Catering Like a Pro: From Planning to Profit [Paperback]

Francine Halvorsen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471214221 | ISBN-13: 978-0471214229 | Publication Date: April 16, 2004 | Edition: Revised Edition

Essential information and how-to advice from the best in the business
Catering Like a Pro is a must-have resource for anyone thinking about starting a catering business. Packed with recipes and exciting new ideas for creating theme events and dramatic experiences, it explains the catering industry from the bottom up. This revised and expanded edition covers everything necessary to get started, including real-world advice on contracts, hiring help, managing events, and sample forms and invoices. A handy list of resources—from equipment and ingredients to legal and business directories—helps make it easy to get up and running smoothly. Interviews with some of the best star caterers in the business offer inspiration and valuable tips for those new to the game.

Francine Halvorsen (New York, NY) is a professional culinary writer, consultant and artist who has traveled and lived all over the world. She considers herself lucky to be invited to share meals at some of the best tables everywhere. A graduate of Columbia University, she is the author of Catering Like a Pro, The Food and Cooking of China and Eating Around the World in Your Neighborhood, all published by John Wiley & Sons.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Everything you need to get your catering business up and running

"A solid foundation for anyone looking to begin a career in catering."
–Dr. John J. Bowen, President, Johnson & Wales University

"Very informative, with great tips from experienced chefs."
–Alain Sailhac

"I wish I’d had Catering Like a Pro 25 years ago, when I began my career. I would have made fewer mistakes (and more money)."
–Henry Meer

This complete, up-to-date guide to the art of catering presents all the proven business advice you need to put profits and success on your menu. It’s packed with practical guidance on event planning, cooking, sanitation, and business practices, as well as wisdom–and recipes–from the biggest stars in catering. You’ll find indispensable advice from François Dinot, Director of L’Académie de Cuisine in Bethesda, Maryland, who has catered many high-level government events in Washington, D.C.; Liz Newmark, President of Great Performances, one of New York’s premier caterers; and Jacques Pépin, award-winning cookbook author and Dean of Special Programs at The French Culinary Institute in New York City. And there’s more:

• Complete, step-by-step details and reliable resources for every aspect of the catering business
• Directories, references, and online resources for convenient access to everything from insurance to software to wine
• More than 200 surefire recipes
• Planning and budgeting aids, checklists, and charts; menus and menu worksheets for diverse events; job expense analysis and pricing guides; client interview outlines; and more

About the Author

FRANCINE HALVORSEN is a graduate of Columbia University and President of Studio Foods, which develops new food products for the gourmet consumer market. Well known for her stylish catering and distinctive events, she has also coached numerous start-up food entrepreneurs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; Revised Edition edition (April 16, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471214221
• ISBN-13: 978-0471214229
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #601,904 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #79 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Professional Cooking > Quantity

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

106 of 108 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a very good intro to professional catering, May 29, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Catering Like a Pro: From Planning to Profit (Paperback)

When I bought this book we had been catering for awhile on a very small scale. Halvorsen does a excellent job of presenting catering as it really is, hard work, long hours and requires exceptional people and mgt. skills. She offers sound suggestions to help those on a shoe string budget choose wisely and avoid major catering pitfalls. The invoices and forms she uses as examples are more than adequate for anyone to use in their own fledgling business. For a basic book she covers alot of material in a general way leaving you with a outline of the areas you WANT to do more indepth research about. The only problem area for me with this book is the recipe section. I would rather have had a resource list that I could have pulled material from to find recipes elsewhere and had Halvorsen use those pages to cover advertising, taxes, bookeeping and so on in greater detail. Well worth the books purchase price.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good for a beginner, October 25, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Catering Like a Pro: From Planning to Profit (Paperback)

I think this was an excellent book for a person starting to plan a catering business--minus the large recipe section. It tells you exactly what to expect in this business, and includes helpful sample forms (i.e.billing, invoice) that will surely come in handy. In addition, Halvorsen includes helpful lists for restaurant schools,wholesale markets,kitchen suppliers, etc. for many cities throughout the US. Definitely worth the book price and recommended for someone who is starting out or even thinking of starting a business in the industry because she tells it like it is!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revealing truth, November 4, 2006

By 

BEC (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Catering Like a Pro: From Planning to Profit (Paperback)

This book saved me from making a bad decision. My friends kept telling me I made great parties. Good buffet, interesting appetizers, great dinners. They told me I should consider doing it professionally to make extra money.

One of the books I read on the subject was this one. It has good recipes, more importantly it describes recipes in a manner that enable scaling for different sizes of event and helps you choose the right recommendations for different size events.

It also describes what's involved in actually doing professional catering. I was convinced. Turning a hobby into a business can ruin the hobby. Rather than go Pro, I'll stay a happy amateur; but one with better skills in managing the parties I through.