by ARC IDEA CO

Created on: July 19, 2007   Last Updated: May 02, 2009

Starting a home catering business can be a very challenging task. It does not necessary mean that you must possessed superb cooking skills with knowledge of more than hundreds of dishes in order to do well in catering business. However, how well the food is prepared may be a core requirement in order for you to succeed in starting up a catering business. In actual fact, I would incline to believe that it takes more than just cooking good dishes. A systematic and effective management of business is the most important of all in this line of business.

Why is management of business more important than the food?

Although food is the core requirement of this business, operation workflow must not be neglected. You are not opening a restaurant where people come to you and all you need to do is secure the order and deliver the foods. It is therefore different in catering business as such business is expected to deliver and having them set up. So that makes planning, management, logistic readiness, publicity and quality service the five most critical success factors.

In order for a catering business to take off, the following are some points to note when starting up a home catering business:

Planning

First and foremost, the most important stage in business is business planning. Ask yourself some key questions like who are your customers? Where is your customer's location? Are you able to meet requirement? Following this sense, it is always prudent to understand your client based in order to more comprehensively address to the needs.

Management

Secondly, apart from good food, you need to do it fast, as most of your clients would require them either fast or on time. That is why, efficiency is very important. This will be ultimately attributed by your logistical business workflow. You will have to assign specifically on the driver, setting up crew, cook or chef and in some case providing of waiters and/or waitresses. You need to have a list of people who are able to be at your disposal. Manpower planning in this sense will increased your efficiency to a very large extend. Of course this will have to commensurate to the level of needs. For example, a simple 10 pax' buffet lunch would not have required ten waiters. This has to be done wisely as operational cost is at stake.

Logistic Readiness

Contingency management must also be considered when managing your catering operations to counter react to the major issue like manpower availability. What if some of your important staffs like

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>