Kadwell (32:35)
Yeah.
Yeah,
that's a huge risk though. I mean, taking on food, it's not just from a logistical standpoint. It's even just from like a liability standpoint. And I've always said, what makes me so nervous when you start adding things in venues is that bill to that client gets higher and higher and higher. So their expectation gets higher and higher and higher. And the pressure on your shoulders gets heavier. And I think that, you know, for anyone listening, like kind of taking from the story, it's really just believing in
and what you know that you can do well. So like even the simple thing of you talking about the salt and pepper shakers, you're absolutely correct. Like you don't want, that's not what you're gonna put on Instagram, this beautiful picture, right? And you have these huge salt and pepper shakers in that picture.
Kelsey Correia (33:21)
I mean, it's a lot of
Dana Kadwell (33:22)
I loved your instinct in that. I love the fact that you listened to what you knew was right. And it wasn't just for the client saying aesthetically pleasing, this isn't gonna work. But it's also an understanding the business side of it that like, I can't use a picture that has these really ugly ass salt and pepper shakers in them. you know, and then having, yes.
Kelsey Correia (33:39)
Yeah. Or the linens, like they
had these overlays with Damascus and I'm like, what year is it that nobody wants this? Nobody wants this. No, truly. This is the same linen they used when they opened the venue in 1968. I, and clients, and I always say this to people, I learned this from an employer that was not, um, in the events industry, but he was.
Dana Kadwell (33:48)
It's 1965.
Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (34:06)
interesting and interesting person, but he liked really nice things. And he would get things like, like us, like salt and pepper shakers or something, or like an oil dispenser that was insanely expensive. And he's like, people don't realize that their entire environment affects their experience. So I think about even the trash cans need to be attractive because guess
feel it. They might not be able to say, that tray stand over in the corner piled with dirty dishes makes me think this is a less elegant wedding. But they might in the back of their mind be like, it was kind of messy or something. ⁓ As somebody that doesn't attend weddings all the time, they might not.
Dana Kadwell (34:44)
Right.
Exactly.
Kelsey Correia (34:55)
know exactly what gave them that feeling, but I want them to feel like everything, it should feel like Disney, like everything magically happens. They turn around, their salad is in front of them. They are, even if we have to flip a room, it should happen seamlessly. one of the girls that I hired, she's a fantastic event coordinator. She directed shows, like plays, and I say, it's like a show.
We have to choreograph the whole thing and everything matters. ⁓ You know, we don't have to be like totally psychotically neurotic, but everything is intentional from the trays that we use to the tray stands that we use to the ones that are visible to clients to the trash cans. So it's, people might not be able to like put their finger on it, but they know the great experience when they see it.
Dana Kadwell (35:30)
right? Yeah.
Yeah, I love that. That's an amazing, amazing like quote to like, for any hospitality person the entire environment affects their experience, which is so true. And I think it's such an underlooked part for so many, for so many venues who like, I mean, I've been to events where they just put the trash can out. I'm like, why is the trash can out? Like, even though it might make your job easier, it makes me feel less special, like at the end of the day, you know? So I love that. That is a...
that going to be like a on the wall somewhere for sure. Yeah. Well, I would, always ask this question because I think it's so fun and venue ownership would love to know like kind of like your craziest story that you've had as a venue owner. It could be a story you've told before. It could be a story no one ever knew about or whatever, but like, you know, just craziest event story you've had.
Kelsey Correia (36:14)
Yes.
put it on the
So one of our favorite, so I've worked with a lot of the same people. So event coordinators, Jenna, who does all the sales, even my bartenders and servers have worked with all of them for a long time. And so we all were like, remember this one, remember that one. But one that we always go back to is we had a wedding, believe it was the end of December. And so here in Massachusetts, it's very cold.
Dana Kadwell (37:03)
Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (37:03)
so apparently they all smoke and vape a lot and they kept vaping inside the building. And we were like, guys, this, the smoke alarms are super sensitive. Even if you spray like air freshener that could set it off. One time a spider crawled across it and set it off. So they're very sensitive because it's intentionally, we don't want the place to burn down.
Dana Kadwell (37:22)
Right.
Kelsey Correia (37:25)
but they were vaping inside continually and they set the fire alarm off. So when that happens, we have to remove everyone from the building. We would get fined a thousand dollars per person for anyone that was found in the building. So we get everybody outside. It's literally seven degrees out and we have to, we were not like in a busy city area. So it took like 15 minutes for the fire department to come.
Dana Kadwell (37:40)
⁓ okay.
Yeah.
Right.
Kelsey Correia (37:54)
⁓ and at that time we're all just waiting out there and I see this guest sneak in a door and like across the foyer over to where the bar is to get drinks. And I'm like, get out of there. And I started like swearing at him. was like, get fuck out of there. ⁓ and he ran out and his name was Tiger. and I just, that will always stick with me, but then, so, okay. All right. Everybody gets back in the, in the, ⁓
Dana Kadwell (38:10)
Yeah
Kelsey Correia (38:21)
in the venue and they finished the night out. Everyone's super happy. The couple is thrilled. They get in the shuttle as they leave. We start to clean up. I'm turning lights out. All of a sudden I hear my bartender, Kara, who has the strongest Boston accent ever. She goes, Kelsey, there's a guest here. And I'm like, what? One of our servers went to, we always check the bathrooms to make sure there's no glassware in there. There's a, he's in there throwing up.
Dana Kadwell (38:40)
Yeah
no.
Kelsey Correia (38:52)
Tiger, Tiger is. So
I'm like, my God. All right, what am I gonna do with this guy? I send the staff home, I'm like, I don't know what to do. Then I call an Uber. Again, we're not in a city. Ubers sometimes take 45 minutes. Miracle upon miracles, comes five minutes later. And the guy's like, taking him, he's puking everywhere. I'm not taking him. And I'm like, all right, what do I do with this guy? And so eventually I called an ambulance, they took him away and... ⁓
Dana Kadwell (39:02)
Sure.
Nice.
Yeah.
wow.
Kelsey Correia (39:19)
Kara the bartender, he had Venmo'd her a tip that night and she Venmo'd him back a dollar and said, are you okay? He was like, yeah, I'm fine, thanks, it was a fun night. So we were just like, Tiger, we always talk about him, how he was just fine, but I was like, dude, you did not need to be sneaking in to get drinks.
Dana Kadwell (39:36)
Yeah. Yeah.
No,
obviously not, obviously not. That's crazy.
Kelsey Correia (39:44)
So
he's one of, I just remember like standing in the cold and being like, I'm gonna kill this guy. But the fact that we find him in the bathroom on the floor, but he was fine in the end. But yeah, he was the worst, but you know, it's all right.
Dana Kadwell (39:49)
Yeah.
Right, right, Yeah. It's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He just took it, yeah. That's funny.
Well, I would love to end on ⁓ a couple of things. One, I think that you are in a really unique position to give a great piece of advice. So what would you say first? ⁓ There's two questions. One is best piece of advice you can give anybody who wants to start a venue. And then two, what is the biggest lesson that you have learned in this experience?
Kelsey Correia (40:25)
⁓ that wants to start a venue. I think they need to understand their market. If you don't understand your market and you don't know who your client is, who are you selling to? You're not going to find success. But once you do that and you feel confident in that and you're going to
go big or go home, you have to follow your instincts like we talked about earlier. Make a plan and follow it. There's nothing more gratifying to me right now to say this was my plan three years ago and it's worked. sometimes it's not going to work, but at least start out with a plan, have goals, set milestones, and that's what's going to keep you motivated and never get comfortable. You have to keep
Dana Kadwell (41:05)
Yeah.
Yeah,
that's good.
Kelsey Correia (41:21)
what's, you know, you think everything's great? Fire the caterer.
Dana Kadwell (41:24)
Yep. Yeah.
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time today. It has been lovely chatting with you. Yeah.
Kelsey Correia (41:27)
Yes.
Thank you. It was so
great to talk to you. I love always talking to you.
Dana Kadwell (41:35)
Yeah,
Dana Kadwell (41:37)
Thank you so much for joining us for Gathered Here. To learn more about my new properties, be sure to follow us at McAlser Leftwich and at the Graham Mill. If you want to stay in the loop for all things Hustle and Gather, the venue masterclass, or our mastermind group, be sure to follow us on Instagram at Hustle and Gather. And for updates to the podcast and see all the fun things we're going to be doing this year, be sure to follow at Gathered Here Podcast. I'm your host, Dana Cadwell. Join us next time on Gathered Here.