She Caters Lunch For Office Building, Unaware The CEO Upstairs Is Ordering Her Every Single Day
The Mistake That Started It All
The first time Eliza Anderson delivered lunch to the towering glass structure on Madison Avenue, she mistakenly sent the delivery boy to the wrong floor. That mistake would change her life forever.
“Mason, I swear these building directories are deliberately confusing,” Eliza muttered into her phone as she frantically typed delivery instructions. She was balancing trays of carefully prepared sandwiches in her small catering van.
“Who puts floors in alphabetical order instead of numerical?”
Her modest catering business, Homestyle Kitchen, was only six months old, operating out of a converted garage in Brooklyn. Today was her first contract with the prestigious Madison Tower.
This building was home to dozens of businesses, including Tempest Publishing, one of the largest independent publishing companies in New York.
“All I know is this order is for 20 people, and I need you to take the elevator to the executive floor,” she instructed her assistant. “That’s where the meeting is happening.”
Eliza prided herself on her fresh ingredients and creative sandwiches. Unlike sterile, plastic-wrapped options from corporate caterers, she made everything from scratch. This included sourdough bread baked that morning, aioli whipped to perfection, and meats roasted in-house.
What Eliza didn’t know as she frantically arranged pickup times was that her food would soon catch the attention of the notoriously particular CEO of Tempest Publishing, Grant Turner. Later that afternoon, as Eliza was cleaning up her workspace, her phone rang.
“Is this Homestyle Kitchen?”
The voice was deep and authoritative.
“Yes, this is Eliza speaking.”
“I had your sandwich today at a meeting. The turkey with cranberry and brie.”
“Oh, I hope it was satisfactory,” she said, suddenly worried about a complaint.
“It was the best sandwich I’ve had in years. I’d like to place a personal order for tomorrow. Just one sandwich.”
“Same thing, just one?”
“I usually have a minimum order size for deliveries.”
“I’ll pay triple.”
Eliza raised an eyebrow.
“That seems excessive for a sandwich.”
“I know what quality is worth.”
