Everything Guide to Starting and Running a Catering Business: Insider's advice on turning your talent into a Career (Everything: Business and Personal Finance) [Paperback]

Joyce Weinberg (Author)

Book Description

Series: Everything: Business and Personal Finance | Publication Date: November 1, 2007

Do you enjoy cooking for others? Is your buffet table a work of art? Are your parties the best in the neighborhood? Then catering may be a great career for you!

It's all here-from getting licenses and choosing the perfect name to developing menus and getting the word out. Seasoned food expert and caterer Joyce Weinberg covers all aspects of the catering business and shares her secrets to success with you, including how to:

• Choose a specialty-fancy fundraisers, company and family picnics, or romantic weddings
• Learn the ropes before you start your business
• Create a marketing plan that gets your company noticed by all the right people
• Find clients and generate repeat customers

The Everything® Guide to Starting and Running a Catering Business is all you need to make your passion your profession!

Joyce Weinberg is a seasoned food industry professional with twenty years of catering and restaurant management experience. She designed and managed her own acclaimed restaurant and catering company, Beyond Measure, in Philadelphia. She founded New York Food Tours & Events, a Manhattan-based food tour and guided tasting-event business. Ms. Weinberg lives in New York, NY.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Adams Media (November 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598693840
• ISBN-13: 978-1598693843
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #371,365 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #54 in Books > Business & Investing > Small Business & Entrepreneurship > Hospitality Businesses

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to start a small biz. Read it & rewrite it for the company you want to start., June 4, 2009

By 

Jeff Lippincott "JLIPPIN" (Princeton, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Everything Guide to Starting and Running a Catering Business: Insider's advice on turning your talent into a Career (Everything: Business and Personal Finance) (Paperback)

I stumbled across this lovely little book a couple of weeks ago. At first I was disappointed that it was written in 2007. I normally only review "just released" books on Amazon. But I'm making an exception for this book because I want to have a record reminding me that it exists and is worthy of recommendation to my SCORE clients. I found the book to be both well organized and well written. It includes an introduction, 20 chapters and three appendices as follows:

0. Introduction
1. What is catering?
2. Understanding the catering industry
3. Required skills for a caterer
4. Getting started as a caterer
5. Researching your business opportunity
6. Developing a concept
7. Being a personal or private chef
8. Developing a catering menu
9. Pricing your services & menus
10. Developing a catering plan
11. Proposal writing
12. Marketing yourself
13. Marketing your business
14. Dealing with clients
15. Considerations as you grow
16. Partnering to grow your business
17. Catering challenges & equipment recommendations
18. Useful catering tips
19. Outsourcing
20. New trends in catering
A. Resources & suggested reading
B. Glossary
C. Personal chef client info form (LDA Form)

It would be so nice if there were more business books written using the Table of Contents for this book as a guide for startup guides on various small businesses. This book could easily be re-written for hair salons, landscaping companies, pizza shops, law offices, etc. It's really an outline for any startup and what should be considered when investigating, researching, and writing a sound business plan to use as a roadmap to success in starting a company.

The business plan provided in this book included the following 8 parts: (1) Exec Summary, (2) Mission Statement, (3) Biz Overview, (4) Market Analysis, (5) Competitive Analysis, (6) Marketing Plan, (7) Operations Plan, & (8) Financial Plan. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to start a small business. Read it and rewrite it for the company you want to start. 6 stars!

PS. I especially liked seeing the plug for SCORE-dot-org at page 126!