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Starting a Catering Business

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If you enjoy cooking in your free time, and you like coming up with creative new recipes - catering may be the ideal home-based business for you.

Catering jobs vary from customer to customer, since people have different tastes, there are various types of events and there are different styles of food presentation. This line of work is not boring. Your creativity will help you find unique menu solutions to each client's needs, so a catering business can be stimulating and challenging at the same time.

Think starting a catering business is too much for you to handle? Think again. Start small, and in just a few steps your business can be up and running. Once you've managed the basics, then you'll be able to grow your catering company as your customer base grows.

Many professional caterers will tell you that catering is a fun, creative and social business. If you've impressed people with your cooking before, there are probably lots more people out there who are ready to enjoy your creations. Don't doubt yourself, you may be profitable sooner than you think.

Catering Course

Learn the catering business so you can start your own company

Although a catering certificate is not required to operate a food service business, catering certification or other advanced learning programs build on your list of credentials and demonstrate that you know what you're doing. This professionalism increases the number of clients who will want to hire you for catering jobs.

With specialized catering business training, you make yourself more competitive in the marketplace and can gain more respect and trust from clients. Online catering courses are not only faster and more convenient to complete - they cost significantly less.

Penn Foster offers a free information packet on an at-home study catering course that costs less and you can complete from home (of course).

Catering Business Plan

How to put together a business plan for your catering company

Most caterers have questions about starting their own venture. "How do I start a catering business?", "What will it cost?", "Where do I get the cooking and serving equipment I need?", and most importantly, "How do I find customers?" Most successful catering business owners will tell you that they started with a plan.

The first step starting a catering business is to have a business plan. This acts as an outline that you can follow, not to mention use to obtain financing and form partnerships.

The Solution: The Catering Business Plan Template

Yes, there are general business plan templates available, but why not make it even easier on yourself and get a business plan template specifically for your line of work?

Catering Business License

Do you need a business license for your catering company?

In general, companies are required to get a business license to ensure that they are complying with government regulations.

Licensing for your particular business will depend on what type of business you operate and where you are located. There are federal, state and local licensing requirements that may apply to your business.

You can either apply for your business license through your local government office or use an online service to assist in the process. By working directly with your local government office, you can avoid a service fee and complete the application process yourself. It is a fairly straight forward process, but there are online services that will provide additional help for a fee.

If you are planning on cooking and preparing food items at home, here's an article you may want to read about licensing, permits and the local Board of Health.

How to Get Catering Customers

Find Catering Customers by Giving Away Free Samples

With so much competition in the market, the buying process can sometimes feel overwhelming to shoppers. Sometimes the way to gain a customer is to reach them first (before other competitors) or get them to like you better. Giving away free samples can accomplish both - at the same time.

People love free samples, and giving away free samples is a great way to promote a product or service without having to do "hard selling" that most of us try to avoid. This can be ideal for a catering company, since great-tasting food can be an easy sell - but you need to taste it first.

But how do you give away free samples without losing money?

To find out how to attract new customers to your catering service, read this article: 5 Tips to Marketing with Free Samples

How to Become a Personal Chef

What does it take to get started as a personal chef?

According to Entrepreneur Magazine, the personal chef career is one of the fastest growing fields. A personal chef business requires minimal cost to start, and it can be managed from home. For people who love to cook, it can be a very rewarding line of work.

There are opportunities to prepare food for busy families as well as traveling executives. In addition, there is a growing market of people who want to eat a gluten-free, vegan or low-carb diet without the hassle of preparing it. A personal chef can take the work out of planning meals and keep menus from getting boring...

Get tips, resources and start-up guide: Become a Personal Chef

How to Start a Food Truck Business

What is the best way to start a food truck business?

If you want to get into the food truck business, you don't necessarily need experience to start. However, preparation is key to high profits in this competitive market. But how do you do this?

Ideally, you want to get advice from a successful catering truck business owner to see how he or she made a profit. You can do this either by taking a course or by interviewing a local food truck owner, referred to you by someone you know. Then, all you need to do is follow their method for reaching success.

This is where expert Mike Carter comes in. He's owned several successful catering truck businesses of his own.

In fact, he attributes his success to learning from food truck business owners who were already earning $100,000-$200,000 a year. He has taken his knowledge and years of experience and put everything into a start-up guide for new entrepreneurs.

Find out how: How to Start a Food Truck Business

How to Write a Cookbook

Tips for Writing and Publishing Your Own Cookbook

If you have been catering for a while, you have probably developed some unique recipes or cooking techniques. Why not get paid for sharing your ideas with others? Writing a cookbook can be a great way to make money in the cooking field without feeling the pressure of having to cook everyday.

Since there are already so many cooking books and websites available, think about a common problem that people have with cooking or recipes and how you can create a solution for them. Some examples include 5-minute meals for people with little time or patience or gluten-free cooking for those who need to follow a gluten-free diet but still want variety in their meals.

Amazon is a great outlet for new writers to gain lots of exposure without spending a lot of money. If you want to sell your cookbook on the Amazon website, there is a book entitled "Sell Your Book on Amazon". it's no surprise - you can purchase it from Amazon on their website.

Find out the steps to take and how to get published here: How to Write and Publish Your Own Cookbook

Resources for Starting a Catering Business

For do-it-yourselfer entrepreneurs, Amazon has a few start-up catering business guides that are quite helpful. They are cheap to buy and can save you a lot of money when starting your business by giving you shortcuts and marketing and management tips.
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Catering Business Resources

National Association of Catering Executives
NACE offers members, partners, and the public a variety of rich resources that support, promote and enhance the catering and special events industries.

International Caterers Association
The International Caterers Association (ICA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing education, mentoring and resources for professional caterers and promoting the profession of catering to clients, industry members, vendors and the public.

How to Start a Catering Business 1-2-3
Complete business start-up guide to launching your own successful catering business start-up.

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This UpMarket page written by

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Sue Barrett is the Director of Business Solutions at Home Business Center, Inc. and Founder of The New Business Idea Blog. When she's not helping people... more »

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