Jun 4, 2008

What You Need to Know about Starting a Catering Business

Are you considering starting a home catering business? Who can blame you? Catering is a feasible, doable and profitable business. This is the perfect career for people who love cooking and pleasing people with their food. The job of a caterer revolves around pleasing your customers. Otherwise, your business will not survive. You need to ensure that you present the perfect meal, desserts, appetizers and drinks. The food that you present can either kill or create a perfect occasion for your customer. This is especially true if you are catering a wedding or a conference.

Starting Your Catering Business

There are a lot of things that you need to consider before you start a catering business. You would have to consider your capital or start-up cost. If you don’t have the capital, you also need to consider your source of financing. Perhaps, you need to get a loan. You need to secure all the necessary licenses. A catering business needs appropriate catering equipment. You need to prepare a budget for marketing or advertising.

You need to consider the type of catering service you are going to put up, the type of events that you are going to cater to and the types of marketing strategies you are going to adopt. You may need insurance. All these things require that you create a business plan.

Learning Business Management

In starting a catering business, you need to learn how to manage your business. Like most businesses, you’d come across problems and stumbling blocks. You need to learn the technical side of your business – handling employees, accounting books, inventorying, et cetera.

You also need how to manage events. This is crucial to your business operations. You are basically going to manage an event from start to finish. You need to make sure that everything is perfect. You need to learn how to estimate the quantity of food you are going to prepare. Make sure that the food is enough but not too much. You also need to secure partners or contacts for decorating services since a catering business may require that you also provide the event’s décor. You might also need to get in touch with people who can provide you with entertainers if your customers request for this additional service.

Staring a Home Base Catering Service

If you’re thinking of cutting back on startup cost and you’re considering a home base catering service, do not let people discourage you from pursuing your dream. A home base catering service is actually easy if you are prepared to handle the possible setbacks.

The first thing that you need to do before you even purchase spoon and fork for your business is to make sure that your business is legitimate in your state. There are states that forbid home based catering businesses. You couldn’t possibly get a license if your business is illegal in the first place.

When starting a business, you might need all the help you can get. If it is home based, you’d probably start with small dinners and birthday parties. You would need someone to help you with the cooking. If you can’t afford a couple of employees, perhaps, you can get a friend or a family to help you out.

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