After many years of working in the catering industry I decided to set up my own business. There are always opportunities in catering for those with business knowledge and drive and this is a great way to start working for yourself.
Getting Started
I know how hard the catering business can be. The hours can be long and the work very hard and stressful at times. However I also know that there is good money available for those that are prepared to work for it. During my career I have worked in many different areas including wedding catering, family restaurants and country house hotels. These were quite stressful positions and often involved long hours and early and late starts. I didn’t want this kind of stress for my own business and so I started to consider other options in catering.
- The Internet was a big draw for me and I looked into ways in which I could make this great resource work for me.
- I finally find the inspiration I was looking for in an online blog. This was written by a stay-at-home mum who had set up her own cupcake making business.
- She ran this purely online and from humble roots had built this up into a thriving family business.
- This idea really appealed to me as during my catering career I trained under a pastry chef.
- Sweets and desserts had always been my preference when working in a busy kitchen environment.
- I wanted to provide more than just cupcakes though. Whilst I worked in the country house hotel I spent a lot of time making fancy pastries and cakes for the afternoon teas.
- These afternoon teas were always incredibly popular and we had many enquiries about providing them for business events as well.
- After a little research I realised that these high-end pastries and cakes were a viable business option.
- I had enough funding available to set up a small kitchen and build the business up online with a website and marketing.
Sourcing Equipment
One of my biggest initial set up costs was always going to be buying the equipment I needed for my catering business. I had some good contacts in the industry but and managed to get some second-hand equipment that did save me money. I was also lucky enough to stumble across some great specialist catering suppliers online. These online sellers offered some affordable quality equipment essential for my pastries and cake making business.
I bought most of the equipment I needed for my catering business quickly and easily online. This included a number of hard-to-find items such as specialist cream whipper equipment.
