As you may well have noticed, certain businesses tend to cope better than others during a recession. For example, manufacturing businesses such as those manufacturing toilet rolls, diapers, fizzy drinks and etc, are by all accounts quite recession-resistant. Likewise, catering companies have also managed to stand their ground during the current recession, because after all, people are still getting married, they're having birthday parties, and they're still hosting various functions, all of which usually require the services of a catering company. Catering companies in Detroit are booming so perhaps it's a business with considering.
Catering Detroit is like any other business opportunity. You need to go into it with your eyes open and a business plan. Understand what your costs are, understand who your customers are and work out how much business you need to have to turn a profit.
Contrary to what many believe, you don't need an astronomical amount of money in order to start a catering business of your own. In fact, catering Detroit could all begin with you being a personal chef. Generally speaking, personal chefs are hired to prepare and deliver a set amount of meals each week. In other words, a family may hire you to prepare a dinner for them for each day of the week. Even though you may end up with several customers, you could probably manage to prepare all the meals in your own kitchen at home. Interestingly enough, personal chefs are becoming increasingly popular as more and more people find that they simply don't have the time to cook meals for the family everyday.
The first thing you should do is look at your expenses. How much will ingredients cost? Will you need to upgrade your kitchen facilities to handle the larger volume? How will you find clients, and how will you market to them? How will you transport the food to the site and how will you heat it there? (In all likelihood, the first capital expense you'll have to make is on warming trays for onsite serving.)
In the vast majority of cases when you're catering Detroit, initial customers will usually be friends and family, unless of course you wish to look in the newspapers to see if there are any wedding announcements. You could also consider handing out your business cards to various other businesses, such as wedding supply stores, function centers, and etc.
As a general rule of thumb, the price of your meals should be at least three times the amount you paid for the ingredients. Also, considering that you may often be able to cater for Muslim functions and Jewish functions, you should make a point of being able to prepare kosher foods for the Jews and halal foods for the Muslims. Obviously, if you're in a position to do this you'll have the added advantage that you can reach a larger number of potential customers.
Especially when catering events to students - college, high school or middle school - you should try to get as much information about food allergies as you can. In general, assume that you can't use anything with nuts, not because peanut allergies are all that common, but because the paranoia about peanut allergies is widespread. Your job is to cater Detroit and that means catering to the needs of your customers.
The bottom line is; there are several catering opportunities in Detroit, irrespective of whether or not you yourself intend becoming a caterer. In fact, several people run their own catering business without being caterers themselves. Whether you choose to hire people, or whether you choose to do everything yourself, your biggest goal should always be to make a lasting impression. Remember, word-of-mouth advertising is the most powerful advertising in the world, and catering Detroit is no exception to the rule.
James "Catering" Nicholson is an author and reviewer of various business in the Detroit Area. Please find out about the particular catering detroit location he is focusing his current writing on by clicking here: Catering Detroit.