Home Based Catering Business

To start your own catering service business. You should consider a few think first. check out on this article to find more about starting catering service business.

Starting a Home Based Catering Business By: scott

Are you one of those people who love to cook? If you love cooking, you might want to put your talents to work and set up your own home based catering business. The good thing about setting up your business at home is that you get to earn money while keeping an eye on the kids.

Formulating your business plan

Before to start your business, be sure that you have a sound business plan. Always bear in mind that your business plan is very important if you want to succeed in your business. You don't really need a complicated business. All you need is a list of things that you need to do to get things started, have a business goal, a timeframe and a budget. Now, don't runaway yet, it's not really as complicated as it sounds. You don't need to have a PhD to write your business plan. To make a simplified business plan, just get a piece of paper and divide it into four columns. The first column should be allocated for particulars where you will write all the things that you will to do, the second column could be for time frame where you get to write the time and date when you will need to perform the task that you listed in your column for particulars, the third column will not be for your expected expenses and the fourth column will be for your expected output.

When formulating your business plan, make sure that you list all the things that need to be done, preferably in a chronological order or in your order of priorities. For instance, since you are setting up a home based catering business, you will need to get cooking equipments. On your fist column, you may write there purchase of equipments and cooking utensils. Make sure that you identify all the equipments and utensils that you need. You may write then according to your priorities. On the second column, write when you will purchase these things. In case you are not planning to purchase all your equipments all at the same time, write the different target dates you have. For your third column, estimate how much money you need to get you equipments. You may also write in your business plan as to where you intend to get the money from.

The fourth column of simplified business plan can be a bit tricky. Here you will make some business projections. If you are buying equipments, you will need to project how you will be able to recover the cost of your investment. Be realistic in your projections. Always bear in mind that it will not do your any good to be overly optimistic. Always be conservative when making projections. It is always better to exceed your projected income than to fall miserably below it.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
Scott Young Is A Plug In Profit Site member As Well As An Authority On Developing Online Affiliate Marketing Internet Businesses. Get more Information On How To Build Your Own Online Affiliate Marketing Business. For Internet Business Ideas To Make Money Online, Visit: Online Affiliate Marketing Business Ideas and Opportunities.

Find More

catering service home based catering catering business

Starting A Home Based Cookery Business - Catering For All Tastes By: Elaine Currie

Copyright 2006 Elaine Currie

If you are a good cook and like cooking, why not build on your skills and knowledge and start your own business doing something you already know you enjoy. The first thing to do is decide what sort of cookery you want to undertake on a business basis.

Can you envisage yourself having a career running a full catering business? If so, you could choose to offer a general catering service or one specialising in organising buffet meals or wedding breakfasts only. You might want to create a niche business offering multi-course gourmet meals, vegetarian extravaganzas or ethnic feasts.

Perhaps your interest is in baking. If you can reliably produce delicious cakes and pastries, a bakery business might be more to your liking. You can make a career out of baking and decorating cakes to your own designs, you could even specialise in one type of cake eg cheesecakes or wedding cakes.

Maybe your passion is jam-making or pickling or bottling fruit. These types of homemade goods produced with fresh natural ingredients are far superior to the preservative packed factory manufactured varieties and are enjoyed by everyone who appreciates food that actually tastes like food.

Don't overlook the possibility of running a lunch delivery service. If you live reasonably near to offices or factories, you could start a sandwich/snack delivery round. Fresh homemade sandwiches are in a different league to the bland offerings available in many commercial outlets. Workers usually only get an hour or less for lunch so they will appreciate the chance to save time and effort by having lunch delivered. As well as sandwiches, you could offer home baked pies and cakes. The sandwich round could easily be run part-time in addition to other catering jobs.

If you are already involved in cooking for your family and friends, you probably have most, if not all, the basic equipment needed to start up a catering related home business. If you intend to specialise in baking and decorating cakes or selling homemade sandwiches, your initial outlay will be comparatively small. You will obviously need to budget for ingredients. Also, you will need to buy suitable packaging materials and have funds to pay for any fuel you will use to make deliveries.

It is worth the extra expense to have items such as sandwich bags and cake boxes printed with your details so that customers will be reminded of your name (or your company name) and can recommend you to friends or phone you to place repeat orders. If your ambition is to offer a full catering service, you might find that you need an additional freezer, fridge or microwave oven. You might even find that you need a dedicated vehicle to use for your business. A business loan might be the best way to cover any large expenses.

After brainstorming the possibilities, it is time to sit down and draw up a formal business plan. This will be necessary if you intend to apply for a business development loan or seek a grant for start-up capital. Putting your plans down on paper will also help you to clarify all the details and turn a bunch of ideas into a real project.

Before you cook anything in a professional capacity, it is essential to find out what is required in your area in the way of insurances, and certification to enable you to prepare food on a commercial basis. You need to make enquiries of your local Health Authority who will provide you with the regulations and inform you what inspections are required. You don't want your business to get closed down on a technicality, so make sure you do your homework on rules and regulations in advance.

Whatever size or type of catering business you are planning, you will need to set aside a budget for advertising. As in most lines of business, the best way to grow a catering business is through personal recommendation but this takes time and you have to have some customers to start spreading the word in the first place. You must advertise to get started and to keep your business growing. Advertising can consist of many different things, eg having fliers delivered, press releases and classified advertisements in local newspapers, classified advertisements in targeted magazines. Have stationery and business cards printed with your business details, post advertisements free on notice boards in shops.

Make sure you tell everyone about your new business. This includes friends and acquaintances who can spread the word but you should also make contact with people in related businesses to see if you can make a mutual recommendation agreement. For example, if your speciality is baking wedding cakes, it would be useful to form an alliance with the local florist, local dressmaker and (obviously) any local wedding planner.

Take a short business course on the Internet or at your local college. Even if you intend to employ an accountant or have a qualified advisor, you should know at least the basics of business management and your tax liabilities.

Finally, make sure you give yourself a continuing education on all food-related subjects. Subscribe to professional magazines and take evening classes to learn new techniques and recipes. Trends in food change and you need to keep up to date with those trends as well as learning about new discoveries relating to nutrition.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
Elaine Currie has a Work At Home Directory Full of Ideas, Programme Reviews, Articles, Tips and Free Resources for everyone who wants to work from home. http://www.huntingvenus.com

Find More

cakes and pastries catering business catering service

Catering Business Profits, Earnings and Salaries - How Much Money Can You Really Make? By Robert Sutherland

Many people have turned their love of cooking and entertaining into a good living by starting catering businesses.

Catering is a multi-billion dollar industry in the U.S. and as one of the fastest growing segments of the food and beverage industry, the catering business offers great opportunities for those wanting to start a small business with a low start up cost.

In this article we will look at catering business profits, earnings and salaries and how much money it is really possible to make in this industry. Then we will examine some of the things that separate the really successful players from the amateurs.

Is a $100,000 Yearly Profit Possible in Catering?

Many people consider a $100,000 pre-tax salary or profit to be a benchmark for success and they wonder if they can reach this level of earnings in catering.

Most small catering business owners who put in the effort can expect to earn between $20,000 and $40,000 profit per year for the owner during the first couple of years. After a couple of years in the business, you can easily scale up to earning a 'six figure' annual income from catering.

Tips for Getting to the 'Six Figure' Level

1) Forget catering from your home kitchen if you want to get to this salary level. Business savvy caterers do volumes that require them to either rent commercial kitchen space by the hour, arrange access to restaurant kitchens during off-hours or focus on 'on-premises' jobs only and use the kitchens of their clients.

2) Successful players love spending time creating menus, following food trends and interacting with people without neglecting the business side of catering.

3) Start to create a powerful brand right from the start with your logo, company values and unique service that will grow into a valuable asset that allows you to command a premium price for your catering services in the market.

4) Develop systems for every part of your business to streamline day-to-day operations. Analyze the way that you and your staff work and strive to increase productivity.

5) Understand that there are 'niche' markets within the catering industry that you would never think of until you really start looking. Top caterers find these untapped opportunities, and carve out a business catering to the specific needs of these groups.

6) Perfect the process of consulting with new clients and learn how to politely up-sell them on some of your more expensive offerings.

7) Realize that you are leaving money on the table if you don't also up-sell additional event related services to your customers.

8) Learn how to hire, train and organize a small team to assist you with food preparation, delivery service, and even sales if you want a realistic chance of getting to an income level above $100,000.

9) Don't neglect traditional advertising methods but also pursue other modern marketing methods such as networking, cross promotions and guerilla marketing.

10) Successful caterers also recognize the importance of customer referrals. Customers may introduce friends to you because they like your food and services but there are also other ways to get them talking about your company.

To get started on the right track, do as much reading as you can about general small business management and the catering business specifically. Many highly successful caterers have published start up guides and you have a chance to learn from their mistakes instead of making your own and you can benefit from their expert advice and insider tips.

It is possible to make a lot of money in the catering business if you put in the effort. Reaching a level of earnings that will allow you to make a 'six figure' salary from your catering business is entirely possible within your first two years in business.

About Author

Visit http://www.StartaCateringCompany.com for reviews of three of the top catering business guides that can help you achieve a high level of earnings in this industry.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Sutherland

Find More

catering services delivery service catering business

Starting A Home Based Cookery Business - Catering For All Tastes By Elaine Currie

If you are a good cook and like cooking, why not build on your skills and knowledge and start your own business doing something you already know you enjoy. The first thing to do is decide what sort of cookery you want to undertake on a business basis.

Can you envisage yourself having a career running a full catering business? If so, you could choose to offer a general catering service or one specialising in organising buffet meals or wedding breakfasts only. You might want to create a niche business offering multi-course gourmet meals, vegetarian extravaganzas or ethnic feasts.

Perhaps your interest is in baking. If you can reliably produce delicious cakes and pastries, a bakery business might be more to your liking. You can make a career out of baking and decorating cakes to your own designs, you could even specialise in one type of cake eg cheesecakes or wedding cakes.

Maybe your passion is jam-making or pickling or bottling fruit. These types of homemade goods produced with fresh natural ingredients are far superior to the preservative packed factory manufactured varieties and are enjoyed by everyone who appreciates food that actually tastes like food.

Don't overlook the possibility of running a lunch delivery service. If you live reasonably near to offices or factories, you could start a sandwich/snack delivery round. Fresh homemade sandwiches are in a different league to the bland offerings available in many commercial outlets. Workers usually only get an hour or less for lunch so they will appreciate the chance to save time and effort by having lunch delivered. As well as sandwiches, you could offer home baked pies and cakes. The sandwich round could easily be run part-time in addition to other catering jobs.

If you are already involved in cooking for your family and friends, you probably have most, if not all, the basic equipment needed to start up a catering related home business. If you intend to specialise in baking and decorating cakes or selling homemade sandwiches, your initial outlay will be comparatively small. You will obviously need to budget for ingredients. Also, you will need to buy suitable packaging materials and have funds to pay for any fuel you will use to make deliveries.

It is worth the extra expense to have items such as sandwich bags and cake boxes printed with your details so that customers will be reminded of your name (or your company name) and can recommend you to friends or phone you to place repeat orders. If your ambition is to offer a full catering service, you might find that you need an additional freezer, fridge or microwave oven. You might even find that you need a dedicated vehicle to use for your business. A business loan might be the best way to cover any large expenses.

After brainstorming the possibilities, it is time to sit down and draw up a formal business plan. This will be necessary if you intend to apply for a business development loan or seek a grant for start-up capital. Putting your plans down on paper will also help you to clarify all the details and turn a bunch of ideas into a real project.

Before you cook anything in a professional capacity, it is essential to find out what is required in your area in the way of insurances, and certification to enable you to prepare food on a commercial basis. You need to make enquiries of your local Health Authority who will provide you with the regulations and inform you what inspections are required. You don't want your business to get closed down on a technicality, so make sure you do your homework on rules and regulations in advance.

Whatever size or type of catering business you are planning, you will need to set aside a budget for advertising. As in most lines of business, the best way to grow a catering business is through personal recommendation but this takes time and you have to have some customers to start spreading the word in the first place. You must advertise to get started and to keep your business growing. Advertising can consist of many different things, eg having fliers delivered, press releases and classified advertisements in local newspapers, classified advertisements in targeted magazines. Have stationery and business cards printed with your business details, post advertisements free on notice boards in shops.

Make sure you tell everyone about your new business. This includes friends and acquaintances who can spread the word but you should also make contact with people in related businesses to see if you can make a mutual recommendation agreement. For example, if your speciality is baking wedding cakes, it would be useful to form an alliance with the local florist, local dressmaker and (obviously) any local wedding planner.

Take a short business course on the Internet or at your local college. Even if you intend to employ an accountant or have a qualified advisor, you should know at least the basics of business management and your tax liabilities.

Finally, make sure you give yourself a continuing education on all food-related subjects. Subscribe to professional magazines and take evening classes to learn new techniques and recipes. Trends in food change and you need to keep up to date with those trends as well as learning about new discoveries relating to nutrition.

About Author

Copyright 2006 Elaine Currie

Elaine Currie has a Work At Home Directory Full of Ideas, Programme Reviews, Articles, Tips and Free Resources for everyone who wants to work from home. http://www.huntingvenus.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Elaine_Currie

Find More

catering business delivery service catering service