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CHAPTER 2. Types of Food Business

THERE ARE TWO basic types of home-based food business: caterers and suppliers. A business, of course, needn’t be confined to one or the other. Though it often works out that way for efficiency’s sake, don’t be afraid to experiment – each has a lot to teach the other.

Caterers, for instance, always do better for making sure their branding is as memorable and consistent as suppliers’. And suppliers who are forthcoming with delicious samples and live cooking demonstrations tend to rake in more contracts and punters.

Catering

What is a caterer?

Catering is the business of providing food at a site such as a hotel, pub, sports ground or other location. A mobile caterer serves food directly from a vehicle or cart at outdoor events ranging from music festivals to county shows, as well as at offices and food festivals.

As a caterer, you’ll need to wear many different hats. You’ll need a good understanding of cooking and serving on a commercial scale. You’ll have to be a competent planner, a great marketeer and inspiring salesperson.

And on top of a sound business sense, you’ll have to be able to lift and shift everything from heavy equipment to a delicate, multi-tiered wedding cake.

There’ll also be lots of cleaning of pots and pans.

Why choose catering?

Countless food and drink companies start up each year in the UK. While many do not make it past their first anniversary, the success rate of catering businesses is high, thanks to lower overheads and reduced staff costs – employees are only needed for planned events, and mobile catering businesses can be run part-time.

Special considerations

 With clients seeking catering for events such as weddings, funerals and Christenings, you may find yourself getting involved in the planning of the event itself. This type of work suits organised people with culinary and organisational flair. However, planning such events is time-consuming and can be stressful, with clients hoping for the ‘perfect day’.

 Marketing is often word-of-mouth, so you’ll need to be personable.

 Serving food in corporate situations – in boardrooms, say, or at a conference – is a competitive market, with many contracts already served by local restaurants. But it pays well. While business clients need feeding all year, their tastes and demands may limit the range of food you provide.

 At many large events, existing caterers already have exclusive contracts with the organisers and jealously guard their rights. Pick your events carefully and don’t be surprised if you’re bumped off the list at the last minute. Some organisers will allow multiple vendors, others not. This is less of a problem at farmers’ markets and other similar events, where organisers will allow two or three similar stalls.

 Industrial catering is where you provide large volumes of food, for example to schools, airlines and other institutions. It’s unlikely that your business will start at industrial scale, but you may grow or sell into such a company.

Research for outdoor catering companies

If you are planning to open an outdoor catering company, your customers will expect to have a certain amount of background material about your business and the food you’ll be serving. Questions will normally be based around the following:

 Flexibility: How flexible is your menu; how much freedom do clients have in deciding the menu?

 Taste and sampling: Can clients taste your food before making a decision?

 Menu: Do you cater for special diets – gluten-free, vegetarian, etc.? Does the price include starter, main course and dessert? What about tea, coffee and petits fours?

 Seasonality: If you are negotiating to cater an event planned for the summer or autumn, think about food available at the time.

 Buffet or sit-down dinner: Do you specialise in catering buffets or full meals? Can you provide late-night buffets, for example at a wedding?

 References: Can potential clients speak to your existing clients? Choose carefully who you would recommend as references. Ask them permission to use their name.

 Full service: Do you provide linens, tables, chairs, flowers and decoration? Is this open to negotiation? Perhaps you can hire in furniture on request. Can you provide audio-visual equipment? Do you provide service staff?

 Your kitchen: If your client wishes to meet you at your home, are you prepared for this? You’ll need a place to meet, and a clean and tidy working area.

 Organisation: Your client will expect you to be very organised and efficient. If you are delivering a quote, do so within the time agreed.

 Small print: Be very clear about what is included in your quote and service. Answer questions such as: is corkage included; who tips the serving staff; is there a deadline for increasing or cutting back on numbers of guests?

 Discounts: Potential clients will often ask for discounts. Off-peak times may include mid-week weddings, quiet months, e.g. January and February. Be prepared to negotiate. Have a clear idea of your margins and ensure that the event will result in a profit.

TIP: Take photographs of your work to show prospective clients how you design platters of food, tables and serve the food and drink.

Producer: Selling at farmers’ markets, local shops, restaurants,and directly to customers

What is a producer?

Many people start their home-based food business by becoming a producer. Whether making cupcakes or loose-leaf tea, you source, create and brand your own food products and sell them onto customers – as a supplier to (for example) restaurants or as a direct seller to individuals.

Choosing the right product for your target market is key here. You’ll need to keep on top of fast-moving trends and ensure your product range keeps up-to-date with customers’ desires.

People often get the motivation for supplying or selling their own food products after being praised for making a delicious dish at home. This can be a good starting point, but remember to do your market research and make sure there’s enough profit in it for you. Restaurants and shops will need to add their own margin to your products – do your numbers have room for this? (More on this in chapters 3 and 4.)

Why choose producing?

It’s incredibly rewarding to see your products on the shelves of a shop or on a restaurant menu. And it’s even nicer receiving compliments from customers at a farmers’ market or festival, knowing that what you have made has brightened people’s meals up. Supplying and selling your own brand of food is a well-trod path to kitchen dominance: everyone from Green & Blacks to Levi Roots of Reggae Reggae Sauce has navigated it.

Being a producer also involves a little less ‘live’ stress than catering. When it’s showtime – a pitch to a pub chain, say, or selling to punters at a food fair – your products are already finished and ready to taste. You know they’re delicious, and in that respect, at least, nothing can go wrong on the day: nothing can get burnt, or spilt, or fail to come together as you wanted.

Special considerations

At the same time, pitching to other businesses and running your own stalls or shop will involve stresses of their own kind. You’ll need to have mastered the numbers and be on top of them at all times. You’ll need to be able to negotiate. And you’ll need to be able to make others fall in love with your products more than your rivals’.

 You will need a passion for your chosen market niche, as your waking hours will be spent thinking about the business, preparing the food to sell, preparing to attend food festivals and enthusing everyone you meet about your food.

 You’ll need to keep a close watch on your expenses and income to make sure the business isn’t wasting money. Overproducing and underselling is a danger that must be constantly watched for. Also, factor in the cost of exhibiting.

 It’s vital that you test your products with your potential market before investing lots of time and money. Get a neutral opinion from the marketplace, and the views of traders already active in your sector.

 Do you have the support of friends and family members? Your cooking and food preparation will take up a lot of space and time in your home kitchen. Are they prepared for the inevitable disruption of family life? (Are you?) Also, you may need to call upon their time (unpaid) to help you at a farmers’ market, early in the morning on a cold Sunday in January.

Hampers

One of the many routes-to-market for a producer is hampers. If you create the right product, you can get it included in a hamper sold by a local hamper company or regional food body.

CASE STUDY: Wenlock Hampers

Wenlock Hampers were initially created to tie in with the London Olympic Games and their historical links with the small town of Much Wenlock in Shropshire. A popular Wenlock Hamper is an assortment of food and drink products made within a 26.2-mile radius of Much Wenlock – a marathon’s distance!

Products in the hampers include cheese, chutney, meats, infused rapeseed oil, chocolate, beer and wine. All products are selected from HEFF-producer members, and made in compliance with the HEFF Standard, a health and hygiene third party audit.

 HEFF | www.heff.co.uk