Catering

[shamrock2007]

I am planning starting my own catering business. I am hoping to offer catering for birthday parties, engagement parties, small weddings, funerals etc. Possibly offering meals like for a husband to treat his wife on valentines etc. Just wanted some feed back to see what people would be willing to pay for? How many people would use the service that kind of thing? Thanks

[BRIE]

I was recently looking for somewhere to hold a function for 55 people, I was just wanting a finger buffet nothing fancy the cheapest I could get was £8 a head without desserts!! to me thats daylight robbery! I have spent most of my life in the catering industry so I know how much it actually costs to make a buffet. I opted to hire a private venue & do the buffet myself it cost me £140 all in!
I think your definitely onto a winner if you make it reasonable priced, its better to charge a reasonable amount & have the customers rolling in than overprice & get no customers!
Ive got another function to organise in a couple of months so if your up & running let me know;)

[shamrock2007]

If you were eating at buffet what would be your favourite thing?? Savoury & Sweet thanks

[mumof2]

strawberries dipped in chocolate get my vote every time!

[Stefan]

Will you be catering for special diets ?

[shamrock2007]

I'm hoping to try to offer my customers every option. Great to see what people want though. Been looking in recipies for vegetarian dishes, wheat free etc. Anything in particular Stefan??

[Stefan]

Personally I am intolerant to lactose and bulb plants (garlic, onion, leek etc). Some vegetarians wont eat dishes that have been prepared in a meat environment, like same saucepans, even if it has been washed.
Gluten free could be an option.
Most important for me would be a list of ingredients so that i could pick food when i go somewhere but hadn't ordered myself.

[shamrock2007]

Thanks for that Stefan, i'm doing a bit of research just now on different diets etc. So hopefully i will be able to offer something for everyone

[newpark]

I priced up catering for a party I had for 80people and the rates that were coming back were crazy so I did a big shop at Lidl and made everything myself. Everyone complemented me on the food and most was eaten. Cost me less then a £100 to feed 80people in lidl.

[Mad1man]

Good luck, I'm told that nowadays the food preparation is the easy bit. Maintaining the right standards for your Environmetal health inspections, number sinks, types of storage, fridges and freezers, transport to venues maintaining safe temperatures etc prior to service, temperature records and all of the other bits that make ther public safe is the time consuming bit. It is probably what makes a commercial caterer expensive. Remember they have to finance all of that as well. When they work out prices, they price raw materials and look at number of staff required and as a rough guess I think materials costs multiplied by three gives you an approximate commercial price. So those of you at about £150 food costs would need to charge £450 minimum to keep a business afloat. Then you get the joy of working with us the public, the complaints and the necessary insurance costs in case we sue - maybe that adds a few quid as well. I'll stick to a nice easy nine to five thanks. Best of Luck to you.

[JWM]

Hi good luck to you k hope you do well learning to cater for food allergies would be a nightmare!!! I'm just learning with my 7 month old who has cow milk allergy trial n error to see if anything else. Its quite easy just now as he's only started weaning but its learning the different things in ingredients when he's older if you do set things up and need any milk free advice feel free to give a shout and you could copy my book. Its first class got it from my dietician.

[dragonfly]

a friend of mine does catering, her mainstay is meringues for cafe's/coffee shops but she also does a type of meals on wheels service for working families - things she does are shepherds pie, lasagne, quiche, stews, casseroles - type of thing a mum at home would make for dinner at night, can't remember what she charged but think it was well under a tenner for a meal for 4 - good value if you are a busy mum who doesn't have time to make home meal but want to give one to the family

could be something of a goer up here - lots of mums out working

[shamrock2007]

Thanks guys for your input means a lot. Playing with lots of ideas just now. All coming along nicely tho. :D

[shamrock2007]

Hi guys thanks for all your messages. I've been working hard on menus & planning for my new business. I'm thinking about offering a bridal brunch, i was thinking filled crossants, blinis, strawberrys dipped in chocolate etc. What do you ladies think? Was also thinking about maybe a baby shower menu, want to cover all avenues but can't do anything too big and ambitious because its just me on my own! Thanks x

[hotrod4]

Think it would be a good idea but as mad1man says its the legalities of Food hygiene that are the killer. Its right that they have so many rules to protect the public but they do go a bit far and dont make it easy to get a business started.Not sure about the legalities but would cooking the food in someones house bypass any regulations? All could be "prepared" at your own house and "Heated up" at the clients house if you know what I mean ;)

[telfordstar]

What a fantastic idea. I wish you the very best of luck in your new venture and keep us posted how things are coming along.

[shamrock2007]

Thanks guys. Hotrod i've thought of that thanks, have been pricing containers to keep food warm that could then be delivered but will have a full chat with environmental health this week believe me i won't be taking any risks on peoples health. Menus & planning coming along great, fingers crossed i will be up & running by end of sept beg oct, keep u posted :D