Gaetano's Event Center & Catering is a family-owned business that has operated for 43 years based on a philosophy of ethics, integrity and community involvement. The company emphasizes open communication and treating employees like family. There is no formal code of conduct but clear values of respect, teamwork, fairness and quality. Employees understand and accept the ethical standards due to the owner's personal relationships and communication of expectations. The company delivers high quality products and services, as evidenced by customer reviews, and gives back to the community through charitable events and donations.

1. 2016 Pittsburgh Business Ethics Award
Gaetano’s Event Center & Catering
Katie Bozzo, Michael Burns, Aishwarya Gaje, Eliza Loftus, Bhakti Patel, Marty Waters

2. To: Pittsburgh Business Ethics Award Committee
From: Katie Bozzo, Michael Burns, Aishwarya Gaje, Eliza Loftus, Bhakti Patel, Marty Waters
Date: December 6th, 2016
Subject: PBEA Gaetano’s Event Center & Catering Summary
Attached is a report evaluating Gaetano’s Event Center & Catering for the 2016 Pittsburgh Business Ethics Award. Evaluating the
company allowed us to gain valuable insight into the company's ethics and overall functions as a firm. If you have any questions on
the following information you can contact Eliza Loftus at eml85@pitt.edu.
General Information
Company: Gaetano’s Event Center & Catering
Number of Employees: About 25
Number of years in Operation: 43

3. Executive Summary
Anna Gaetano, co-owner of Gaetano’s Event Center & Catering, clearly relied information about her company in terms of how
the company promotes ethical standards in a every facet of its culture. The company was established in 1963 as a small restaurant
in the basement of the current owner’s relatives. With a ten year break in business in the 1970s, the company has relied on their
integrity and exceptional leadership ever since to ensure their prosperity. The owners firmly believe that leaders yield the best results
when they strive to lead by example because it both ameliorates their value in the eyes if their employees and encourage employees
to follow the leader's’ footsteps. Furthermore, since Gaetano is family run, the company owners use unique personable methods to
set forth the company’s values -- honesty, integrity, respect, and quality -- to its employees that deviate from the norm in the business
world.
Gaetano owners strive to advocate their values by emphasizing the importance of honesty and open culture. The size of the
small family owned company gives the owners the unique advantage to really engage with their employees on a personal level. In
fact, owners view their employees as family. Additionally, Anna Gaetano believes that the company’s ability to treats their staff as
family really helps minimize the emergence of ethical issues. The company is able to foster strong relationships with their employees
to make them aware of their value and contribution to the profitability of the company. Thus, the employees value their roles and
responsibility toward the company.
Each of the roughly 25 employees strives to work together, truly uphold the company standards and ensure company
prosperity. Gaetano’s Event Center & Catering is deserving of the PBEA award because of they really set the industry standard that
pertain of great value to small businesses by going back to the basic of ethics and proving that people really can work together while
uphold high ethical standards for the sole purpose of family.

4. A demonstration of executive
commitment to business ethics via
speeches, correspondence,
communication from CEO and senior
officers.
Gaetano’s does an exceptional job showing executive commitment to business ethics. Anna
Gaetano, a company co-owner, remains a visible leader both inside and outside of the company
and successfully leads the team by example. Her dedication to the company’s ethical culture is
clear by the willingness to this interview. Furthermore Mrs. Gaetano has a vested interest in
building an atmosphere of honesty and trust for her employees to feel comfortable and respected.
The owners attempt to maintain this environment by ensuring that there is always an open line of
communication between management and employees.
A corporate code of ethics or
conduct, credo, mission statement or
philosophy that communicates the
company’s requirement of honesty,
integrity and compliance with the law
in all business dealings.
Although a formal code of conduct creates a successful ethical framework for many companies,
Gaetano’s is capable of running a highly successful and highly ethical business based solely on an
informal culture.
Gaetano operates on 5 core values. These values are:
 Respect - Treats everyone with dignity and courtesy
 Teamwork - Work well with others
 Fairness - Work truthfully in accordance to rules and standards
 Integrity - Act honestly, ethically, and legally
 Quality - Provide exceptional products and services
These values are greatly reflected in the employees and clients they work with.
A means for customers, employees,
and others to bring ethical problems
or conflicts to the attention of
management and a mechanism for
resolution that ensures fair and
consistent treatment of all parties.
Bringing ethical dilemmas to attention is a key aspect of a company's ethical framework because
the owners firmly believe that if employees do not feel comfortable addressing these issues, minor
problems can spiral out of control affecting many different parties. At Gaetano’s, Mrs. Gaetano has
created a safe, comfortable, and open atmosphere for her employees by fostering a personal
relationship with each and every employee. Due to this distinctive practice, employees do not
hesitate to immediately address the issue with Mrs. Gaetano when a problem arises.

5. A clear communication of ethical
standards, corporate culture, and
expectation of employee behavior in
company publications handbooks,
training, etc.
As an evidence of open culture, Mrs. Gaetano refers to her employees as family. In order to
ensure clear and concise communication of ethical standards to employees, Mrs. Gaetano
believes that it is vital to consistently communicate the company’s expectations sets for the
corporate culture and employee behavior.
Furthermore, our team found it rather intriguing that there is no written publication such as a hand
book or training manual at Gaetano. However, the company has been able to uphold their values
rather well without written documentation. The owners feel no need for it due to the intimate nature
of their relationship with their employees which allows for constant open communication between
the owners and their employees. Additionally, Mrs. Gaetano’s dedication to the company as
shown through her full time commitment to Gaetano’s allows her to constantly watch over and
communication with the employees.
A clear indication that employees
throughout the organization
understand and accept the
company’s ethical standards.
The aura of trust Mrs. Gaetano has created at Gaetano’s via her charming personality, constant
communication, and dedication to the company allows the employees to truly understand and
accept the company’s ethical standards. In fact, in all the years Mrs. Gaetano has been running
Gaetano’s, she has needed to fire less than five employees -- a clear indication that this
noteworthy method is working. When hiring new employees, Mrs. Gaetano can easily detect the
likelihood of individuals’ ability to fit the company’s cultural and ethical value as well as the close
knit family structure that is greatly emphasized. Lastly, Mrs. Gaetano works extremely hard with
employees to ensure they embody the company values through periodic communication of
company expectations.
A narrative description of business
ethics in action, e.g., the company's
response to a challenge affecting its
operation/industry
or by evidence of how ethical
decision-making is a part of the
company’s every day operations,
philosophy and culture.
The owners of Gaetano’s place a huge emphasis on doing what's ethically correct, hence the
emphasis on honesty and integrity in their core values. They advocate employees to bring forth
ethical issues directly to them because as a small business owner, Mrs. Gaetano believes that
maintaining integrity within the community is key.
Running a business based on referrals and recommendations can be extremely challenging. In
fact, one the company’s biggest challenge is continuously filling their venue with events throughout
the year. Hence the company invests a lot of time and effort to ensure that every day operations of
employees meet the set ethical philosophy to ensure every customer and employees leaves with

6. the utmost satisfaction. The owners spend more time analyzing their ability to satisfy customers
and employees then they do on their profit.
This has been an extremely successful model for the company and speaks highly of Gaetano’s
emphasis on the ethical culture and work environment.
A consistently high quality of
products services, business and
production practices, including
demonstrated awareness of
environmental impact if appropriate.
From the analysis of Gaetano’s reviews and customer testimonials, it is very obvious that the
company consistently delivers high quality of products and services. Customers often return and
refer new customers. Each party is treated like family at Gaetano’s as the owners take a personal
interest in ensuring that every event runs seamlessly.
According to review most of Gaetano’s new customers arise from what the individuals hear
through word of mouth. Furthermore, seeing the company does not heavily advertise, the amount
of business the company conducts clearly attests to their ability to deliver high quality service.
In terms of environmental impact, the company makes all of their food products on site, and have
taken significant measures to minimize if not completely eliminate food waste. The owners of
Gaetano’s are committed to minimize inefficient waste by making efforts to recycle reusable waste
and donate extra food to the less fortunate.
Corporate commitment to providing a
work environment that is safe, free
from harassment or appropriate
discrimination.
Anna Gaetano, the owner, prides herself in creating a comfortable and loving work environment. In
fact, she credits her success to the fact that she is always on site to oversee how her employees
interact and to make sure that there is a floor for open communication. She really believes in the
idea of leading by example, hence she is always present in order to establish and maintain clear
expectations regarding employee and employer behavior. This really helps curb any harassment
or inappropriate behavior that may occur because the employees strive to continuously contribute
and uphold to the open and loving environment that Mrs. Gaetano has created.

7. Community commitment via
involvement in local, regional, and/or
national issues, and support of civic
and charitable endeavors through
foundation grants, contributions or
gifts of time and material.
Gaetano’s goes above and beyond in terms of community commitment by being very closely
involved within their town. The company regularly host discounted banquets for different
community organizations such as Awareness for Respiratory Diseases, school functions, and
various other charitable organizations. Although Gaetano’s does not make a profit through these
types of events most of the time, the company strives to continuously support and contribute to
their community by holding fundraisers and banquets that raise awareness for various issues.
Furthermore, they also are very involved in school activities and often donate food to different
events and drives. Gaetano is committed to giving back to its community because the owners
firmly believe that the community has truly contributed to their success thus far.
In addition to raising awareness, Gaetano’s has taken efficient measures to monitor food waste
and appropriate food elimination. The company has done this by switching from a fully functioning
restaurant to just a banquet hall. The change in the business model eliminates a significant
amount of food waste because it forces Gaetano’s to only minimize their inventory to the items
they know they will use at future banquets.