If you have a passion for food and enjoy being around large groups of people, a catering business may be the perfect vocation for you. While a catering business does involve an extensive amount of physical labor and endless hours over a hot stove, the rewards can far outweigh the challenges.
A culinary degree or certificate is not an imperative requisite, but you need to be conversant with basic standard operating procedures like food safety and hygiene, and various methods and varieties of preparations. As is applicable for any product, presentation is very important. Good presentation is half the success when it comes to catering. Make sure your food looks great and tastes even greater.
If you believe you have what it takes to run a successful catering business, start by conducting research via the Internet or visit your local library and check-out books on the subject. You'll need to find out as many details as possible regarding licenses and certifications that are required in your area.
Once you've completed your research, you need to construct a business and marketing plan. This is not a difficult process even if you have no prior knowledge about creating such documents. Just do a web search for "business plan" and "marketing plan" and you'll find plenty of samples and helpful material. The libraries and online resources are always easy to find and cheaper alternatives to hiring a consultant for extensive support. The Small Business Association (SBA) provides a large selection of classes and publications for new business owners. Visit www.sba.org for more information about their services.
The next step is finance. Having your hands on a good business plan and marketing strategy will give you a fairly accurate idea of the kind of credit you will require, as well as increase your chances of quick loan approval. You can get this done through banks and finance companies. Obviously, you will have to invest a small fraction of the total budget upfront. Even as you do this, take care that you do not end up investing more than you can afford losing.
While it might be exhilarating to start your own catering business, it's important to realize that in the beginning you will be wearing many hats. In addition to preparing food and catering events, you'll need to have a good understanding of marketing in order to obtain new business. And, let's not forget the day-to-day duties such as answering the phone, quoting prices, following up with clients, performing accounting duties, ordering supplies, etc.
While the experience is worth the challenges, you need to be mentally prepared for the long hours and busy weekends. It's compulsory to work hard with a minimal budget until you're well-established and recognized.
Running a catering business on your own will require hard work, perseverance and patience. There are so many jobs like serving food, taking orders, billings, mundane chores, cleaning, etc. that can tire you out.
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.
A culinary degree or certificate is not an imperative requisite, but you need to be conversant with basic standard operating procedures like food safety and hygiene, and various methods and varieties of preparations. As is applicable for any product, presentation is very important. Good presentation is half the success when it comes to catering. Make sure your food looks great and tastes even greater.
If you believe you have what it takes to run a successful catering business, start by conducting research via the Internet or visit your local library and check-out books on the subject. You'll need to find out as many details as possible regarding licenses and certifications that are required in your area.
Once you've completed your research, you need to construct a business and marketing plan. This is not a difficult process even if you have no prior knowledge about creating such documents. Just do a web search for "business plan" and "marketing plan" and you'll find plenty of samples and helpful material. The libraries and online resources are always easy to find and cheaper alternatives to hiring a consultant for extensive support. The Small Business Association (SBA) provides a large selection of classes and publications for new business owners. Visit www.sba.org for more information about their services.
The next step is finance. Having your hands on a good business plan and marketing strategy will give you a fairly accurate idea of the kind of credit you will require, as well as increase your chances of quick loan approval. You can get this done through banks and finance companies. Obviously, you will have to invest a small fraction of the total budget upfront. Even as you do this, take care that you do not end up investing more than you can afford losing.
While it might be exhilarating to start your own catering business, it's important to realize that in the beginning you will be wearing many hats. In addition to preparing food and catering events, you'll need to have a good understanding of marketing in order to obtain new business. And, let's not forget the day-to-day duties such as answering the phone, quoting prices, following up with clients, performing accounting duties, ordering supplies, etc.
While the experience is worth the challenges, you need to be mentally prepared for the long hours and busy weekends. It's compulsory to work hard with a minimal budget until you're well-established and recognized.
Running a catering business on your own will require hard work, perseverance and patience. There are so many jobs like serving food, taking orders, billings, mundane chores, cleaning, etc. that can tire you out.
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.
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