As we’ve already established in the preface, running a catering business is a vision many people have. In reality, however, the thought is put on the back burner due to not being sure how to proceed.
Why Run A Catering Business?
As an employee, your current work might be unrewarding, unstimulating and predictable, or you may be locked into a profession that no longer inspires. You long to develop a creative and business side you feel you have strengths in and being a caterer has an appeal for you.
Or you may be postponing the change as the leap from being an employee to self-employed and employer is a daunting one. But, having chosen this book, you are motivated to find out what the next steps are to becoming a caterer.
Skills You Need
Before starting out, it is essential to consider whether you have what is needed to make a success of a business in catering.
- Are you a good organiser and planner?
- Are you a versatile cook?
- Are you a problem-solver?
- Are you able to delegate effectively?
- Will you be able to establish a good rapport with clients, staff and suppliers?
- Can you be hospitable towards guests when the party is in full swing?
Most of all: do you like people? If you find dealing with people on many levels a trial, then running a catering business might not be for you.
Examine what skills you possess, where you may have weaknesses and what you can do to overcome them. But, as you are considering this career move – or, indeed, career start – you may have what it takes.
When running a small catering business, you will need to be able to do almost everything from shopping, cooking, serving, delegating where possible, doing the bookkeeping, writing the quotes and confirmations, keeping up with hygiene rules and regulations and briefing staff, right down to the washing up. You will also continually need to market your brand-new career.
Skills such as the ability to manage in a crisis with a smile without losing your cool and to work with a number of different people, from parents of the bride to managing directors and flower designers, will all be put to the test in a catering environment.
Catering, in its most basic form, is all about feeding people. This comes down to how efficient you are and how you are able to shape raw materials
into interesting, distinctly tasty food. Meticulous planning is also a hugely important aspect of being a caterer, a skill which you will either learn or have already developed in another career or through running a household.
There will inevitably be a lot to learn as you start out in your new business. How to get guests to the table without the prepared food spoiling, and what kind of menus work for a variety of occasions are just a couple.
Once you get going, it’s a good idea to review your first few events and see how you can improve on things like efficiency and organisation, the quantity and display of food, and instructions to staff.
You can ask yourself: Did you remember to take everything to the event? Did you anticipate the whole event or were there some surprises?
While you read this book and think about running a catering business, bear in mind that things won’ be perfect from day one. Even several years down the line things always need improving. You will learn through trial and error as most new businesses do while you gain experience on a daily basis.
I’ll come to list of what makes a good caterer later. First, what type of catering are you considering offering?