Starting Your Own Catering Business by Rob W. Colbourn

If you enjoy planning, cooking and working with people, starting a catering business might just be right up your alley! What's better, this is a great home-business where you need to ensure that the meals, appetizers, desserts and drinks are perfect for your client's needs. Catering services are not just for weddings, but conferences, luncheons, birthday parties and much, much more.

You can specialize if you wish; wedding receptions are enough to keep you busy and your catering business growing. You must be creative, know your food and have good business sense. But, that's not all. Catering can be hard, yet rewarding work. This type of business requires stamina and you must be able to work well under pressure. There's licensing involved and you must continually meet the requirements of the food industry as well.

Licensing

Getting a license is easy. The first thing you'll need to do is apply at your local Health Department. Before issuing you your new license, your place of business will be inspected for sanitation requirements. And after you are licensed the Health Department will visit you regularly to make sure you stay up to code. The inspections are vital to maintaining good hygiene and sanitation practices. Improper cooling and storage of food, inadequate cooking and poor hygiene have resulted in outbreaks of food-borne illnesses.

Planning

To start a good business you must first have a good business plan. First of all, determine your specialties. There are numerous choices from boxed lunches, seated dinners and receptions... to baked goods and picnics. Decide what types of foods you'll serve. You should ask yourself the following questions to determine if catering is right for you:

• Will this business serve my basic needs?
• Will this business serve an existing market in which the demand exceeds the supply?
• Can this business compete with other existing businesses?

Before you begin your catering business, you should also figure out your demographic, study your competitors and think about your staffing options. You'll need to think about promotion strategy, service and cleanup, and any specialized skills that you'll be bringing with you into the business that may give you a competitive edge over your competitors.

Initial Costs

To reduce the cost of startup, you can rent equipment. Tables, chairs, utensils, tablecloths, and other items are all available for renting. In this way you can also build a reputation in the market as you develop capital for future expansion. You'll also have the opportunity to evaluate the monetary and time investments you'll need to make and the impact these will have on your family.

Food and Safety

A key to success in catering is the ability to prepare delicious and wholesome food, while maintaining a high standard in cleanliness and safety. The most important responsibility you'll have is preventing food contamination as this can lead to serious illness and thus to possible lawsuits.

Though there are obstacles and pitfalls, a well-planned and well-run catering business can be profitable as well as rewarding - both personally and financially.