Catering is a business that you can set up with very little overhead. There are a few investments you need to make, however, in order to present a professional image to your business prospects. Here’s a list of items you’ll need to pay for to set up your catering business.
Logo Design
Have a professional custom logo design made for your company with an online service. They will discuss your company image with you and work with you to create a design that you can use across all aspects of your business marketing.
Website Creation
Set up a professional-looking website using your new logo to help brand your services to the public. You can set up your website yourself if you have an eye toward design, or invest in a professional web design company to set it up for you. After it’s published, you can either update it yourself or have the web company make updates on your behalf.
Promotional Material Printing
The catering industry hinges on personal connections, so you’ll need to have brochures, menus and business cards printed up with your logo, contact information and services offerings. This will allow you to sit down with your prospects, go through your brochures and menus to discuss your services and their needs and expectations.
Commercial Kitchen Rental
Unless your home kitchen is permitted for commercial use, you’ll need to rent an off-site commercial kitchen. Choose one that is in reasonable proximity to your home, and one that has suitable availability for your style of catering. For example, if you can’t use the kitchen on weekends and you cater for weddings, that particular kitchen won’t work for your needs.
Uniform Rental
You can dress your staff with rental uniforms in most situations. You can rent almost any color that coordinates with your company color palette so that it doesn’t appear that you rented the uniform. Accent the rental uniforms with name tags or aprons that have your company logo on them so that your client and their guests can easily identify your catering employees.
Vehicle
You’ll need some type of company vehicle that can accommodate multiple trays and bins of food. If you have a large SUV or van, there are companies that can outfit your existing vehicle with specialized racks that are perfect for sliding trays of food in and out. You can buy customized magnetic signs online to attach to your vehicle which identify it as a catering business truck. These signs can be easily removed without damaging the finish when you’re not using your vehicle for business.
Be sure to register your business in your local town, and acquire the necessary permits to operate a food service business. Once you have these tasks taken care of, you can begin soliciting customers for your new catering business.