Expanding the Business
After having worked on a small scale catering business, perhaps from your home (you need to check with your local council that this is legal), you may find you want to move into a commercial kitchen with a retail business. Here you can offer not only catering but a gourmet takeaway service and/or gourmet frozen dinners.
Before you venture out into large capital investment I would recommend doing some homework. First, look at your own finances. Has the catering business so far been or shown the potential to be, lucrative enough to support the overhead that a commercial kitchen and a store would demand? Could you afford to run in the red for the first year? Is there a market and potential for such a store at the location you have chosen?
Investigate other caterers in other cities who have done what you are considering doing. Evaluate the reasons for their success. You might wish to phone one of them (preferably in another city to give you advice).
Finally, I would suggest that you evaluate the personal costs of being tied into a pressured, full-time catering business. From my experience, the risks of being totally involved in a business are often more profound than just monetary pressures. If the stress of an at-home business has been great, the stress of meeting large monthly bills will be even greater on you and your family.
Start and grow your own food business
To start and grow your own food business is hard work and not without risks, but it is also an exciting and satisfying challenge and can give you a good income, providing you are prepared to invest a lot of time and energy into making it successful.
You are (or will be) investing a lot of time and money into your new food venture, so for your business success, it is vital for you to gain as much hospitality and business management knowledge as you can.
Want to know more? For a very low investment why not download copies of:
‘How to Keep With the Law’ eGuide and
‘How to Cook for Cash – Ideas’ eGuide
essential knowledge and ways to start and grow your own food business.
