Each week the Free Press profiles a local business that has used the services of The Business Incubator Center, a nonprofit organization that provides entrepreneurial assistance to new and expanding businesses in Mesa County.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Sheli Mayo still cooks.

In an age of microwavable burritos, frozen dinners and other fast food, Mayo likes cooking the old-fashioned way — for her family and for others.

So much so that at 48, she took the plunge to run her own PS “don’t forget the caterer” Catering business. She left behind a job with the school district she had for 19 years.

“I just love to cook. I could be in the kitchen all day cooking, and it’d be fine,” Mayo said. “Even when people come to my house, I feed them.”

On Saturday, Mayo was cooking a “basic” menu of potatoes, roast beef, rolls and steamed vegetables for a 40th anniversary party in Gateway.

She also often cooks Italian and Mexican, as well as an array of appetizers.

Sometimes “people ask for certain things they don’t know how to fix,” Mayo said.

Mayo has hundreds of cookbooks, from “Colorado Creme to the Creme” to “Betty Crocker.” And she knows pretty much what’s in each of them, she said.

When she started the full-service catering business two years ago, Mayo continued to work full time in assisted technology for special needs children. Between the two jobs, Mayo was working 12- to 19-hour days.

“I wanted to try it first and see how it went before I quit my other job,” Mayo said.

She retired from the school district in January.

“I loved my job. I’ll miss the kids, but it was time for something different,” Mayo said.

She has replaced her income, and then some.

“I made more in the summer catering than a year-and-a-half at the school district,” Mayo said.

Without advertising, Mayo has bookings for the next six months. She joined the Chamber of Commerce a couple of weeks ago, she said.

Mayo’s kitchen is located at The Business Incubator campus, 2591 B 3/4 Road. The Incubator is an entrepreneurship center that provides assistance to new and expanding Mesa County businesses.

“It’s an amazing place. Anybody interested in starting a business or (who) has an existing business with some problems should come down and talk to someone — to turn it around, or get it going,” Mayo said.

For a reasonable fee, Mayo leases kitchen space at the Incubator by the hour. The kitchen can accommodate up to four chefs, although on Saturday, Mayo rented the entire space because she needed the ovens.

For a storage fee she also stows all of her equipment — food supplies, bowls, hotel pans and chafing dishes — at the Incubator.

She’s also had the opportunity to work with other caterers based at the Incubator.

“She’s been able to collaborate with other kitchen clients. They do a lot of events together,” said Annalisa Pearson, Incubator program manager. And “they refer each other a lot.”

Mayo employs up to six people, as she needs them. Most of the time she works by herself.

Mayo inherited her love of cooking from her grandmother. She learned candy-making from her dad.

“My grandmother always encouraged the cooking and the baking,” Mayo said. “We always had a good time doing that.”

PS Catering can be reached at 261-5346.

Reach Sharon Sullivan at ssullivan@gjfreepress.com.