Barefoot Contessa also had a unique return policy. "Usually, when you return something to a store, you get some kind of resistance," Garten wrote. "I thought this was an opportunity to be different." ... The customers always got their money back, "no questions asked." Then, Garten or her staff would ask what the customer didn't like about the product...
Based on their answer, the customer would be given a different product for free to try instead. "People were stunned!" Garten said. "A serious problem turned into a happy customer for life, and the cost to us was minimal." Garten hired chef Anna Pump to help her run Barefoot Contessa, and they worked so well together that they almost became business partners."It's much more fun and productive to exchange ideas, to be genuinely curious about how other people do things, to be generous, and to root for a competitor's success." In the summer of 1984, Garten got an offer to rent a space in East Hampton for a second Barefoot Contessa location.When Ina Garten gave up her White House job to run a store called Barefoot Contessa, she had never run a business. She learned many valuable lessons.Garten said she strongly advised Dean to stay in the space, but he refused to change his mind. So she opened the second Barefoot Contessa, and he moved Dean & DeLuca to a new location up the street — for $23 a square foot.