Have you ever impressed people with your culinary skills? If yes, then you must have also considered making a living out of it. Well, you are not the only one. There are millions out there dreaming of establishing a successful catering business every day.
Apart from the experience and knowledge, there are many things an individual needs to do before establishing a catering business. For starters, do you have answers to all the following questions?
- Where will your business be located?
- How are you planning to manage your food safely?
- What according to you should be your employee strength?
- What food you plan to prepare?
If you have answers to all the above mentioned questions, it is safe to state that you are ready to implement your business plan. But before you set out on your voyage, see if this five-step process could help you make your dream come true.
Getting Started
Before anything else, it is important to establish a niche or a particular trend your catering business will be following, such as Thai or Continental. Establishing a niche can be done by identifying a gap in the market after researching and discovering what your potential customer base prefer. It is also based on the type of audience you want to target.
By establishing a niche will help you crystallise the equipments, training and expertise you will need to achieve your set goals. However, once your business kick-starts, you can then diversify your niche further.
The Menu
It is essential to have a menu which is simple and understandable. Before taking orders, it is even worth to conduct a taster session that helps you decide what would work well and what doesn’t. Additionally, also ask for honest and constructive feedbacks.
Apart from the menu, you also need to think about the branding and marketing for your services. By preparing for all this beforehand will decide whether you stand chance at succeeding at it or not.
The market you want to target entirely depends on you. However, we recommend you to make sure your decisions are based on experience and passion for your type of cuisine instead of the one you think is most profitable.
Location
This is something you should know for sure. It is important to know for sure whether you will be running your catering business from a van, from your home kitchen, from mobile premises or from pre-existing kitchens.
The cost of it varies on the type of location you decide to go with. But before you finalize upon your location, investigate the advantages and disadvantages of each of the possible locations mentioned above.
Finance
Let us be realistic, there comes a point in business where you have to borrow money for its sustainability. For traditional banks to sanction your small business loan, it is essential to have a strong credit score. To avoid waiting for banks to approve your loans, you can simply apply for funding options provided by alternative finance firms.
Today, more than 75 per cent the UK SMEs have become financially stable because of the alternative finance firms and their easy-to-secure funds. On the other hand, you can also look for venture capitalists or investors ready to invest in your business. But until then, seek financial help from alternative finance firms in your area.
Health & Safety
Since you are running a catering business, its survival is entirely based on the quality and safety of the food you offer. Offering your services at relatively low prices may get you a slow start, but low quality and unsafe food will be the end of your business dream.
All the food services that you offer should be safe to eat, clearly and correctly labelled or described in the menu and should also have records of its origin.
Make sure that the people dealing with the food are hygienic. Products such as sanitizers and gloves always come handy, so make sure you buy them in bulk so as to save time as well as money.
Apart from the five-step process we described above, there are few more things you need to consider before starting your catering voyage:
- Does your business décor match the style of services you offer?
- If not you, who will be managing an on-going catering event?
- When will you set up your official website and social media accounts? How often you plan to update them? What will be your opening hours?
- Can you consider collaborating with other businesses such as local pubs and wedding-oriented services?
Starting any type of business is a huge challenge. It is best that we warn you that you are in for plenty of hard work and sleepless nights. But despite all this, you will be learning at every stage of its success. Apart from the success of your business, people praising your food and its quality will be a reward in itself.
