If you have a passion for cooking and aspire to make it a business, then starting a catering company may be the best option. With catering, you will enjoy more freedom to do whatever you want-gather and prepare food for wedding receptions, corporate events, intimate gatherings, or engagement parties.
Here’s a step-by-step guide in launching your own catering business.
1. Identify Your Niche
Determine beforehand the type of food and services you are going to offer. Will you only deal with formal events, weddings, debuts, or smaller events? That will determine your niche, which subsequently helps in specializing and attracting the right customers.
You may have quite a few options–Asian, Italian, or even more adventurous gourmet dinners, home-cooked meals, snacks, and desserts for example.
One pro-tip is when you are just starting off to keep your menu pretty simple. You can serve more options when you’ve learned the ropes of catering.
2. Funding Your Catering Business
Starting a new business without funding appears very daunting. Maybe you have no savings or business fund, but you can still get a startup loan to drive the launch of your business. In fact, many young entrepreneurs turn to small business loans, crowdfunding, or investors to get the money they need to launch their businesses.
The funds needed to start a catering business includes supplies, equipment, and marketing. To find more details about how to get a startup loan with no personal funds, check out this tool here.
3. Business Plan Development
As you begin locking down your sources of capital for your venture, you will need to work on a business plan. It’s really just your blueprint outlining what you hope to achieve and serve, where you want to specifically fund to get started and how you intend to keep your company running and growing.
A business plan will help ensure that any business decisions you make are well thought out. This will also be helpful if you need to get a loan or get fundings from investors.
Your business plan must include:
- services/products to be offered
- your target market
- a pricing strategy for your services/products
- a marketing strategy
4. Legalities, Permits, and Licenses
Establish a legal structure. This will protect your personal assets. In most cases, a limited liability company is the structure of choice.
An LLC will ensure a separation of liability if something goes wrong, as well as separate your personal and business finances. This is also important for tax purposes. For more information on what is going to be involved in this process, you can learn more about how to start an LLC.
Another important source of information is the local and state laws; you should find out if there are any permits or licenses needed for your catering business. In general, you need a health permit to prepare food for public consumption. Always ensure proper legal setup, as it will save you from fines and penalties in the future.
5. Catering Equipment and Supplies
The type of catering you will be offering determines what type of equipment and supplies you will need. Basic catering must-haves include:
- Commercial kitchen equipment, including industrial stoves, ovens, fridges, and prep tables
- Serving dishes, warmers, trays, and utensils
- Portable food storage and warming or cooling units
- A reliable vehicle for transporting food and equipment.
Don’t be pressured to buy everything brand new. You need to be wise and thrifty, especially since you are still on the process of launching your catering venture.
Think of renting or buying used equipment. You can buy new tools and equipment as your business expands.
6. Crafting Your Menu
The food you serve speaks for your business. Your catering menu is one of the most important components of your catering business.
In the early stages, try to keep your menu as simple as possible. Concentrate on dishes or pastries that you can prepare and produce in great quantities.
Make your menu customizable. Clients love to have things customized, so the ability to take into account different dietary needs (lactose-free, gluten-free, nut-free, vegan) will broaden your customer base.
7. Pricing Setup
Pricing the package for the catering services could also be problematic. You would want to ensure that you cover your costs as you make a profit by having competitive prices.
Here’s how you can simply determine the pricing:
- Calculate the estimated total of ingredient and supply costs.
- Estimate how long it will take you to prepare and serve.
- Include overheads such as utilities, permits, manpower, and transportation.
- Charge some profit percentage.
You can also research local caterers’ price rates so that you are on the right track.
8. Marketing Your Business
After you have established your catering business, you could begin calling your target market. Below are some pointers to enable you to reach your target market:
- Have a Website: You should have a website that posts your menu, the prices and the testimonials. Don’t forget to optimize your local search engine optimization for your website with phrases like “catering services near me,” as well as your location. That way, if people in your city or town are searching online for such services, they can find you.
- Local SEO: Get listed on Google My Business and other local directories for expanding the presence in local searches. Encourage reviews from satisfied customers for ranking and credibility improvement.
- Make Meaningful Connections: Attend local events, come across opportunities to converse with the wedding venues, event planners, and corporate offices, connecting with other businesses locally could produce referrals.
- Social Media: Write as much of your transactions as possible. There is such a thing as “over-sharing” when it comes to business. Share pictures of your food and events you catered for on Facebook and Instagram. Remember, social media is great for word-of-mouth marketing and aids in engaging the local communities. Who knows, you might be the next trending business on social media!
- First-time perks: The attraction of new clients can also be done through giving discounts or special deals to first-time clients
9. Secure Insurance
For a successful and smooth-sailing catering business, having insurance is a must. Catering means you handle food and work in different venues. That means the liability risks have to be accounted for. Acquire an insurance policy that will cover accidents, property damage, and food safety issues.
To be sure that you receive the proper coverage, consult an agent who specializes in catering business. Consider workers’ compensation if you hire staff, general liability, and vehicle insurance if you will be transporting your food.
10. Building Your Team
As you begin operating your catering business, you might be able to manage everything by yourself. However, as your catering business expands, you will need to add manpower as well. You can’t do everything on your own. In the future, you may need to hire servers, cooks, kitchen staff, or drivers.
Additionally, the most ideal person to hire into your team should be one with experience in the food industry, because such people will be easily able to hit the ground running and help your business thrive.
Final Thoughts
Starting a catering business can be both fun and thrilling, but you also need grit and determination to make it succeed. With the right plan, you can easily turn your interest in food into a bankable source of income. Identify your niche; get the appropriate licenses and permits; and ensure that all is well on the legal and financial front.
Focus on great food and services, and before you know it, you will have reap the fruits of your labor and make your own name in the catering business.
