Catering Supplies  |  Catering Equipment

Developing a Business Plan for your Catering Company
Location Location Location
Infrastructure
Shopping for Catering Supplies
Shopping for Raw Foods and other Regularly Consumed Products
Recruiting Professionals for your Catering Company
Developing a Marketing Plan for your Catering Company
Financing your Catering Business
Incubator Programs
Non US Banks located in your city
Conclusion
About Catering Supplies Depot

There is an ancient Chinese saying, which says that as long as you provide service to your brothers and sisters in three areas—food, clothing and shelter, you will never go hungry and the Gods will always be pleased with you. While the sentiment behind this homily is fairly obvious and leaves nothing to our imagination, any type of a business start-up does not happen naturally. There is plenty of effort that needs to be put in especially in areas such as site selection, market viability, feasibility research, logistics, infrastructure and many other factors which may seem minor but do play a critical role. Financing a start-up is an entirely different ball game on to itself.

This white paper attempts to translate the complexities of a catering business into practical steps and shows you how you can become a successful caterer in less time than you think. Granted that owning your own catering company and performing just about every single task associated with the enterprise—from taking your catering truck for a tune up to ordering catering supplies so that you never run out of stock, are functions you will perform first before you are successful enough to delegate them to others. In the final analysis, however, consistent exposure to each and every aspect of the business operation is your first lesson in successful entrepreneurship. Once you have taken the decision to join the ranks of the catering profession, there shouldn’t really be any introspection regarding it because the catering business is not only capital intensive, it requires and in fact demands exceptional levels of hard work and single minded focus.

Developing a Business Plan for your Catering Company
If you haven’t written a business plan before, this should not be the first time to do so because much rests on how well you perform during the pre-launch state in areas such as obtaining financing, receiving approval for a credit line, negotiating a lease and even obtaining a business license in a few jurisdictions. In the US, the food service industry is a licensed industry and you will need to apply for licenses and permits even before you get started. Gather all the necessary data based on the recommendations we have provided here and assign the task of writing your catering business plan to an experienced business plan writer. Your local library, business incubator department if your community has one, or the Small Business Administration office closest to you can help you coordinate with a qualified business plan writer. Factors to consider and finalize before your first appointment with a business plan writer are as follows:

Location Location Location
Although you are not opening a brick-and-mortar store, the geographical region you will serve initially in your city or county will have to be pre-determined. There are several reasons for this. First, you have to ensure that the catering services market in that community isn’t saturated. Establish this by looking in your local yellow pages under caterers and conducting research on the Internet for caterers in your chosen community with the help of your local reference librarian. If there are only three or four caterers in the community, chances are that you will be able to manage the competition without any difficulty. On the other hand, if the community you have chosen to target is small and has twenty-five active caterers, it is time to reconsider and look for greener pastures. Your choice of location will also determine to whom you apply for permits and licenses.

Infrastructure
Most jurisdictions will not allow you to run a catering business from home due to zoning laws, fire safety issues and concerns arising out of general sanitation. Therefore, it is a good idea to look for a really low rent industrial park that happens to be safe and adequately protected by law enforcement. Although you will have little if any walk in business, the safety of your employees and your personal security should be of paramount concern to you. Look for commercial property to lease that may have been a catering facility or food production center before. That way, you will be able to save valuable financial resource in the area of code compliance, renovation and retrofitting. Also check in advance to make sure that the building you are planning to lease is eligible for 24X7 coverage by alarm companies.

Shopping for Catering Supplies
If you have no experience in the catering business, all isn’t really lost. Companies with many years of experience have qualified personnel on their sales force and management who will be more than happy to work out a budget for you based on how big you wish to start. We recommend that you start out small, take on relatively low count parties and catering events, and grow gradually. It is best to make all your mistakes when you are a fledgling organization. You will have relatively less at stake during your teething months. The list of catering supplies is very long and listing them is beyond the scope of this white paper. However, a quick scan of the product pages of a catering supplies catalog or a catering products website should give you a fair idea about how many items you will need to purchase initially and in what quantities.

Shopping for Raw Foods and other Regularly Consumed Products
The best way to shop cost effectively for produce, meats, food supplies and other related products when launching your own catering business is by locating a farmer’s market in or near your community and working closely with the head of the farmer’s market association. These are mostly humble and yet highly experienced professionals who know the food supplies industry extremely well and can save you thousands of dollars by connecting you with the right vendors. Offer to pay a small consulting fee for his or her services.

Recruiting Professionals for your Catering Company
Although this might just sound like an opinion from a contrarian, it is well worth the consideration: If you do not have any experience in the catering business, hire someone who does. Just being passionate isn’t enough. This may well cost you a ton of resources by way of a salary and a few benefits. However, in the long run, it is well worth the expense because there are no second chances in the food service industry. Moreover, this industry is governed by innumerable federal, state and local statutes and legal compliance is critical which is why you should recruit someone with an operations background at least two or three years of experience. Seek his or her advice and guidance to hire your chef and support personal. You are paying for it. A small team of three or five committed professionals, a warehouse full of catering supplies, a well-equipped production area, a brightly painted catering truck with your logo emblazoned on it, and you are just about set to cut the proverbial ribbon!

Developing a Marketing Plan for your Catering Company
Even the two major soft drink giants continuously promote their brands the world over in spite of the fact that just about everyone knows who they are. Marketing and promotion are key to the success of any business, especially if your company happens to be a start-up. Your marketing plan should remain community focused because the catering industry is very community-centric. Start out by advertising in your local coupon booklets such as ValPak booklets, Sunday shopping supplements and the Neighborhood newspapers. If you are able to, budget for a thousand door hangers and pay a few school kids to distribute them in your community. Offering to print an announcement for your local school system in exchange for a few inches of sponsorship space can be a very economical way of getting the word out.

Also, consider sponsoring local church groups, glee clubs, events organized by your local Rotary, Lion’s and Kiwanis clubs and other civic groups. Do not go by what they ask you to pay. Rather, go by what you can afford. Working closely with your local flower shops and churches and obtaining customer leads in exchange for a small referral fee can generate a reasonable amount of the wedding catering business. This is where your experienced and well-trained team will come in handy as outlined earlier in this white paper. Wedding catering is a rather specialized sub-set of the catering business and happens to be extremely lucrative if you are able to build a positive reputation in your community. We recommend that you not consider advertising in your local electronic media initially unless you land a killer deal because electronic media advertising is traditionally known to be quite expensive with negligible ROI at times.

Financing your Catering Business
In order for you to lease the space, purchase the catering supplies, pay for reliable transportation, acquire the commercial kitchen equipment and pay for operational expenses, you will need to make a sizeable investment in your catering business. The fact that we are addressing this issue last in our white paper on the subject is in no way meant to underplay its importance. On the contrary, no project can be taken to any level of finality without making adequate room for the financial support it demands. There are some traditional answers to business financing—banks, family resources, unsecured debt, personal line of credit etc. These are excellent avenues to explore. However, there are a few others you should consider:

Incubator Programs
Contrary to popular belief, not all incubator programs extend support only to hi tech propositions. Check with your state and local information service centers or your local reference librarian for information on this subject. For information about Federal programs, pay a visit to your local Congressman or Senator’s office, the Small Business Administration, and call the Federal Information Center on their 800 number which you can obtain from directory assistance.

Non US Banks located in your city
The general perception is that non-US banks with branches in the United States do not make business loans in their local communities. This is not really true. Although this type of information may not be available in an organized fashion which may be good for you as it is sure to reduce competition levels, a few trips to banks in your city with strange sounding names may well be worth the effort. Please arrive for your appointment fully armed with extra copies of all your documents such as licenses, permits, business plan, marketing plan and any other documents you can show to support your start-up venture.

Conclusion
As this white paper attempts to demonstrate, starting and operating a small business, and more importantly, sustaining it, is always an uphill task regardless of the industry vertical or segment you choose. As they say, if it was that easy, there would be no employees. However, with the right type of business intelligence, expert guidance and financing under your belt, you stand a much brighter chance of success performance statistics not withstanding.

About Catering Supplies Depot
Catering Supplies Depot provides a full range of brand name commercial kitchen equipment including all types of catering supplies and catering equipment, commercial restaurant equipment and kitchen supplies. We carry all the top brands, provide courteous customer service and deliver nationwide in the US and Canada. To learn more you can call Catering Supplies Depot toll free at 1-866-613-2632, or you can write to us at customerservice@cateringsuppliesdepot.com. Visit: http://www.cateringsuppliesdepot.com for the most exclusive range of restaurant equipment, restaurant supplies and commercial kitchen equipment on the Internet.