By Gloria Lloyd – Reporter, St. Louis Business Journal
Mar 19, 2025
When Maggie Barton took a job soon after college in 2009 working for the front desk at St. Louis’ largest catering company, Butler’s Pantry, she had no idea she’d one day be named the company’s first-ever CEO, working alongside the company’s owner and president, Richard Nix Jr. He’s the son of Anita and Richard Nix Sr., who founded the family business in the 1960s.
Since Barton began as CEO in late 2023, the company has continued to innovate through Nix’s creative ideas and Barton’s operational leadership, she said. Most recently, the firm has ventured into new business lines, branching out from catering special events by beginning to offer daily food service for institutions. The first client for that service line is the Augustine Institute, which took over the one-time Boeing Leadership Center property in north St. Louis County and relocated its graduate school and theological institute last year from Colorado.
Butler’s Pantry has also expanded the number of venues where it can hold events and expanded the event venues it owns in recent years through 18 Rails at City Foundry and The Reverie at The District in Chesterfield, which were added to The Coronado in Midtown. With just under $13 million in revenue in 2024, which was up from $12.5 million in 2023, Butler’s Pantry currently has 70 full-time employees and 220 part-time employees.
Have you had the career you expected? It’s unique, especially in our generation, to start somewhere right out of college and stay, but I’ve been afforded the opportunity to grow. I started at the front desk, so I got to observe a little bit before I dove right in. That turned into sales, which led to more of a marketing role, into development, into operations, and ultimately to where I am now. I’ve been able to see every facet of the business. We have grown leaps and bounds, not just in revenue, but in offerings. We’ve really done a good job of evolving because of what our customers are asking for, but also because of what we’re seeing on the coasts and what we’re seeing in other countries and the holes that we see in traditional catering.
What’s it like taking such a big role in a family business? It’s so interesting and so cool to be a part of. Richard Nix Jr., who is our president and owner, and I work very closely together. He is a true entrepreneur at heart, a big-idea guy. He has really pushed the business into new directions, and that’s been really inspiring to be a part of. I’m not part of the Nix family, but I certainly identify as part of the Butler’s Pantry family. We’re a family business, and it feels that way, regardless if you have Nix as the last name or not. We have employees that have been with us for 20, 25, 30 years. Richard has created this space where we can be creative and open to new positions. I was coming up through the sales department. We didn’t really have an in-house marketing team. My background is in marketing, so it was a hole that I saw, and thought I could help. And a marketing department was born. We’ve been open to growth, open to new ideas, new positions. It’s been such a creative environment that feeds my soul. I’m a creative at heart.
Why did you decide to open The Reverie, the Butler’s Pantry venue in Chesterfield? There’s a bit of an untapped market out there. There are more options now than five years ago. For some time, looking for a venue of size you were pigeonholed to a hotel or casino. We also felt like there’s a lot of our clientele that has moved west or that lives west. There are some nonprofits that we work with whose constituency, their high donors, don’t love coming to the city for events. That’s an example of listening to our customers and finding there’s a hole in the market. We were really, truly pursuing a West County location for a solid seven, or eight years before we really came upon and built out The Reverie.
How have you broadened your client base? We’re finding that some of our venues, 18 Rails for instance, are appealing to a whole new buyer, hosting things like STLCoffeeFest and Cycle Showcase STL and the Novel Neighbor. These are events that we were not typically involved in, but because of the vibe and energy and where 18 Rails is located, that’s the buyer that’s coming there. So we’re learning to adapt and evolve.
As a leader, what benefit is it that you’ve worked every role? Employees know that I know where they’re coming from. We had an incredibly busy fall into the holiday season this past year, and I will bartend, I will serve. I will jump in the kitchen when necessary and work side by side with our team. That’s so important that we’re not asking employees to do anything that we haven’t done, that I wouldn’t be willing to do right there beside them.
In your Butler’s Pantry bio, you said if you could have dinner with three people, it would be Robert Frost, Brandon Boyd of the band Incubus and Kevin Hart. Why that group? My dad is an amazing writer. He went into public relations, but before that, he was a public poet. So we were raised around brilliant writing and exposed to brilliant authors. I think I was in first grade maybe when I memorized “The Road Not Taken” for a project at school, and the teachers were like, “Who is this kid?” because everyone else was doing Dr. Suess. My dad even recited it at my wedding. So Robert Frost is just near and dear to my heart as an amazing poet and writer and reminds me of my dad. Brandon Boyd — Incubus is just one of those bands that has followed me for a lifetime. I went to the 20th anniversary of one of their album concerts at what was then the Peabody, and I was pregnant with my son. So I like to say that his first concert was Incubus, much like my own. Kevin Hart is just so funny. I think he would liven up any crowd, any group he’s with, and you’re just never quite sure what he’s gonna say.
More about Maggie Barton
Title: CEO, Butler’s Pantry
Age: 38
Current residence: Des Peres
Education: Truman State University, marketing degree; Ursuline Academy
Family: Husband, A.J. Barton, 39; son Fitz, 5; daughter Della, 2
Favorite local restaurants: Olive + Oak, Louie, Wright’s, Peno
Best place to visit: Napa Valle