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START & RUN A CATERING BUSINESS
Introduction: The Appetizer
1. Entrée: The Ifs and Whys of It
1. Before You Decide to Start a Catering Business
2. Types of Catering
3. What to Expect in Catering
2. How to Become a Caterer
1. Starting Out on Your Own
2. Purchasing an Existing Business
2.1 Buying a business directly
2.2 Buying through a business broker
3. Buying into an Existing Business as a Partner
3. Personal Ingredients
1. Essential Skills and Knowledge
1.1 Cooking and food preparation
1.1a Classes, seminars, and cookbooks
1.1b Cooking and catering software
1.1c Achieving consistency
1.2 Planning and organization
1.3 Efficiency
1.4 Pressure: If you can’t stand the heat
1.5 Crisis management and problem solving
1.6 The artistic touch
1.6a Keep it simple
1.6b Getting ideas
1.6c Decorations and garnishes
1.6d Use attractive serving dishes and utensils
1.6e Collect special props for theme parties
1.7 Dealing with clients
2. Desirable Skills and Knowledge
2.1 Marketing and selling
2.2 Record keeping and bookkeeping
2.3 Staff management
2.3a Good serving staff
2.3b Combating employee theft
2.4 Financing and budgeting
2.5 Dealing with seasonal highs and lows
2.6 The holiday season: Beyond a rolling boil
4. From Gravy Boats To Wheels: Essential Equipment
1. Facilities and Major Equipment. 1.1 Kitchen facilities
1.2 Refrigerators and freezers
1.3 Ranges and hot plates
1.4 Ovens
1.5 Dishwasher
1.6 Holding oven
1.7 Transportation equipment
1.8 Washer and dryer
2. Kitchen Furnishings
3. Other Essential Catering Gear
5. Smaller Equipment
1. Small Appliances
1.1 Food processors
1.2 Mixers
1.3 Microwave ovens
2. Miscellaneous Electric Equipment. 2.1 Coffeemakers
2.2 Electric kettles, heating trays, and crock pots
3. Kitchen Equipment
3.1 Knives
3.2 Cutting boards
3.3 Scales, pots and pans, and strainers
4. Serving Equipment. 4.1 Serving ware
4.2 China, glassware, and linen
4.3 Baskets and other decorative items
5. Essential And Nonessential Tools And Equipment
5.1 Essential kitchen tools
5.2 Nonessential kitchen tools
6. Menu Ingredients
1. Finding and Dealing with Suppliers. 1.1 Retail versus wholesale outlets
1.2 Establishing relationships with suppliers
1.3 Ready-made versus half-ready items
1.4 Buying produce
1.5 Keeping tabs on prices and quality
1.6 Healthy kitchen
2. Food Quality
3. Subcontractors
7. Too Many Cooks
1. Selecting Your Staff
1.1 Part-time or full-time staff
1.2 Presentable, hardworking, and reliable
1.3 Your relationship with your staff
1.4 You make the rules
2. Paying Your Staff
3. How Many Staff?
4. Dress Code
8. Selling the Sizzle
1. Selling Your Product and Services. 1.1 Know your client
1.2 Create a photo portfolio to show clients
1.3 Business cards and menus
1.4 Choose your clients well
2. Responding to Requests
3. Marketing Your Business. 3.1 Identify your market
3.2 Be sensitive to your clients’ needs
3.3 Letters of appreciation and testimonials
4. Pros and Cons of Advertising in the Yellow Pages
5. Client Feedback
6. Competition
7. Economic Downturn
8. Staying In Touch And Getting Help
9. Pricing
1. Deciding How Much to Charge
1.1 What does the competition charge?
1.2 What are your costs?
2. Calculate Your Overhead
3. Preparation Time
4. Number of Guests
5. Perceived Value to the Client
6. Receptions and Buffets
10. Getting the Contract
1. Safeguard against Cancellations
1.1 Always ask for a deposit
1.2 Always confirm the engagement
2. Establish a Refund Policy
11. It Takes More Than a Hot Oven
1. Planning and Organizing an Event
2. Thinking Ahead
3. Checking the Site Beforehand
4. The Supply List
5. The Work Schedule. 5.1 Minimize preparation time
5.2 Organize your equipment
5.3 Coordinate your staff
5.4 Other details
6. Transportation
12. Executing the Event — It’s Show Time!
1. Arrive Well Ahead of the Guests
2. Receptions
2.1 Setting up
2.2 Unloading
2.3 Staff pep talk
2.4 Keep everybody busy
2.5 Hot and cold foods
2.6 Keep small batches circulating
2.7 Replenish some items, ration others
2.8 Clean as you go
2.9 Leftovers
3. Self-Service Meals
4. Full-Service Meals
4.1 Full staff
4.2 Kitchen facilities
4.3 When to take the plate away
5. After the Event
13. Diary of a Caterer
1. Event 1: A Reception. 1.1 The beginning phase: Client-caterer contact
1.2 The middle phase: Planning and organization
1.3 The final phase: Day of the event
2. Event 2: A Full-Service Dinner
2.1 The beginning phase: Client-caterer contact
2.2 The middle phase: Planning and organization
2.3 The final phase: Day of the event
14. The Cookhouse: It’s Not All a Picnic
1. Running a Small Catering Kitchen
2. Recipes
3. Labeling
4. Continuing Your Education
5. Sharpening
6. Kitchen Supplies: Shelf Life
7. Waste Reduction
7.1 Supplies
7.2 Staff
7.3 Space
8. Running A Green Kitchen
8.1 Energy
8.2 Water
8.3 Buying locally
9. Cleanliness and Cleanup
9.1 Avoid contamination
9.2 Staff
9.3 Utensils and equipment
9.4 Work space
10. Health Department Code
15. The Office: No Picnic at All
1. Planning the Office Space
2. Basic Equipment for the Office
3. Bookkeeping and Other Records
3.1 Records
3.2 Records of employee hours worked
3.3 Events and appointments
3.4 Client and event records
3.5 Invoicing events
3.6 Accounts of events
3.7 Notes on past events
3.8 Inquiries and requests
3.9 Paying your bills
4. Monthly Summary
5. Payroll
6. Annual Summary
7. Income Taxes
16. Legality: As Necessary as Dishwashing
1. In the United States
2. In Canada
17. Kitchen Hints for Caterers
1. Spices, Herbs, and Flavorings
2. Onions
3. Breads
4. Legumes
5. Stocks
6. Vegetarian Cooking
7. Using Your Freezer
8. Blanching
9. Browning Meat and Chicken
10. Extra Food
11. Brand-Name or Store-Brand Products
12. Flavoring Foods
13. Defrosting
14. Safe Eggs
15. Wine in Cooking
16. Exotic and Rare Ingredients
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Other Titles in the Start & Run Series
Notice to Readers
Self-Counsel Press thanks you for purchasing this ebook
Contents
Catering: the business of preparing, presenting, and serving great food (and tasting it along the way), then graciously but modestly accepting the compliments at the end of an event. Every guest wants to know who the caterer is and they all take a business card. The reputation of the caterer spreads at once (since word-of-mouth is the best advertisement of all) and the telephone rings all the time. People beg the caterer to reserve dates for them. Sounds like a truly lucrative business.
Is it really that easy? To an outsider who has had no inside contact with the catering business before, this scenario sounds ideal, a perfect way of making a good living while having fun. This is the main reason so many people turn to catering as a possible new business venture, part time or full time.
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Resolve critical issues before a partnership deal is finalized. For instance, define contributions to the partnership (cash, expertise, property) and the percentage of ownership granted to each partner at the inception of the deal. Arrange for a method of obtaining additional funds in the event of operating cash deficits. Define the responsibilities and remuneration for each partner. Also define when and in what order of priority cash will be distributed. Finally, make sure there are adequate provisions for buying out or removing a partner in the event of unexpected problems, if a partner wishes to terminate the venture, or if a partner dies.
Before making the decision to get involved in a business, here are some sobering statistics to consider:
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