Quote: (09-13-2014 03:55 PM)jariel Wrote:
Has anyone started or actively participated in a catering business?
A friend of mine who is a chef has asked me about helping him out with some of the cooking and business aspects of the venture, and we're trying to think of ways to just try to get the service out there.
Most of what he wants to prepare/offer is for small, non-formal events, like football parties, birthday parties, home-based events of that nature.
We've recently been providing plates of food to people we know, friends and acquaintances, and they've absolutely loved it -- although we didn't ask for money, they've all given us pretty decent tips.
I'm thinking now we can go to the public and offer some level of the service for free, and they would only pay for the other level, kind of like a buy one pizza, get one free type of concept.
If anyone has any advice, it's much appreciated.
Thanks.
Catering is probably the highest profit margin foodservice business that exists. The menu is chosen well ahead of time and you know exactly how many people you're preparing food for, which vastly eliminates waste. This gives you time to bid for the best prices on your raw materials. Since you can do most of the food preparation in a small apartment (not technically legal but everyone does it and no real way to get caught) and nearly all catering events are on private property, you don't have the same bureaucratic assholes sticking their nose in what you're doing. No inspectors. On top of that, your overhead is a fraction of a restaurant's overhead.
If you're willing to work hard, long days, and get your hands dirty, you can make a shitload of money catering. I've long thought about it, but from a professional chef's point of view, catering is sort of like the glue factory for race horses. I'm still sort of in the big leagues, not ready to be put out to pasture just yet.
But if you're not interested in "the bigs" and want to make some cash with catering, go for it. Most of the people that go to cooking school wind up in catering (I'd say fewer than 5% make it to professional restaurant kitchens)
If you really want to get serious about it, invest $1500 in a community college culinary arts program and get a certificate. This will help in getting clients. Spend another $500 on cookbooks that represent the type of food you'd like to serve. There are entire cookbooks dedicated to canape service, buffet service, that type of thing. You'll make a lot of mistakes at first, but with practice it's one of the easiest types of foodservice there is.
The only real downside is dealing with high maintenance events coordinators and/or clients. Once you start building a serious business and getting serious clientele, you have to deal with some royal assholes that think their event is the most important day the earth has ever known.
If you want to keep your business small and relaxed, I would start a lunch delivery service for office types. This is a HUGE business; there's a place in L.A. called Clementine that has a line out the door with office workers picking up giant bags of lunch orders. If you delivered you can tack on a small fee that covers your gas and they'll love you for it. Office types are constantly looking for new ideas, new restaurants, something different than the Subway and Chipotle they eat day in and day out. Go hit up some office buildings and drop off some menus with shit like "Vietnamese pork belly wrap" and "Tuna melt with shaved fennel on ciabatta" on it and watch your phone blow up.
