Posts Tagged ‘start your own business’

How to Launch a Catering Business

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

 

If you’ve got a zealous passion for food and love working with food, a new career as a caterer may be right up your alley. Caterers often provide much more than just the food; they create the overall look & feel and mood of an event whether it is a wedding or corporate dinner. Think you’ve got what it takes to become a respected caterer? Here are the five key elements to starting a flourishing catering business.

Develop a Business Plan – Every new business, whether it’s catering or construction, requires a business plan. It should address financial, operational and marketing strategies that will enable you to grow your business. Consider observing and speaking with established caterers which can help you flesh out your own plans. You’ll also need to figure out what your start-up costs will be and how to obtain that money (e.g. small business loans, etc.). This should also include knowing exactly what services you’ll provide and your initial menus.

Obtain Proper Licensing – Before you even begin to book clients, you’ll need to obtain the legal licenses and adhere to all FDA guidelines and state regulations. Officials from the health department conduct routine inspections to ensure caterers are up-to-date on permits and following the rules. Contact your city health department to check up on regulations and find out the steps you need to take to obtain permits.

Get Sufficient Insurance Coverage – In a similar vein, you’ll need to get insurance policies that cover product and personal liability, your equipment, any vehicles you use for the business and workers compensation if you’ll be using employees.

Get your Finances Up to Par – Some new caterers make the mistake of investing all the time and money into the food aspect of the business while ignoring money issues. Many renowned Utah caterers say you’ll only be successful if you can be a superb planner and manager as well as a great chef. Thus, make sure you know exactly what your costs are and how to charge to ensure you attract new business while earning a significant profit.

Sell Yourself – In order to book new clients, you need to market your business, and believe it or not, you can do it very well on a very small budget. For example, offer to cater fund-raising events as a way to get your name out there. Write a press release and submit it to online news portals or invite event and wedding planners to a sampling party for some of your food. Once you’ve established yourself, the best advertising will come from word-of-mouth.

 

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How To Start A Catering Business

Saturday, July 11th, 2009

If you have a love for cooking and are a sociable person then starting your own catering business could be an easy task for you. Have you always wanted to dive into the cooking / restaurant industry and be your own boss? You already possess the natural talent and skill to build your empire and supply your clients with some of the finest cuisine that the world has yet to taste. Add those great qualities to an upbeat attitude, relaxed personality and your business accumen then you are already in business.

Catering businesses all around the world are lucrative and they play a very important role in our society. Catering events can range from children’s birthday parties to fifty year anniversary parties. The prices change for each event, depending on the number of guests, the style of food, like a buffet for example, and many other factors, but if you pay attention to the bottom line, you stand to make some seriously good money.

You will have to get a business license, so you will have to do some online research in order to find out how you would go about doing so in your home state. If you need extra help, you should consider contacting other small business owners in your area to get a little guidance. I can be sure they would be ready and willing to assist you.

Starting your own catering business from home will prove to be an extremely tedious, profitable and a rewarding move for yourself and your family. People working nine to five Monday through Friday will envy your gull and courage to take on such a venture with the way our economy is going as of right now.

They will all see that soon the economy will get better and going into business for you allows you the opportunity to employ others who too, are in need of a little assistance right now; it is a win-win situation for everyone. Remember this is a journey, that you want to make good money but also have fun in the process.

What is your budget? You definitely want to begin this venture with the mind-set of a true entrepreneur so you should have a realistic budget and utilize all of your financial resources to make this dream become your reality.

You do not need lots of cash as many types of catering businesses can start with as little as a thousand dollars… or as much as a hundred grand. The dollar amount will vary depending on the appliances you buy as well as the flatware, napkins, storage containers, foods and many other details, including your staff.

Depending on your client, you may find that you do more onsite cooking than in your own kitchen or facility; so consider renting appliances and other tools to cut down on expenses on unnecessary equipment. You can definitely purchase supplies and kitchen equipment later on when you begin to bring in revenue and you are not still using your startup funds.

In the beginning, you may have to put out more money than you initially intended to but as long as it is a necessity then everything that you put into your business you will get out if later because any successful business will have fruits of the labor to show for in the end.

Whom will you have work for you? It is my belief that family can be an incredibly big help when beginning any business, especially one that they will directly benefit. Do not use friends or relatives who want to be paid big money from the start because you can’t afford them yet. Do not hire those people who cannot be managed or will not listen to you because of your role in the family.

This is your business and make sure the people you select respect and support your decisions. If you happen not to choose family members to assist you then keep your staff to a minimum because you do not have to hire a lot of people in order to run a successful catering company. Make sure you conduct interviews and discuss compensation and hours up front so there will not be any confusion or misunderstandings later. Be professional at all times because people are going to constantly be watching and waiting for you to fail or succeed; either way always bring your “A” game.

It helps if you had some type of formal culinary training but this is not a necessity when beginning your business. You might want to take a couple of weeks to train your staff and work out an organization plan. You want to go over things like food preparation, plate presentation, table decorations and various other important factors that your clients and guests will pay extra attention to at the event.

Remember your reputation will always be in question from the start of the event until it is over so make your first and last impression one worth acquiring your services again.

Who will be your clients? You need to be making money so think twice before you turn anyone away. You want to make flyers on your home computer, network with your friends and former colleagues to let them know about your services.

As you can see, you already have everything that you need to start your catering business. I am glad that you took the initiative to take charge of your life and go after what you want.

For more food related business ideas have a look on http://www.funcareers.com for more details on how to Start a Catering Business and where they list even more information on home businesses like Starting a Bed and Breakfast Business, even a Dog Bakery Business!

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Planning to Quit Your Job and Start Your Own Business?

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

So you’re going to to leave your job and start your own home business. Good for you! Risks are required if you want to see big returns. Unfortunately, risks are also… risky. You are gambling on your ability to make your new small business work. However, there are ways of making your business less of a gamble. In order to do that, you must have a well conceived plan and be ready to deal with the risk that you are about to take.

The first thing you need to do is reduce or eliminate your debts. If you have outstanding debts, you need to get that debts pared down as much as possible. Credit cards and the payments can be hard to manage even when you are working a regular job, much less while you are trying to get your business up and running. If you can pay off your credit cards, then pay them off. That is the best way to take care of your high-interest debt.

However, if you cannot pay off your credit card bills, one excellent way of reducing your credit card debt is to take out a debt-consolidation loan. By combining your high-interest credit card debt into a low interest loan, you can ease your burden. There are several places that provide debt-consolidation loans, including banks, credit unions, and debt-management companies such as lowermybills.com. Of course, it is much easier to secure a loan while you are working, so you should probably do this well before you put in your two-weeks’ notice.

Another thing you have to consider is health insurance. In case you had not noticed, health insurance is very expensive. Having an employer pay those monthly fees is one of the good things about a regular job. But when you are out on your own, you will need to take care of health insurance on your own.

If you quit your job, you will usually be given the option of keeping your health insurance. This is good, because they will cover pre-existing conditions that would otherwise leave you paying both health insurance dues and your medical expenses. However, continuing health insurance coverage can also be very expensive and usually is only available for a certain period of time. Check out your options and have a clear plan for insurance in place before you leave your present job. Get several quotes from different companies and check the policies for their rules on coverage.

The third and most important thing is to calculate is how you are going to pay for this. Your business needs income if it is going to survive. So be ready. The best way to guarantee income is to have clients already lined up. Promote your new business before you leave your current job. Start selling yourself and your business to prospective clients and see what happens. The best market analysis you can do is to sell yourself and see what happens. Then, when you have some contracts signed, you will know that there is water in the pool before you dive in.

Leaving your job to start a small business is as exciting as it is stressful. But, with proper planning, you can make that move with confidence. By knowing what you’ll need and having it in place, you’ll be able to make the move with some success already on the way.

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