How to Start A Catering Business from Home: A Step by Step Guide

Catering business from home has become a popular start-up idea these days.

A home-based catering business doesn’t require that much investment like a restaurant. That’s why it’s becoming popular among entrepreneurs who are looking for a cost-effective and lowinvestmentoption to start theirbusiness.

The food industry is the largestmanufacturing sectorin the UK, which is worth £28.2 billion peryear. The catering industry is a specific part of this huge market and its contribution was £4.7 billion in 2017 which was expected to exceed £5 billion in 2020. This statistics exhibits how lucrative the

catering marketis to make a start-up in this industry.

If you excel the cooking skills and love to make delicious food for others, starting yourown catering business from home could be a good business idea for you. All you need with this is just an

entrepreneurial spirit and a complete guideline to kickstart your catering business. In this article, I’m

going to walk you through a step by step guide so thatyou can make yourwayinto the catering industry and start your business from home. Now let’s dive right in.

Every business needs a proper strategy and a concrete business plan to succeed. A catering

business isn’t an exception to this. You need to follow the right course of action to start your

business. Here are the ten steps foryou.

Market research is an integral part of a business plan and you need to do this before launching your venture. You have to conduct thorough market research to set up your strategies to get into the

market and sustain your business. So, before starting your catering business from home,

understand the market trend and demand for catering service in your area. Also, find

out the competitors in your area. Study them thoroughly and find outtheirstrengths and weaknesses. Then plan forexceeding theirstrengths and avoiding theirweaknesses to make a foolproofbusiness plan.

You can

study your competitors in many ways. Check out their menus, their foods and services, pricing and what type of customers they’re serving. You can take their services to understand the things on your own rather than only relying on information from other sources. Also, follow social media and forums where people gossip aboutfoods. You’ll gain an insightinto the customer’s needs and desires in such ways After doing so, document all your findings and analyze the pros and cons ofyourcatering business from home and proceed further.

Once you’re done with

your market research, the next step is to identify and map your potential customers. The catering market is broad and has different types of customers. They have different needs and demands from the catering business. You need to understand their demands and determine who you can serve the best and meetall theirneeds. It’s notunusual thateveryone won’t

be your customers and you can’t meet everyone’s demands. Therefore, you should find yourtarget customers and setyourbusiness plan surrounding them.

It is important to determine the niche

for your home-based catering business. There are several niches in the catering business and itis wise to workin a specificniche. You can’tcoverall the niche as a start-up and it wouldn’t be a good idea to work in multiple niches at the beginning of your business unless you have the capacity to do this. So measure your capacity and choose the right niche foryourbusiness. You can choose anyone according to yourcapacity, which includes:

Wedding parties

Birthdayparties and Anniversaries

Corporate events

Picnics

Holidayevents

Festivals and Sports

Regularlunch meals to corporate offices and workplaces.

These are the broader niches you can work in as a small caterer. However, you can furthernarrow down your services within your niche. For example, if you’re good at cake baking and decoration, you can limit your service to only preparing and supplying amazing cakes for birthday parties and anniversaries, rather than taking the charge of supplying all the foods for the events. It’s always better to master one thing ratherthan working with multiple things. Ithelps you make a brand ofyour own.

The next step is naming your catering business. A business must have a name so people can

recognize it. The name

is the most vital element for creating a brand. Because people will know aboutyourbusiness and call itbyits name. No matteryou’re going to operate yourcatering business from home, it must have a name. It is important not only for branding but also for meeting the legal obligations. So, choose a nice and relevantname foryourbusiness.

While naming your business, keep it short and engaging. Try to give a name within one word so people can call and rememberiteasily. Choose an exceptional name and neverchoose a name that is taken byanotherbusiness.

No matter how skilled you’re in cooking, you need to have certain qualifications to sell food publicly in the UK. It’s a legal and moral obligation to serve foods that are safe to consume. So, the law

requires you to have a clear understanding of food hygiene and safety procedures, and HACCP

principles. Also, you and your staff need to have obligations forthe catering business. Level 2 food safety qualifications to meet legal

Food safety qualifications aren’t only required for meeting the legislation. Theyhelp you understand the importance of food safety and implement a plan to prepare and serve safe foods to customers. This is importantforyourbrand value and becoming successful in the food industry. your

Though you’re going to start a catering business from home, you need to setup a dedicated kitchen for it. Because catering services require industrial equipment which is more complexand expensive than those for a regular home kitchen. You’ll be preparing a way more amount of food than your family needs. So, you’ll need a kitchen large enough to accommodate all the equipmentand kitchen appliances. You can modify your home kitchen if it is large enough or set up a new kitchen within yourhome orpremises.

After setting up all of these mentioned above, nowyou have to getyourlicenses and permits to start your catering business. In the UK, you need to applyforfood business registration before atleast28 days of the opening of your business. You can applythrough the governmentwebsite. Rememberit is mandatory to have the registration before selling food to the public. You will be punished and face legal actions ifyou don’thave the permission.

Apart from this, you need a food hygiene rating to run your catering business smoothly. A five-star food hygiene rating will create credibility and trust in your business among your customers. So

consult the local Environmental Health Officer (EHO) of your area and ask for inspecting

your kitchen. Do this before opening your business. This will help you identify any flaws within the food safety management system comply with the food safety laws. Also, this will help you avoid legal hassles in the future and run yourbusiness withoutanycomplexities.

Once you’re done with yourlicenses and permits, you’re almostsetto launch yourcatering business from home. Butyou have to create yourmenu and setyourprices before opening yourbusiness. So, create a menu covering the in-demand foods within your niche. It would be better if you could

introduce a signature item of yours on the menu. This will help you in branding and boost your

business ifyourcustomerloves the item

Apart from creating the menu, focus on competitive pricing for your foods. Know your competitors and theirpricing and setyourprices according to the markettrend.

Since you’re going to

customers. So, decide run a home-based

the system of food

catering business, you have to deliver your food to the

delivery before launching your business. As a start-up, it

wouldn’t be possible to hire your own delivery staffs. However,

there are a lot of online food delivery services who will deliver your foods to the customers for some commissions. So, get into a partnership with such a food delivery service and decide the terms and conditions of the agreement clearly.

The final step is to market your business so the customers know about your business. Marketing is essential for any start-up to reach out the potential customers. So, set up your marketing plan and act accordingly. You can set up a website of your business and leverage the powerofsocial media to promote your business. Also, you can communicate directly with your potential corporate clients and offeryourservices.

Lastly, never forget the old school method of marketing, the “word of mouth”. Word of mouth is the best way for marketing, especially in the food industry. People will rely on other people’s feedback and reviews to decide whethertheywill buyfood from you ornot. So, give yourbestpossible service to satisfy your customers and they will spread positive feedback about your business, and soon

you’ll have newcustomers.

Now that you’ve gone through the article, you’ve learned about the steps

for starting a catering business from home. Hope you’ll find it helpful and be able to startcatering yourbusiness soon and become successful in this sector.

Read this blog on the website to find more. Visithere https://www.trainingexpress.org.uk/catering-business-from-home/