| For those wanting to start a catering business | | | | commitment and some decent financing to cover |
| one of the biggest hurdles to overcome in the | | | | the rent when you are starting out. |
| beginning is deciding which kitchen you will use to | | | | Shared or Rented Facilities |
| prepare food for events. In this article we look at | | | | When you are starting out it is more likely that |
| some of the catering business kitchen options | | | | you will get off-site catering jobs for event |
| that are common for entrepreneurs starting out | | | | locations that have minimal kitchen facilities. You |
| in the catering business. | | | | will therefore need access to your own |
| Home Kitchens | | | | commercial kitchen space. This also means that |
| Small operators do run home based catering | | | | you may need transport with refrigeration on |
| businesses out of their residential kitchens. | | | | board for getting food to events. |
| However, this option is not viable for serious | | | | Renting your own space and fitting it out with a |
| operators due to size constraints, lack of | | | | commercial kitchen is an expensive proposition. It |
| commercial cooking equipment and the difficulties | | | | is more economical for new catering business |
| with complying with the rules and regulations of | | | | owners to share facilities with other food business |
| local health authorities. | | | | companies or to rent a certain number of hours |
| So apart from home kitchens, what other options | | | | every month at a shared commercial kitchen. |
| are available to someone looking for suitable | | | | Certain headaches can come along with a shared |
| space to prepare large volumes of food. | | | | kitchen. These problems mostly relate to |
| On-Premise Catering | | | | scheduling and organization of the kitchen but the |
| Well firstly, you should be aware that there are | | | | cost savings are worth it. |
| two kinds of catering, off-site and on-site (or | | | | Restaurant Facilities |
| off-premise and on-premise). If you are able to | | | | One final option to consider is using a restaurant's |
| get on-site catering jobs in a banquet hall or a | | | | kitchen facilities during their off-hours. If you can |
| similar venue then you may be able to use the | | | | work out a deal with the owner to get most of |
| commercial kitchen on the premises to prepare | | | | your work done earlier in the day before they |
| food for events. This could be a great business | | | | open, then this arrangement can work out well |
| model but unfortunately these jobs are rare as | | | | and be cost effective. |
| most of these locations already have in-house | | | | Having access to great commercial kitchen |
| caterers. | | | | facilities, that are convenient and don't cost an |
| One of the best options for an on-site caterer is | | | | arm and a leg is one of the most important |
| to lease a function center or banquet hall and host | | | | factors when it comes to getting started in |
| catered events there for clients. This option can | | | | catering successfully. |
| work really well but requires a serious | | | | |