How to Start a Catering Business

Wanting to start a catering business is something that many people find is the next natural step to take when they have spent years working for other companies, either in cafés, pubs, or restaurants. You have the experience and the knowledge of how to carry out the work; you might even have your own customers that are loyal to you. But how do you start a catering business? There is likely to be a lot about running a company that you have yet to consider. Let’s explore exactly how you can set up your own business.

Find your specialism

A catering business can be generalized in terms of who they work with and what they offer. You might offer catering for weddings, parties, funerals and corporate events, and even offer a wide variety of food, but that doesn’t make you any different from any other catering business. So why would a customer choose you, a startup firm, over a fully-fledged catering company that has been successful for years? The answer is they simply wouldn’t. Therefore, you need to give them a reason to choose you. You need to know what makes you different from your competitors. You need to know what your unique selling point is. This will help you stand out from your competitors. Finding a specialism or a niche will require a lot of market research, but if you are able to discover the gap in the market, you are giving people a reason to choose you over anybody else to do their catering.

Register your business

Just as with any startup, you need to register your business. This includes deciding on your business’s name. You need to make sure that the name you want isn’t already taken in your state, but this is easy enough to check online. This is also where you will need to choose what business entity you fall into. Registering your business as a general partnership or a limited partnership, or even a limited liability company will result in different protections available for the owner of the business. Be sure to look carefully into this.

Find the funding

Starting a new business will not be cheap. In fact, it will cost you a lot more than you think, and so your personal savings might not be enough to get your business grounded. Therefore, you need to find enough funding so that you can start your business without relying on your savings. There are different avenues you can go down to do this, such as approaching the bank for a loan (you could also try out a loan company), or crowdfunding.

If you apply for a loan, you will have to put together a business plan that shows the bank/company exactly what your business is offering, that there is a market out there for you, and that it will be possible to pay back the loan in a timely manner.

Boost your online visibility with marketing

As you start to put plans into place for launching your catering business, you need to be certain that, when you open your doors for the first time, people are aware that you exist. Aligning yourself with a PR firm in New York City, such as R.Couri Hay, that specializes in branding for catering businesses will ensure that you boost your online visibility. Using a combination of creative methods that utilize social media, advertising, and publicity, they will help you reach your audience and build up the brand you want.

Cover yourself with insurance

You should take out business insurance as soon as possible so that you are covered in the event that you face legal action. A business that produces food is at more risk than any other business because of the dangers of food poisoning and allergies, so this is incredibly important. There are many different forms of insurance that can be taken out, so you must look into what they all cover.