How to Start a Catering Business
Sep 26th, 2008 by Gary Pearson
If different cuisines interest you and you have a penchant for social gatherings, the field of catering is perhaps the ideal career route for you. Catering jobs involve a lot of hard work and you have to sort it out over hot stoves for long hours; nevertheless it is worth all the effort, if you have a genuine interest.
It’s not compulsory to have a culinary degree to start your own catering business. However, familiarity with food safety measures, preparation techniques, presentation and of course, governmental procedures for setting up and maintaining the business will come in handy. Also, as common sense tells you, prepared food must be eye-appealing and delicious at the same time.
Most importantly, you need to believe in yourself and get started with enough information to succeed. So, start by researching on the internet or by visiting libraries. Make sure you do a thorough research on licenses, certifications and registration requirements before you invest your time, energy and money to your catering business.
The first thing you will want to do after conducting research is to organize your information and create a business and marketing plan. If you aren’t familiar with these documents, type in “business plan” or “marketing plan” at your favorite search engine. You can find everything you need online or at the library. The Small Business Association (SBA) offers a wide variety of publications and classes for budding entrepreneurs. The website is located at www.sba.org.
Once you have developed your business and marketing plan you’ll be in a better position to obtain financing from a lending institution or private investor. When you start your own business, you will be required to invest some of your own money into the venture. A good rule of thumb is to never invest more than you can afford to lose.
Starting your own enterprise is a dream come true. In the beginning you are going to have to multitask. Apart from catering, you will have to conduct other jobs like marketing, answering the phone, customer follow-up, accounting, stocking, etc.
Although owning your own catering business is a highly rewarding experience, you should be prepared to work long hours and be available to work weekends and evenings, at least until you are well-established.
Owning a catering business requires a great deal of stamina. Not only will you be preparing the food, you will also be required to deliver it, set-up serving tables, serve the food, tear everything down, and clean all the equipment.
There’s more for you to tackle when you are running a catering business. Most often, caterers work 15 hours per day, 7 days a week. Outdoor events are more common than indoor events, so you’ll need lots of energy and gumption to be able to handle the summer-day catering events. Also, maintaining a friendly attitude with lots of vitality throughout all this is essential for a good catering business relationship.
Work is never really “work” when you enjoy what you do, no matter how challenging it is. While it can be stressful and rarely give you any personal time, your investments from every category, be it money, time or energy, will be highly rewarded with great profits and satisfaction.
