Super Bowl vendors vie for a piece of the big game (CNNMoney.com)

When caterer Francine Powers got summoned to the big leagues, the call came out of the blue: The phone in her home office rang, and on the other end was an invitation to try out for a shot at the Super Bowl.

Powers ran her fledgling company from her kitchen in Miami. Her caller was a large Los Angeles corporate caterer, Ambrosia Productions, that had been hired by the National Football League to coordinate the pregame reception for the 1995 Super Bowl. It wanted local caters to subcontract on the deal, and in the member directory of a Miami minority business development group, it found Powers' phone number.