A Manual To Kick-start Your Catering Business

Catering is a boon in the food industry, and this is why we have got you the perfect manual that will help you in setting up a catering business.

Catering businesses today provide services to a number of IT parks, startups, factories, schools, colleges, and hospitals. Thereby giving employment opportunities to lakhs of people and is set to dominate the market of offering hospitality.

how to start a catering business

Be it how good a cook you are, this does not mean you can run a successful catering business.

Usually caterers in Bangalore either prepare food at their premises and deliver at the time of the event or prepare the food on-site and serve the food then and there. A catering business also provides drinks, crockery, cutlery, decorations, glassware and service staff.

There are two main sectors that as a caterer you must target: private and corporate events. Private events mainly consist of family occasions like weddings, parties, and funerals.

While on the other hand, a corporate event requires a caterer to cater events by providing food in board meetings, functions and award ceremonies. There are only a few caterers that specialize in both the events while there are some who specialize just in one kind of event.

Why start a catering business?

We will try and justify as to why catering is an excellent business with the help of the following points:

  • A catering business does not require a massive investment. You can also start a catering business right from your home, with not much of capital needed and even a perfect place to hold your meetings. For the equipment, you can ask for advance payment from your client.
  • Benefits of starting a catering business are that you have numerous niches to target on, giving you a great list of clients.
  • As you being a caterer business owner, you will create endless job opportunities. You can generate employment as event catering is what you cannot do something all by yourself.
  • Catering does not require much advertising and marketing, but we suggest you to get adapt these to create a broader audience.

Before we head onto the crux of the article, it is essential for you to remember is that catering is not a nine to five job, it is a job where you are working, and everyone else at the event is partying.

Starting a Catering Business:

  1. Research the entire marketplace

The very first step in setting up a catering business is to check who are the other players in the marketplace in and around your area. Check your competitors’ menu and get to know about their pricing strategy, the list of services they offer, and also the customers.

With the advancement of technology, many of your competitors might have a website and find their benefits of unique selling.

Do not fall into the trap that successful caterers offer the best of food. People or Clients look for something that is more than just a delicious meal- they look for something that is unique yet beneficial at the same time. In order to be successful in this business, you will need to have convenience, affordability, or unique menu to set you apart from your competitor and leave them to the dust.

  1. Choose the right menu

Choosing the right menu will play an impeccable role in encouraging customers to keep coming back to you with referrals to their friends and associates. Create your own menu, and by targeting it, you will be doing what is best for you. This will enable you to deliver the best food to your clients. 

Just like fashion, food also has its own trends, and as trends keep changing it is impossible for one to stay at the top of the current trends. Cater your food that suits to every guest and provides food such as gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, etc.

Also make sure that the Menu is cost-efficient, even though how exceptional the taste of your food is, you will stay behind if your menu is not cost-efficient.

  1. Choose a Niche

It is very pertinent that you specialize in the food that offers — a wedding menu, for instance, will be very different from a menu for a sporting event. And if you are ought to become a successful caterer, your signature dish is what will drive you. There are plenty of niches that will get you success in a business like catering, here is a list of a few niches:

  • Corporate Catering
  • Wedding Catering
  • Restaurant Catering
  • Holiday Catering
  • Concerts, Festivals and Sporting events

Your niche can allow you to focus on specific type of food such as barbecue, vegan and other sorts of healthy foods with some affordable pricing to your menu.

  1. Contemplate working on Location and Logistics

When you are just about to take the first order and deliver your best dish to your client’s guests, you might consider working out the hurdle of transporting the equipment and food effortlessly.

A location does not imply to a catering business as most of its operations are going to take place on multiple locations.

As we said, location is not really necessary in a catering business, although transporting becomes an issue here. You will have to decide either to buy a van or rent one during the event. There is more to carry the food and utensils to the location than to just lay it back of the truck.

You need to procure some of the equipments that are required to preserve the food untill you reach the client’s location. Here is a list of equipments that you might need:

  • Cold Packs
  • Thermal insulators
  • Beverage Carriers
  • Food Carriers

Make sure that you have your insurance, as this business is known for mishaps and we can only tell you to prepare for the eventualities that might arise.

Conclusion

Starting a catering business can be the perfect opportunity for you to take advantage of your cooking abilities. Lay down a strong foundation that will help your business grow into a much larger catering service in Bangalore.

Do not put yourself in much of stress and think that you need to create the business within a month or two. Set up a business plan and numerous deadlines to finish each of the categories.

And this was our manual on how to kick-start a catering business. If there are questions that you like to ask us, mention those in the comment section.