Think you have the right cooking skills to become the next catering business entrepreneur? That’s great! The cooking business is thriving since 2017 and there’s no point in not trying your hands on it if you have the talent. But is only good cooking skill enough for the catering business to survive? It’s not, plain and simple. You have to take your service to your customers and for that, you have to have the right tools and marketing strategy to make your business a success. For any business, planning and executing should be the first step. But don’t panic or overthink, there are quite a few steps you can take for starting a catering business.
1. Gaining the experience
The good thing about the catering business is, you can work under other catering services and gather important lessons and experience for starting your own business. If you don’t have a clue about how the business works, it would be a good idea to start working under a catering service. You don’t always have to work in the restaurant industry to understand the business, you can start from home as well. Catering events for your closed ones such as parties, wedding receptions, etc is very good for starting up. You can gradually move on to build it big afterward.
2. Preparing your catering licence and legal documents
After you have gathered enough experience to start your own business, the first step to take should be preparing your business licence. Getting a license means giving your business the legal permission to start. Without a catering business license, you can’t make it big. Every business owner, whether big or small has to acquire a license to start a business. Also, take necessary measures like signing up an insurance policy for your business so that you are covered for losses or mishaps.
3. Getting a website
This step might sound like an unnecessary expense but if you see the big picture you’d know that creating a website for catering business is an investment. In fact, every business needs a website, that’s their online identity. In this era of technology, searching for restaurants, shops and services is quite common. So, why not take advantage of it? Your website is a great way to advertise your services without paying an additional bill to the advertisement agencies. With websites, you can easily target your customers by correct marketing skills. An integrated catering software will take your business one step ahead of your competitors who are not using one.
4. Hire staffs
That’s a basic thing but it holds much significance. There were many restaurant businesses in the industry that tasted defeat just because they didn’t have many good employees. Hiring good employees is like finding a needle in a haystack – they are rare and difficult to find. And that’s why the process of hiring can be tiresome at some point. What you should do is listing the attributes you want your employees to have in them. It can be anything, a required degree/certificate, skills and talents, etiquette, etc. Then write an effective job description and post on a local newspaper or online. You can even put it on your website with the title “we are hiring” or something similar to that. After you find a handful of people interested in your business, call them for an interview.
5. Essential expenses
For a restaurant business to start you need to spend some dollars to purchase essential goods such as a burner/stove, a fridge, a microwave oven, utensils, crockeries, cutleries, etc. Create a list of the most essential stuff you need and start shopping according to that star. You can buy crockeries and cutleries from the sale with discounts, that would help you to save some money. If you can’t afford to buy electronic appliances at one go, many companies now let you buy them through EMI.
Conclusion
It’s vital to know your competition and your customer’s preferences. Remember, research is the key. Always check for what your competitors are offering their customers. Also, listing the price is important, charging more money than the original price can retract customers.
