Starting your own catering business can be both financially rewarding and fun. Whether you cater events on a full-time or a part-time basis, the opportunities are excellent. Each catered event is a new experience and challenge with a new group of people. With the rewards and fun come demanding work, for which you will need stamina and the ability to work under pressure. The law requires that caterers be licensed and meet other requirements for foodservice establishments. The Board of Health insures that food for distribution and sale to the public is safely prepared, handled, protected and preserved.
To obtain a license, apply to the local Health Department. Before a license is issued, the Health Department will inspect your business to see that it meets food sanitation requirements. Once a license is issued, the Health Department will conduct routine inspections of your business. These inspections are needed to help insure compliance with food sanitation rules developed to protect the public from foodborne illness. Outbreaks of foodborne illness have been attributed to factors such as poor hygiene by personnel, inadequate cooking, and improper cooling and storage of food.
The development of a business plan will aid you in planning a successful business. Prior to starting a catering business, you need to determine your type of business'i.e., cakes, receptions, seated dinners, box lunches, picnics, hors d'oeuvres, or dessert course?and the type of food you will serve (primarily convenience or "from scratch"). Analyze your market. Ask yourself the following questions to see if your business venture will satisfy at least one of the following fundamental elements of success. If not, you probably do not have a viable business idea.
The questions are:
Will the business serve a presently unserved need?
Will the business serve an existing market in which demand exceeds supply?
Can the business effectively compete with existing businesses because of some "competitive advantage?"
Decide whom you will target as customers. Who is your competition? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Where will you get supplies? Decide how you will promote your business. Will you need to employ staff to help with production, service, and cleanup? What other skills do you need to make your business successful?
Start-Up Costs: You may choose to start your catering business by renting items to keep initial costs to a minimum. You may rent the use of kitchen facilities, utensils, tables, tablecloths, serving equipment and other items. This will allow you to: 1) Build a reputation; 2) develop some capital for investment and expansion and 3) evaluate how much time and money you want to invest and the impact that this business will have on your family.
Food Safety: To be successful in the catering business, one must produce delicious food that is safe and wholesome. The production of safe foods is your responsibility. Time and temperature abuse of foods contaminated with foodborne pathogens, such as Salmonella, Campylobacter and Escherichia coli O157:H7, will certainly lead to a foodborne outbreak that would likely destroy your reputation and business. Foodborne illness can be avoided if you and your employees follow safe food handling practices.
Like I said earlier, starting your own catering business can be both financially rewarding and fun. Whether you cater events on a full-time or a part-time basis, the opportunities are excellent, but it do require some planning and hardwork in order for you to enjoy the benefits.
If you thinking you are a good cook and can catering business start well, then, start it. What's stopping you? The catering business is much more in demand now as it ever was, since almost everyone now caters food for even little occasions for lack of time. You will need to put in effort though, since the catering business does demand work. But the perks are that you can start this business with very low investment, and can easily get your first orders from your own circle of friends. As such, the business is not easy to start with. And the money that comes in is good too.
The catering business is one enterprise that is in good demand all through the year. There are so many events that need catering, business meetings, wedding receptions, birthday parties, get-togethers, all kinds of social gatherings, and the list goes on. Hence, a regular list of clients is assured, sooner than you think, you will have more work than you handle. But, it is necessary that your food must always be liked by people so that they can recommend it to others.
In order to start catering business, you will need a license, and local laws apply. In some cities, you will need to get a work permit from the government offices. Without the license, you cannot practice a catering business, and so it is absolutely vital that you get the license first. However, the rules for getting a catering license are not as strict as they would seem.
The next essential step when you start catering business is to give a business name, which will be your brand name. Your brand name will be your identity in this business, so take some time and decide about the name you would like your business to be recognized with. This name should be good enough for the publicity, which you must also plan out in advance.
Promote your business to your family and friends first. During these orders, if people like the food, they are sure to ask who the caterer is. Do a good job, and you will always be in the limelight when dinnertime comes. When starting out, accept orders that are commensurate with your resources. You can expand over time, but start in a small way. This is an important suggestion for the catering business.
Finance is not a big problem either. There are many banks and financial institutions that are providing monetary assistance to caterers. You will have to have a business plan ready, detailing what kind of investment you are looking for, what will be the size of your business, how many employees you will recruit, etc.
You only have to make up your mind to advice on catering business and the rest will follow. Even if you are not sure about your own culinary skills, but are good at managing things, you can hire cooks and run the show. If you are bored of your desk job, this is a great option you must look into.
Both Thomas Martin & Sean Tan are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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