Starting a catering business from home is a good idea for those who love to do cooking and want to earn something out of their talent. A home-based catering business seems profitable, but it needs a lot of efforts to make it a successful venture.
Initially, running the business will be a very smooth experience as there is no money involved or very low investment is there. You just need to rent out some required equipment along with the packing material to start a catering business from home. But, the problem arises when by the time, your business starts expanding. As your business becomes big, you need to consider various things in order to deliver the same services to your clients.
Here, the need arises to relocate your home-based catering business into a shop or café or restaurant. This guide will help you with the steps to relocate your home-based catering business.
Action Plan
The foremost step is to prepare a business plan where you need to write everything in detail. A detailed action plan will help you in relocating your business easily. It will guide you on every step. It may contain information like your business concept, type of restaurants such as family dine-in, a café, snacks shop or catering. You can have more details about the budget, financing, expected rent, bills, salaries of staff, expected orders and expected revenue. You need to work out the profit as well after taking fixed and variable expenses into the account. Your plan should contain all information about your staff, their reporting, duties and working too.
Location
The next step is to find a perfect location for your catering business as demographic plays a very important role in the success of any venture. Therefore, choosing a location for your business requires extensive market research. You need to check where your competitors are located, what is your niche, what is your targeted audience, your budget, surroundings of the area where you want to relocate your venture. An area close to transport links, located within easy reach of the market so that people can come and visit, enough space for parking and spacious restaurant always works well.
Catering Equipment
Look out for professional catering supplies and kitchenware suppliers for purchasing all necessary commercial kitchen equipment. Make a list of all essential equipment without which you cannot carry out the operations smoothly. You will need tables, chairs, crockery, cutlery, utensils, linens, shelves, racks to store food, containers, signboards, stationery, sanitary items to name a few. Your commercial kitchen requirements will depend on the type of food you are serving to the guests, but few items such as refrigerator, microwaves, ovens, tableware and glassware are needed by every catering business. Check out for the suppliers who can provide you with quick delivery at your doorstep.
Menu and Management
Now that you have finalized everything, create a menu for your restaurant. Whether you want to offer Indian cuisine or Italian or Chinese or Mughlai to your guests. What drinks and desserts will be there? Do not go for open-ended options, create a specific menu for all food items as now it is no more a home-based catering business, it is a full-fledged restaurant. According to the menu, you need to hire the management and staff including the chef for your restaurant. There are several categories of staff in the catering business namely restaurant manager, dishwashers, cleaners, bartenders, and waiters. You need to hire employees for your restaurant according to your work.
Catering License
Obtaining all required permits, licenses and registrations are essential in order to run a smooth business. Complying with the law is a must. While relocating your business, it is essential for you to first check out all the legal documentation required and all necessary licenses needed for starting a restaurant business. These taxes and licenses may include food license, service tax, VAT, fire insurance, any other laws pertaining to the state where your business is located. Get all documents and approvals in hand before starting the business.
Marketing and Advertising
Till now, you have a small home-based catering business, but, now it is a big restaurant where you have invested a large chunk of your investment from setting up to completing all paperwork. Therefore, you need to spend a portion of your budget on marketing as well in order to make people aware of your venture. You need to reach out to the audience for increasing your revenue. Advertising can be done by means of social media, print media, and digital media.
