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As catering is a multi-billion dollar industry, and is one of the fastest growing food service segments in the U.S., this means the industry has a big market for new entrepreneurs. Take heart though, this statistic also means a lot of people are already in the business.

So my advice for someone who is just starting out in this very competitive but potentially lucrative field is to find out your niche market first and FOCUS.

Here are a couple of questions you need to do seriously consider before you even step into your kitchen to see if you've got enough space. After all, you need enough space for what? Without deciding on these questions, you won't know what sort of preparation you will need to do in terms of the kitchen and hiring of additional help.

* WHO IS YOUR MARKET? Are you offering:
o Full-service home catering (includes chairs, tables, glassware, the works)
o Corporate catering (buffet, formal dinner, cocktail party)
o Custom events catering (children, ethnic, etc.)

* WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF EVENTS you want to cater?
o Informal home gatherings (Birthdays, Graduation)
o Anniversaries, Weddings
o Corporate Dinner & Dance
o Etc.

After you've decided on who your initial target market is, you'll need to look at the following:

* To BUY or to RENT?
(Equipment and supplies you need for your catering business)
* FIND WHOLESALE food suppliers
* SET YOUR prices (learn how to prepare estimates, especially in dealing with
potential food price fluctuations)
* FOR BIG EVENTS you must have a catering contract (getting deposits, covering
for cancellations and erroneous estimates by clients)

This should be enough to get you started but you definitely should look into more information, both in terms of your market as well as the operations side (logistics) of the business.

Learn more about this author, The Yellow Labrador.
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