If your holiday treats and birthday bashes are so outstanding that your friends and family are gushing about them, it's a sure sign that you could have what it takes to be a caterer. Many people need caterers, and great food never goes out of style. Cooking well is just one of the skills you need to succeed in this business.

People need caterers for many reasons. Weddings, family reunions, meetings, backstage Broadway and Hollywood are just a few of the events that have possibilities. Catering also has some niches that have great potential. Personal chefs, mobile catering trucks and travel-related catering are great markets to consider.

• The first step for people going into any business, including catering, is to assess their skills.SBA: Small Business Administration - Assessment Tool Since catering also requires business management skills, you will also need to consider whether you have any significant skills gaps in this important area.

• Knowing what to cook depends on the event and on the niche that you choose for your business. Make an honest assessment of your cooking skills.

1. Compare your current cooking range with the food that you have eaten at some catered events.
2. Make a list of the dishes that you make most often. Are you most comfortable with desserts, simple comfort foods or elegant, complex dishes?
3. If you use recipes, you must be able to convert family-size recipes to food service proportions. School cafeterias and the USDA can offer pointers on their recipe conversion systems. Ole Miss: Measuring Success
4. Think about recipe revisions that you will need to make for catering, including but not limited to:
   • • - Providing a margin for errors and mishaps
     • - Using higher quality ingredients
     • - Planning garnishments for presentation
5. Enroll in a cooking class if you identify any cooking skill gaps that you need to correct. Food Reference: Cooking Schools

• To be a successful caterer, you must master accounting skills, supervisory skills, planning and logistics, marketing, budgeting and customer service.

1. Review your previous work and volunteer experience.
   1. Do you already have management, public relations, budgeting and recordkeeping skills?
   2. Do you enjoy using these skills or do you dread balancing your checkbook?
2. Take one of the Small Business Administration's many free online business management courses.SBA: SBA Free Online Courses
3. Larger cities also have business development centers that provide business advice.SBA: SBDC Locator Ask about services for start ups.

• Many caterers specialize in a niche that suits their cooking skills and their initial client contacts. Most large grocery stores now offer prepackaged food trays, from wings to vegetables and dip. To compete successfully, you will need a hook or unique selling proposition that makes your catering service more convenient, cheaper or tastier than self-catered options. Management Help: Unique Selling Proposition

1. Survey the competition in your service area. Marketing-Intelligence: Competitor Analysis - A Brief Guide
   1. Start by checking the listings in your local phone book.Working Solo: Six Ways to Test Your Business Idea Take note of any catering businesses with large ads.
   2. Remember to check for restaurants that deliver meals.
2. Complete a Competitor Analysis Worksheet for each catering service in your market area.Entrepreneur: Competitor Analysis Worksheet
3. Read hospitality and restaurant trade magazines online. Look for tips, tools and trends. Entrepreneur: Free Trade Magazines
4. Subscribe to a few and stay abreast of industry innovators and leaders, new businesses and those that fail or move.

1. Inquire at your local Chamber of Commerce about scheduled association meetings, business conventions and festivals. Business Finance: Chambers of Commerce
   1. Request brochures and study them.
   2. Contact the sponsors and organizers about their past and future catering needs.
   3. Talk to event planners and wedding consultants about their clients' catering needs. Entrepreneur: Business Idea Center: Catering Service
   4. Ask them about specific problems that they have had with catering services.
   5. Make note of how your catering business might provide solutions that create a niche opportunity.
2. Brainstorm to identify an unserved or underserved niche in your target market. Virginia Tech: Your Product and Market
   1. Research business and consumer catering niches.Entrepreneur: Olivier Cheng Catering and Events
   2. Think about catering services that meet people's needs in a different way:
      1. Personal chefs Entrepreneur: Business Idea Center: Personal Chef Service
      2. Mobile catering trucks Entrepreneur: Business Idea Center: Catering Truck
   3. Look for ways to combine services for your target market.
      • Remember that the advent of the automobile combined with family entertainment gave us the drive-in movies.
   4. Does organic food and catering create a niche with a growing market segment in your area? Entrepreneur: Organic Foods on the Rise
   5. Identify new or unique opportunities like box lunches for harried schoolteachers and administrators or snack packs for after school programs. Entrepreneur: Good Food Delivered

• Of course, you will need a business license, but that is only the beginning. The federal government, your state and possibly your local government all have regulations that you must follow.

1. Read the FDA guidelines for food security. FDA: Food Safety
2. Before you open for business, learn recommended food storage, food preparation equipment and procedures and food handling practices. Virginia Tech: Food Safety
3. Check which agency regulates food and food businesses in your state Government Business: Permit Me: Licenses and Permits
   • • - In most cases, it will be the Department of Agriculture.
     • - Your city or town may have zoning laws that apply to your catering business, whether it is home-based or has a brick and mortar location. Bank Rate: Starting a Business? State and Local Resources
4. Select a company name and get your business licenses and permits. Government Business: Guides: Company Name
5. To protect your personal assets, consider incorporating your business. You will also get important tax benefits.
6. Contact your Secretary of State's office to get information about business structures and incorporation procedures. Government Business: State and Local Resources
7. Consult the Secretary of State about insurance requirements in your state.
8. Get business insurance prices from a reputable broker. SBA: Small Business Administration - Get Insurance
9. Get your employer I.D. number from the IRS, even if you are going to be the only regularly paid employee. Toolkit: IRS EIN You'll get it faster by calling the IRS than by sending in the form.
10. Review federal hiring, wage and safety regulations including immigrant and disabled employee requirements. Government Business: Employment Guides

• Take time to map out important aspects of your catering business. You do not necessarily have to write a formal, eighty-page business plan. However, it will help greatly to answer questions about your approach, if only for your own good. This information will help you determine if operating a catering service is feasible for you.

1. Draft a mini-plan to describe your business.My Own Business: Business Plan Checklist
   1. Define the legal structure that you will use. Tanned Feet: Choice of Entity Choices include LLC, sole proprietorship, or incorporation.
   2. List all the services that you intend to offer. Virginia Tech: [http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/homebus/354-305/354-305.html#L5 Your Product and Market
   3. List your goals and objectives.
   4. Provide details about your office location and facilities. SCORE: Location, Location, Location
   5. Make staffing projections.
   6. Identify bulk food suppliers for your catering ingredients. Food Service Direct: Bulk Food Suppliers
   7. Specify your target customers' needs. Describe the size, location and characteristics of your target market. Toolkit: Who Is Your Target Buyer?
   8. Contact churches and social services about renting their commercial food preparation facilities. Virginia Tech: Start-Up Costs
   9. Create your sales and marketing plans including your website, if you plan to have one. Toolkit: Marketing Your Product
   10. Draft a budget for them too. SCORE: Setting a Marketing Budget Pasted
   11. Prepare a cash flow estimate for startup costs and operating expenses. Include taxes, licenses, insurance, payroll and professional services that you may need. Toolkit: Cash Flow Worksheet
2. Estimate how much to charge for your services and products.
   1. Establish your pricing strategy. Virginia Tech: Pricing for Profit
   2. Review your competitors' pricing. Entrepreneur: Competitor Analysis Worksheet
   3. Calculate your profit plus expenses to set prices.

• Advertise your services and solicit customers. Set up a marketing calendar and schedule for promotions. SCORE: How to Get Free Publicity for Your Small Business Remember to pinpoint campaign start dates for holidays and special occasions like graduation season. Consider online and offline marketing options, depending on your target customer. SME Toolkit: Find Your Highest Potential Customers

1. Ask your family and friends to post flyers and distribute your business cards at work, school and other non-competing local businesses that they visit like the dry cleaners and florists. Yenom Marketing: How To Start Your Own Highly Profitable Catering Service
2. Impress your potential clients with your skills and tasty food by setting up a sampling event in a local mall or other busy location. SBA: 100+ Marketing Ideas
   1. Advertise it in local publications to generate publicity and possibly clients.
   2. Write a press release about your sampling event and services. SME Toolkit: Write a Successful Press Release
   3. Submit it to local media. SCORE: 60-Second Guide to Generating Publicity for Your Business Include contact information and mention any discounts.
   4. Prepare sample menus and customer contracts. Virginia Tech: Developing a Creative Menu for Special Events
3. Once you get a few clients, consider offering them repeat customer discounts and a reward for referrals. SCORE: 5 Tips for Building Your Referral Business
4. Poll your clients to get suggestions about improving your customer service, your products and your menu. SME Toolkit: How to Learn Your Prospect's Needs
5. Use bulk mailings if you think they are appropriate for your market. Tanned Feet Tips For A Successful Direct Mail Campaign
6. Network with other business owners. SBA: 100+ Marketing Ideas Consider joining your Chamber of Commerce and organizations that can help you learn, network, and promote your business. Business Finance: Chambers of Commerce
7. Develop an online marketing strategy. Toolkit: Internet Marketing for Your Business
   1. Take advantage of free promotion opportunities by listing your business in Windows Live, Google Local and Yahoo Local. Web Design From Scratch: 10 Free Ways to Promote a Business Online
   2. Get back links to your site from targeted hospitality, wedding and event planning sites. Entrepreneur: Business Idea Center: Catering Service
   3. Place links to your website in online business directories to increase your visibility.Local Catering: Local Catering Directory
8. Review your marketing results and repeat the most productive activities on a regular schedule.

• Setup your Operations Plan and implement it. B Plans: Annual Operations Plan for Managing Your Business It will help you assess the health of your catering business and predict its growth. Review and revise it annually. At the end of the first year of operating your catering business, use your actual experience to develop a five-year operations plan.

1. Consider your family responsibilities and other time constraints when you make schedules for providing catering services and running the business. If you cannot make a full time commitment initially, make schedules that fit your available time.

2. List recurring and one-time activities for every month during the year. All Business: Create Your Small Business Operations Manual

3. Develop customer service and Customer Relationship Management systems. Entrepreneur: Building Repeat Business from Day 1

1. Estimate earnings and profit based on predictable sales volume increases and decreases.
2. Identify your funding needs and the sources that you intend to use. SCORE: The Best Ways to Finance Your Business
3. List start-up and operating expenses and the approximate dates for using your personal funds, credit cards and loans from family and friends. Business Knowhow: Start-Up Cost Calculator
   1. Schedule anticipated purchases for work equipment and uniforms.
   2. Include routine catering supplies, inventory and expenses like fuel.
4. If you plan to apply for bank or government loans, plan the application lead-time and the loan effective dates, if successful.

1. Setup a system to record and reconcile accounts payable, accounts receivables, operating funds, daily expenses, petty cash and other regular expenses. Toolkit: Managing Your Business Finances

2. Use a general ledger from an office supply store if you don't have computer skills.

3. File receipts promptly, even if you intend to outsource your accounting to a professional.

4. Setup reminders for paying quarterly income tax and self employment tax, along with your annual tax return.

1. Plan and budget legal consultations. SME: Toolkit How to Choose and Work with an Attorney

2. Put your state annual operating reports, tax and license renewal dates on your schedule.

1. Create job descriptions, wage and benefit policies, recruitment and training plans and schedules. Toolkit: Job Descriptions

2. Draft an employee handbook if you plan to have a large staff. SBA: Plain English Guide to Employee Handbooks

3. Identify contract staff options and sources if you prefer to start out with no employees. SBA: Employees vs. Contractors - What's The Difference?

4. Setup or outsource payroll functions. DOL: Wages and Hours Worked: Recordkeeping

1. Identify your office space needs, furnishings and supplies. Toolkit: Your Office and Equipment

2. Setup a business phone line.SME Toolkit: Basic Computer and Communication Tools Get a memorable phone number, if one is available.

3. Draft business communications tools (business cards, letterhead, brochures and website).

1. Create an information management plan for all business records, including management and employee roles and responsibilities. SCORE: Protect Your Small Business's Data

2. Draft email and Internet usage policies. SME Toolkit: Internet Usage Policy

3. Outline disaster recovery and business continuation plans. SCORE: 60-Second Guide to Planning for Disaster Recovery

Planning is the key ingredient for a successful catering business. As you write down the steps to take and the resources that you need, you will be able to anticipate most of the challenges that your business faces. Your business plan will also help you identify your niche, market your services and move smoothly through all the management aspects of your catering services. Once you have taken care of the planning, you can look forward to serving great food and watching your customers enjoying it.