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Cash in on Catering

Catering can bring big profits

Real Lives: Sian Coakley

When Sian Coakley lost her job she turned her life around by beginning her own catering business, something she's always wanted to do. She had no professional training, but she had worked in the restaurant business, and learned a lot about cooking from her stepmother. 'I'm now making a profit. It's reasonable to say you can make a turnover from £30,000 upwards,' said Sian.

When she began her venture four years ago, Sian had no money, just a real passion for cooking. Her set-up costs went to her website and flyers that went through people's doors. These days she is also a member of a company that supports chefs regionally.

To help keep the costs down Sian works in the kitchen on her own, although for larger parties will include some serving staff. She is able to self-cater a meal for 50 people, or up to 100 people for a cocktail party. 'You just need to know your menus, abilities and timings to know how many you can cater for,' said Sian. That being said, Sian does work really hard and can sometimes do 16 to 18 hour days. But she will then rest up for a couple of days. 'It really depends how dedicated you are. You also need to try and keep the client's costs down.'

This year has been difficult with food costs going up, but Sian tries to keep her costs low by shopping at farmer's markets, buying vegetables wholesale and building up a rapport and relationship with good suppliers. In her own words she is fussy with her food, preferring to buy organic, fresh and seasonal produce where she can. When Sian gets a request for a personal chef, she sits down with her clients and goes through their likes and dislikes, to produce a suitable menu. Depending on the type of job, she will charge between £15-25 an hour.

To work legally and safely, Sian did her certificate in health and hygiene practices, and has public liability insurance. Because she cooks on other people's premises, she doesn't need a licence, so long as she ensures that certain standards are followed, such as cooking the food on the premises where it is to be served, and ensuring all perishable food is kept in the fridge and covered up.

If you need a personal chef, have a look at Sian's Catering Company.

Is it for you?
The first steps
Maximise your profits

It is becoming increasingly popular to start and run a business from your own home and if you have a talent and passion for cooking there's no reason why you can't start up your own catering business from home and make money doing something you love.

What's involved and is it for you?

There are lots of events that require catering of some kind - everything from business meetings and dinner parties through to wedding receptions and birthdays.

You really do need some kind of background in food so that you have a feel for ingredients and costing. Culinary courses will help you to develop your catering business.

A successful caterer needs to be organised and flexible enough to cope with any last minute changes. Good people skills will go a long way too. Work equally hard on smaller events as you do on big events - word of mouth can be both beneficial and damaging to your company so give every job 100% effort.

^{It's great because...}

You can work independently with food without having to take orders from a scary Gordon Ramsay-style boss.
You can pick and choose how many events you take on, so you're in control when deciding how far you want to take the business.
Once you've established yourself the earning potential is massive.

^But....

Catering events will take place on weekends, holidays and evenings so be prepared to work anti-social hours.
There is a lot of competition from big catering companies that specialise in corporate events so it may take some time to make a name for yourself.

How do you do it?

^{Step one: Get some experience}

Practice regularly with family and friends. Get them to pay for the ingredients then offer to cook them all a dinner party for free - it's the perfect way to try out new menus and get some experience of costings and portions.

If you're at all unsure about anything, some time shadowing an experienced caterer would definitely be a good idea. Or before you start developing your business spend some time working for a catering company to see how it all works and hopefully get some good contacts along the way.

Get some guidance from books like these:

How to Become a Caterer: Everything You Need to Know from Finding Clients to the Final Bill by Susan Wright.
The Complete Caterer by Elizabeth Lawrence.
Career Diary of a Caterer by Jennifer Heigl.

^{Step two: The legal stuff}

The Government have rather helpfully made this 'Starting Up' booklet covering the first steps to building a catering company. It includes information about legal requirements and also tips on good practice for caterers.

^Registration

Approach your local council. You must register your premises with them as a food business. This is free to do but you must register at least 28 days before you start your new business venture - it's a legal requirement.

Tell the local authority about any premises you use to sell, store or prepare food and tell them if you use a car or van for the business. If you're working from home you may also need planning permission so speak to the planning department, too. It's probably a good idea to tell your mortgage lenders that you plan to work from home.

Some 20,000 small catering businesses start up every year in England and Wales so if you want to do well you need to get the basics right, and good food hygiene is one of the most important things to sort out.

Poor hygiene could ruin the reputation of your company or even cause your business to be closed down. Once you're up and running, you will get visits from your local Environmental Health Officer so get some free expert advice from the Food Standards Agency.

The Food Standards Agency have this pack designed to help anyone setting up a small catering business from scratch to meet all the complicated food hygiene regulations. You can even watch a DVD on food hygiene here.

Download the food safety management pack from the Food Standards Agency website which will tell you all about:

How to meet food hygiene regulations
Making food safely
Training staff
Protecting your business's reputation
Improving your business, for example by wasting less food
The four Cs: Cross-contamination, Cleaning, Chilling, Cooking
It also comes with a handy diary that you can use as a checklist for cleaning schedules, opening and closing checks, staff training records etc. which you can sign each day. It will make your life so much easier - not to mention keep things in order and prove you're doing things properly when the Environmental Health Officer pops round!

^Insurance

It's a good idea to take out the following insurance policies to protect yourself against any mishaps.

Click here to compare small business insurance quotes.

^{Being self-employed}

If you're going to be making a regular income as a self-employed caterer you need to register with HM Revenue & Customs within three months of becoming self-employed.

You will be responsible for paying your own tax and National Insurance contributions and you'll
need to fill in a tax return each year (yawn).

Keep all records of your business income and expenses, including invoices and receipts
for foods that you buy.

Contact your local tax office to find out more or call the HMRC helpline on 08459 15 45 15.

^{Step three: Sell yourself}

If there's a particular cuisine or dish that you cook especially well, make the most of it and use it as an angle to your business. You could specialise in food from a particular region for example, or make incredible desserts.
Create your own website to sell yourself and your talents. Put all your contact details, qualifications or cooking expertise and also add some sample menus and pictures to show off your presentation skills.
Get some business cards made up and pass them around to other businesses, friends and family and anyone else you can think of! Go to VistaPrint for 250 FREE business cards.
Don't forget the good old yellow Pages!
Try cold-calling new businesses to fight off the competition.

^{Step four: Get some work!}

Look at websites like www.ncass.org.uk and www.caterer.com which list various jobs available at any given time.

Check Gumtree and CraigsList regularly for anyone looking for a caterer and post your own advert on there for people in your area looking for a caterer.

To get bigger jobs, such as corporate events and weddings, the best contacts you can have are the event organisers in your area. Get to know them and consider offering them discounts if they recommend you to their clients.

Build up contacts in your area - ask friends and family if they know any party planners, florists etc. who may be useful to you in the future.

Post any questions you have on the messageboards - you may be able to get some help from our readers.

How much can you make?

How much you earn obviously depends on the size of the events you cater for. Clients are usually charged by the head and according to the type of food they require.

For example, a cold buffet might be anything from £6 to £10 a head rising to up to £20 for a more substantial fork buffet.
Full meals might be £30 a head and upwards.
Try offering extra services like flowers and decorations to make more money.
Do some research of other caterers in your area and see how much they charge to get an idea of how to price your own services.

Costs

If you're cooking on a big scale remember to include the cost of gas and electricity as well as the price of all the ingredients you'll be using. There will also be advertising, travel, utensils and possibly staffing costs.

Here are a few ways to keep costs down.

RENTING: To keep your initial costs down, you can start by renting kitchen equipment - you could even rent a professional kitchen if your one at home isn't suitable.
SHOP AROUND: If you do need to buy new equipment for your kitchen believe it or not Boots sell some great kitchen appliances. Keep an eye out for special promotions and get yourself an advantage card for 4 points for every pound you spend!
BARGAINS: Get cheap cleaning supplies from Betterware and Wilkinsons. Try Smarter Products and check for any innovative new kitchen gadgets. Go to Heals and John Lewis for loads of fantastic kitchen items.