Starting a Catering Business

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What You Need to Start a Catering Business continued

- storage space for your food preparation supplies
- storage space for your serving supplies
- plates and silverware and cups and napkins and toothpicks for hors d'oeuvres
- portable heaters and serving trays and serving utensils
- a way to get all your supplies to and from the party (how big is the trunk of your car, really?)

- table cloths and trivets for hot items
- tables and chairs (not for all events, and you can rent these easily)
- coolers to keep prepared foods warm or cold
- lots of counter space to prepare foods
- possibly an extra refrigerator and an extra freezer
- a food prep area that meets local Health Department standards, and hopefully has passed an inspection (you can rent a space if yours doesn't cut it)
- at least one good helper. Two or more is better. Have an extra helper in case someone flakes out.
- workers' compensation insurance (but only for full-time employees). Make sure all hires understand they are contract workers only.
- decorations and other tools to make your food presentation look extra nice
- a way to schedule your events and your pre-party consultations
- a way to bill or charge your clients
- a services agreement that each client signs so you and the client can be crystal-clear about what they expect of you
- food service or food prep experience. Ideally you will also have some event planning experience. Go get a job for this before you spend $5,000 or your own money.
- at least a dozen recipes/dishes that are unbelievably good. If you have to hire a local chef to create an amazing menu for you, fine. It will be worth the price.
- membership in a catering business organization. This will give your credibility, and access to terrific insider information.

That's just a starter list, but it covers most of what you'll need. The good news is that a lot of the equipment you'll need can be rented. And you can actually rent a kitchen to use, instead of spending thousands of dollars renovating your own kitchen. After a year of catering, then consider making changes to your own kitchen. Most caterers who know what they are doing and have the discipline to be frugal can make the necessary changes to their kitchens for less than $5,000, but some have business that are big enough that it takes $15,000 or $20,000 to give them the workroom they need.

Before you go renovating your home kitchen, or even before you start working in it at all, you need to consider how you've been using the kitchen before you started the catering business. Is your family going to be okay with you taking over the kitchen for several days a week? Can they understand and respect it when you have prepared foods on the counter that it is not okay to take samples? All this has to be worked out in advance if your home kitchen is going to become home to a successful business.