Hey, Marianne DeNovellis here with the Six
Figure mastermind. I know you got greater
skills than I do because you can cook,
this girl can't but I do know how to
start a catering business. The business
side of it is really, really important. So,
stay tuned. I'm going to walk you through
all those elements.
So, starting a catering business from
home is easier than you may think.
However, you definitely want to have
some legal stuff covered before you even
get started. The first thing you need to
consider before you even think about
opening a catering business from home is
getting what's called ServSafe
certified. S-E-R-V S-A-F-E. Go online, look it
up and get certified at ServSafe
that's going to be required for any
kitchen that you're working in,
commercial or private, okay?
Getting ServSafe certified is going to
cover you in case anything should happen
you can have your certificate presented,
okay? First things first. Get ServSafe
certified. I don't care if you're making
just peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
out of your kitchen, you've got to have
that certification. Second thing to
consider. Once you're certified, you need
to have your kitchen certified. So,
there's a couple of ways to do this. The
easiest way if you're working from home
is to certify your kitchen on a brand
new build. And honestly, that's not the
case for most of you. But if it so
happens to be the case and you're
building your kitchen in a new home and
you know it's going to be a kitchen
that's going to be inspected and
certified for food production, build it
according to the regulations and
specifications that are there. If it's
not, I actually recommend getting into a
ServSafe certified kitchen or a
kitchen that has been inspected and
zoned for food production, okay? There are
many kitchens that could be in your area
that are actually kind of a co-op style.
So, the kitchen is certified, you are
ServSafe certified. You can just go and
use that space. Produce food from that
space and deliver from that space. So, you
don't have to worry about zoning your
own specific kitchen and doing the whole
remodel. That being said, that's your last
resort is just get your kitchen up to
spec up to standard. You can check with
the regulations in your area as to what
you'll need to do in order to do that. So,
you need to be certified and your
kitchen needs to be certified and
inspected. Once that's all out of the way,
it's time to get creative. And in order
to do that, you need to know what your
niche is. Do you love baked goods? Do you
love catering for big parties? Do you
love catering for families? Are you
exclusively wedding cakes? You need to
know exactly what your niche is before
you advertise to the public. Now, if you
watch my other video on photography,
you're going to hear me say, "Now photograph
everything you
the can and decide which one is your
favorite." You can do the same thing with
catering. You can cater everything you
possibly can. Decide which one is your
favorite. But you can do it without the
risk. And the way you do that is you
follow along with other people who are
doing catering. Once your ServSafe
certified, I can guarantee you, most chefs
in your arena are going to ask and want
help. And you can go in and check out
what they're doing as far as food goes.
And see if it's something that you want
to do later. Maybe you like making the
little Hors d'oeuvres and that's your
thing. Or maybe you just want to cater
big salads for people. Just hang
around with other chefs. See if you can
apprentice or sous chef with them just
for a single event. Or a little while and
different things. That can also get your
name out there. So, before you open up
your own practice from home, hang around
with others that are already in the
arena and kind of be their wingman and
study what they're doing, okay? Study
where what's worked for them in their
business in their catering and
definitely the food style as well. After
you've done all that, it's time for you
to create your own brand. Create a catchy
name for yourself. If you want to build a
website, if you want to create business
cards. None of that really matters though
if you don't have clients that you
closed on your catering,
okay? So, cater as much as you possibly
can. I recommend getting an Instagram
account and taking pictures of
everything that comes from your hands,
okay? Whether it's being cooked for
someone else, whether it's being cooked
in home, you can take pictures of
anything you want, anything that you
create. Doesn't have to be ServSafe
certified because it's just a picture,
right? So, just photograph everything that
you make. Look at the lighting. Make sure
it's spot-on. In fact I've got some
lighting tips in some other of my videos.
You can go check out. But photograph
everything that you make and post it on
Instagram if it's a good photo. Okay, once
that's all said and done, it's time to
get business going. You've got to create
clientele, you got to create customers
which is going to be really hard if you
don't have anything in the first place
to work with. So, one thing I highly
recommend is doing joint venture
partnerships. You can do this with other
chefs but you can also do with other
people who are in your arena of
expertise. And by arena, I mean they're
not chefs or culinarians themselves but
they run similar events. And if you're
wanting to do catering, chances are
you're going to be running into a lot of
the same event venues. You're going to be
running into a lot of the same
photographers, you're going to be running
- a lot of the same event planners. Go to
where those people are hanging out on
social media. And live in person, like in
trade shows and other networking events.
Get to know them. Put your stuff out
there. People want to try your flavor
before they buy it. So, bring food with
you if you're running a booth. Network
with the people that are in the arena
that you want to work in and create
some amazing joint venture partnerships.
We can kind of scratch each other's back
a little bit if they recommend a client
to you. So, getting started from home is
really easy. Just make sure you're
legally covered with your certifications
and your contracts and then go out there
and crush it with those joint ventures.
Hey, did you enjoy today's video? Like
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