What is catering? How to organize a business?

Catering is one of the successful examples of turning a service into a sought-after business. Food delivery has many forms and types, and recently new formations have been added to it. Starting your business in this area, you should figure out what services to provide and how to organize a business with minimal losses and maximum turnover.

What is catering?

The name catering itself comes from the capacious English word "cater", which has several meanings:

deliver food;
please;
service;
supply food.

The above translations perfectly reflect the concept, since catering includes not only the preparation and removal of food and drinks to the venue of the event, but also serving, service during the banquet, cleaning after and much more.

At its core, catering is a service of food delivery and service at a restaurant level in any place specified by the client.

This area is inextricably linked with other types of business:

with event companies. Firms organizing holidays and corporate events may include food delivery in their services, or cooperate with catering organizations.
With restaurants. Many food chains provide offsite banquet services. Another option is the situation when a catering company enters into a cooperation agreement or fulfills the order of a specific client by purchasing food from certain cafes/restaurants.
with transport companies. Communication is necessary, since it is simply unprofitable to maintain your own fleet at first.
with travel companies. This item is a popular holiday destination. In such regions, food delivery to attractions and stopping points on tourist routes is usually required.
with realtors. Very often, clients themselves do not know where they want to hold the event, but it is necessary for them to surprise the participants of the event. In this case, realtors will help you find a suitable site.

Catering is especially in demand in cities with a wide business layer, due to the fact that holding corporate parties, business meetings and dinner parties on their own for self-respecting companies has become at least not serious, but in fact, it can hit the image hard. Moreover, economists, secretaries, office clerks simply cannot know all the specifics of the business, good suppliers and skilled professionals, and therefore are not able to provide an important event with decent service.

How the organization of a banquet looks like and what the work of a catering company is like can be seen in the video clip:

Kinds

Catering is a multifaceted service that gradually captures more and more new functions. Therefore, there are different classifications of this activity, the main one includes 6 types of catering:

Coffee break- a short break for the sake of eating. Usually included in the format of conferences, business negotiations, trainings, seminars. By the time it takes 30-40 minutes. The cuisine includes tea, coffee, juices and other soft drinks, fruit cuts, cookies, sweets, canapes, sandwiches.
Lunch delivery. This format involves a long-term contract for courier deliveries of pre-negotiated food products to offices and enterprises every day at an agreed time.
Buffet catering. A range of snacks and a bar are being set up. Waiters serve food and drinks to guests. Sometimes small tables-stands are installed on which you can leave empty dishes or have a bite to eat. A variation of buffet catering can be a buffet, buffet, cocktail party.
Picnics and barbecues. They involve cooking dishes in the open air, often this action is accompanied by culinary animation, that is, demonstration performances of chefs demonstrating their skills are arranged for the participants of the event.
Candy bar. Most often, this type of service is associated with children's holidays. But it is also suitable for bachelorette parties, friendly meetings of girlfriends, meetings of women's clubs. Guests are offered muffins, cupcakes, marmalade, cookies, cakes, fruits, tea, coffee. A single color and stylistic design plays an important role in holding candy gatherings, since the female audience really appreciates attention to detail.
Banquets- a complex type of catering that brings more. This can be weddings, birthdays, religious holidays, surprise parties, events dedicated to making big deals, and the like. Banquet service assumes a full-fledged restaurant level, with several changes of dishes, numerous attendants, room decoration, animators, and musical accompaniment. Usually such events are organized jointly with event companies.

Recently, some representatives of the described industry have introduced a hookah delivery service into their price lists.

Services

As part of catering, the following types of services can be performed:

menu planning;
budgeting;
search, preparation and registration of the territory where the event will be held;
conducting tasting of dishes and drinks for the customer;
preliminary demonstration of the venue, decor elements, and dishes;
planning - a carefully planned scheme of actions for each employee;
independent organization of delivery of personnel, kitchen, products to the appointed place;
cooperation and joint coordination with other event organizers (event managers, suppliers, drivers, designers);
purchase of food;
arrangement of furniture and table setting;
preparing and serving food and drinks;
service by qualified personnel (cooks, waiters, baristas, bartenders, hostesses, administrators);
use of their decor elements, tables, chairs, bars, dishes.

A catering company can carry out and service events:

in rented premises;
in office buildings;
in private houses/apartments;
in hotels;
Outdoors;
on various modes of transport - yachts, trains, planes;
in non-profit organizations - military units, shelters, hospitals, schools.

Cooking can take place:

in advance;
at the time of the event;
in a combined way, which is most suitable for large-scale banquets.

The type of cuisine depends on the preferences of the client and his ability to pay. VIP-catering is often singled out separately, which involves gourmet cuisine, expensive decoration and especially well-trained staff.