How to Start a Catering Service Business from Home with No Money

Are you passionate about cooking or making recipes? Do you want to learn how to start a catering business from home? Do you want to learn how to make money with your cooking skills? Then read on as I share with you in-depth details on how to start a catering business from home with little or no money and write a catering business plan.

Whether you plan to start a small daily catering business or you want to provide huge extravaganzas for a large number of people once a year, the profit margin potential in the catering business is extremely high. Some caterers manage to walk away with 66% of pre-tax profits. That figure may seem hard to believe but when you stop and think about all the ways caterers can keep their overhead low to practically nothing, this figure becomes a more credible figure

                How to Start a Catering Business from Home with Little Money

This article is not targeted at any region or country. The catering business is a profitable business that can be taken advantage of; regardless of your country or locality. With the information I will be providing below, you can start your own catering business in USA, Canada, UK, India, Nigeria and even Ghana. The business metrics of the catering business is universal; the only difference in this business is the currency of the location you are operating in.

       Your Catering Business Plan Template

You can begin your catering service business out of your own home, using a spare bedroom as your office but you will definitely need a license and liability insurance cover. You can use your own kitchen (but be careful about Health Department regulations) or perhaps rent a kitchen in a restaurant, school or church on an as-needed basis. You don’t need to employ any full-time waiters or bartenders etc. There’s a whole army of part-time people out there willing to work when you need them.

   Catering Business Requirements

There are very few items you may need to start a catering business from home that you can’t afford to keep renting them everyday. These include china wares, flatware, glasses, tents, pots, etc. if you are really serious about carving a niche in the catering industry; then you need to acquire these items that are used often. They may become long term assets to your catering service business.

The only immediate cash-outlay you’ll encounter is what’s needed to market your services. You will want to think carefully about what market you want to target and pick your advertising medium to reach that targeted population.

If you are interested in catering for weddings, you may want to contact florists, department store heads, musicians, and people in charge of places that book weddings; and form strategic alliance with them. If corporate entertainment is more to your liking, you may decide to contact the corporations in your area (the chambers of commerce should be able to supply you with area names).

               How to Start a Catering Business from Home with Little Money

The Pros and Cons of starting a catering business from home

Before I go into the intricacies of starting a catering service business from home; I will advice that you conduct your own feasibility study and write a business plan. It’s not advisable to start a business blindly; you will only end up losing your hard earned cash.

           How to market a Catering business from home

When it comes to running a catering service business from home, the most important marketing tool you will need to cultivate is word of mouth. Most brides, corporations, etc are not going to risk embarrassment by trying an unknown caterer. If you are fortunate enough to have a good reputation when you enter the catering business, you will have a good head start. If you are starting entirely from scratch, you need to be really creative in order to get your business going.

A good way to go about marketing your catering business is to invest some capital in throwing a party of your own and invite the decision-makers from various corporations in your area, or the aforementioned florists, department store heads, etc; and give out your business cards to them. These people are not going to risk their equally valuable reputations by recommending an unknown entity; so give them something to remember and to endorse.

Also, especially in the beginning, add that little extra touch to the events you cater for. DON’T CUT CORNERS! Remember, your compensation will not always come in the form of naira, dollars and cents. Your reputation is equally as valuable, perhaps more so in the long run. Remember; that little “extra touch” is often more effective and sometimes cheaper than advertising.

                How to grow your catering business from home

In the catering business, you have an unlimited growth potential. You can buy your own facilities and accoutrements, hire full-time chefs and servers, buy a catering business software, find new catering business supplies, use temperature-controlled holding cabinets and vans or you can rent just about anything you need.

You may decide you want to cut down on the middle-man’s profits by owning the items you find yourself renting on a regular basis: china, flatware, tents. You may want to enhance your recognition factor by designing a business card “signature” for instant recognition. For example, painting your logo on the outside of your delivery van. People will see this logo as the van moves around the city and when it is at the site of an affair you are catering.

          More Tips for Starting a Successful Mobile Catering Business from home

While 70% of the restaurant business is food oriented with the rest going for service, organization, etc; this figure flip-flops to 30% in the catering business, the rest being delivery, transporting the food, lining up rental equipment, juggling personnel. Organization is what counts in the catering business.

You also need to be a “salesman” with a magnetic personality in the catering business. You are going to deal with corporate executives, party planners and nervous brides. You will need to convince your prospective clients that you will not only provide a memorable feast but it will be there on time, presented attractively and served quickly and unobtrusively.

There are a number of sidelines that naturally spring from the catering business. You can act as a coordinator for flowers, party locations or themes. You can be caterer and party planner, caterer and florists, caterer and rental agent. Don’t limit your options. Be creative!

Remember, if people wanted to stick to a set menu; they could go to a restaurant, so be flexible. Make your menu suggestions, just suggestions (a starting point, if you will). Let the client be your guide but don’t miss opportunities to turn a modest “do” into a major profit-making event. Don’t hesitate when you see an opportunity to “bump-up the bottom line of an event. You may be able to turn a barbecue into a Hawaiian luau complete with roast pig.

Make sure that every event is party to remember. Go that extra inch, sometimes it can be a mile and result in mile-high profits. The only restrictions placed on your catering business are those you place there yourself.

Start-up Investment for a Catering Business

• Low -     $1,000 (working from your own kitchen)
• High -    $75,000 (outfitting a professional kitchen)

Estimate of Annual Revenue and Profit for a Catering Business

• Revenue:            $200,000 – $2 million
• Profit (Pre-tax) –               $50,000 – $1 million

Consult a business advisor or consultant for additional information on starting a profitable catering business from home, preparing a business plan, information about licenses, liability insurance, permits, mobile catering business name ideas, the legal structure of your business, taxes, insurance and much more.