Are you interested in starting a catering cocktail parties? Do you want to learn what it takes to run a catering successfully from home? If YES, here is a complete checklist for starting a catering business from home with NO money and no experience.
Okay, so we have provided you an in-depth sample catering business plan template. We also took it further by analyzing and drafting a sample catering service marketing plan backed up by actionable guerrilla marketing ideas for catering businesses. In this article, we will be considering all the requirements for starting a catering business. So put on your entrepreneurial hat and let’s proceed.
Table of Content
1. Catering Industry Overview
2. Market Research and Feasibility
3. Catering Business Plan
4. Catering Service Marketing Plan
5. Catering Name ideas
6. Catering Licenses and Permits
7. Cost of Starting a Catering Business
8. Catering Marketing ideas
If you have a penchant for whipping up great meals, then you may have also tinkered with wanting to commercialize the business. If you have cooked for family and friends, and they have told you how much of a good cook you are, then chances are that you need to take the business to another level.
One of the skills that you have got to bring to the table is the talent to make great meals. After you are able to establish that, then you can begin to look at cooking for a large crowd, because then there will always be an available market. However; truth be told, being a professional caterer might not just come easy.
Why Start a Catering Business?
- Catering is a service that provides you a chance to showcase your talent and creativity in the aspect of cooking and service delivery
- It is not capital intensive. In fact, you can start a catering business from home absolutely with no money and you don’t even need an office. Your client’s advance payment is enough to jumpstart the business and rent all the equipment you need
- You can run your catering business part time, while still keeping your day’s job or business
- There is no entry barrier to opening a catering business. In fact, even a student can do this business without any hitch
- As a caterer, there are a lot of niches to target and you can never be short of clients. You can choose to provide services to specific organizations such as restaurants, fast foods, etc or you can work independently and offer your services at events, weddings, parties, business meetings, private clubs, etc
- As a caterer, you are either self employed or a business owner and you decide your income
- As a catering business owner, you will add to the development of your community and country at large, with respect to job creation. Event catering is definitely not something you can carry out alone; you will need to employ helping hands.
- Catering is one of those businesses that don’t need much marketing or advertising. In fact, you rarely see caterers advertise their services. This is because they always have a steady flow of clients through referrals and word of mouth marketing done by satisfied customers.
There are so many things that has to be considered when you are looking to start a catering business in America. Just as it is all over the world, there is always the need to count costs so as to arrive at the type of catering business you want to start. There are also equipment that are needed when you look to cater for a crowd of people. All of these and more are what needs to be dealt with foundationally.
Starting a Catering Business from Home With NO Money – A Complete Guide
Industry Overview
This trade has to do with providing individual event-based food services. Catering companies generally have equipment and vehicles to transport meals and snacks to events or prepare food off-site. Some of the events catered by catering establishments include; graduation parties, wedding receptions, business luncheons and trade shows.
Interesting Statistics About the Catering Industry
The catering industry in the United States of America is a big one. As a matter of fact, it takes in about $7billion a year. A considerable amount of the sales in the industry is generated through weddings, birthday parties, corporate functions, funerals, holiday parties, and what have you.
Spending on catering services typically depends on the dispensable income of businesses and consumers. While there is always a demand for catering services, customers typically spend less during slow economic times. There is hardly any country in the world where one may not find caterers who are into full – time catering businesses.
Professional caterers do not only cater for big organizations, government agencies, institutions and parties, but they can also be contacted to handle home catering services for people who can the luxury. This means that people who host a huge number of visitors per time in their houses can relax and allow the burden of cooking to be taken off them.
In the United States of America alone, there are well over 10,000 registered catering businesses that employ about 150,000 people (both contract and full time employees), and most of them are thriving pretty well in the business because there are loads of business opportunities available to caterers in the United States of America, as well as in other parts of the world.
Catering business is considered to be amongst the delicate industries, this is because they are involved in cooking food for consumption for a large number of guests per time. It is the reason why this business is subjected to regular inspection by relevant health officials from different local health departments. As one who runs a catering business in the United States of America, you are expected by law to comply with the laid down rules and regulations for the industry.
What Opportunities Exist in the Catering Industry?
There is ample room for any entrepreneur who is interested in running a catering business in the United States of America to start in any capacity and still maximize profit in the business. You can start by catering for 20 people or less, conversely, you can as well start your catering business by catering for a large crowd. The bottom line is that catering business is known to be a very lucrative business in all parts of the world, and not just in the United States of America.
In the past years, the Caterers industry have continued to witness a boom as consumers and businesses have walked up spending on industry services. It is for this reason that experts have fore casted that in the coming years, the industry will continue to experience continued improvement as both consumer spending and corporate profit reach all-time highs. The basic skills required to become a successful caterer include:
- Marketing
- Organizing
- Planning
- Problem solving
- Cooking
- Good hospitality skills and having a flair for presentation
There is the need to have good food service skills to ensure that meals are served on time. Some research experts have found that the average company in the Caterers industry spends $0.07 on capital for every $1.00 spent on labor; this represents an extremely low level of capital intensity. Despite all that, the catering industry in America and other parts of the world is a very profitable one. Know more why other catering business is successful.
One of the things that encourages one to start this trade is the fact that one could start a catering business on a part-time basis, whilst even still trying to grapple with building the business, expertise and a supply of equipment. In other words it can be said to be a creative, fun and challenging job.
Starting a Catering Business from Home – Market Feasibility Research
One of the very important steps that must be taken when starting a catering business is analyzing the Trading Area. What this means is that you have got to be conversant with the age bracket of those you are targeting. When you analyze your area’s demographics, pay special attention to the following factors:
- Age
- Income levels
- Education and job types
- Marital status
- Size of household
- Housing and renting prices
- Local businesses