As seen in CH2 Celebrate Hilton Head Magazine, August 2021

Amie Baima | Skillets Café & Grill

If there’s anyone who has experience as a woman in business, it’s Amie Baima. She has been at the helm of one of the oldest, most popular breakfast spots on the island for almost 30 years.

Skillets Café & Grill started in a small space in Coligny Plaza in 1993 and has flourished ever since. Even a fire that started in an adjacent restaurant and reduced the entire shared building to ash couldn’t keep her down. The restaurant was rebuilt bigger and better than ever two and a half years later. Baima decided to add dinner at that time, expanding Skillets’ offerings beyond their popular breakfast and lunch.

As anyone knows, when you are the chief cook and bottle washer of a business, you have to know how to do everything. In the restaurant business, that means one day you could be playing hostess, and the next you are behind the line cooking because one of your team members called out sick. When there is a plumbing issue, sometimes you have to “think like a girl,” roll up your sleeves, and get sewer water all over you. (Note: this happened last week.)

When asked what advice she would give other women wanting to own and run their own business, “Marry rich,” Baima joked. “But in all seriousness, make sure you have a good support system, whether that be family, friends, or employees you can rely on to wear different hats and help run your business smoothly when needed. Be prepared to work long hours, but know that you can’t keep up an insane pace forever. All women need a time out.”

Skillets Cafe, located in Coligny Shopping Center
1 N. Forest Beach Dr., J
Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
(843) 785-3131
skilletscafe.com