How to Run a Catering Business from Home [Paperback]

Christopher Egerton-Thomas (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471141062 | ISBN-13: 978-0471141068 | Publication Date: October 24, 1996 | Edition: 1

Your hors d'oeuvres are the stuff of cocktail party legend.

You're a superb chef and a whiz with people.

Do you have what it takes to run a profitable catering business?

If you're thinking about starting up your own home catering venture, this is the book for you-with everything you need to know about selling your services, hiring help, planning events, and delivering successful parties. Combining Christopher Egerton-Thomas's detailed, step-by-step advice with instructive anecdotes of both triumphs and failures, this practical guide supplies you with all of the key ingredients you need to transform your catering ambitions into reality.

Explains how to get business, plus how to identify and serve client needs effectively
* Covers caterers' qualifications and skills, staffing levels, hiring and management of employees
* Provides solid guidelines on equipment and supplies, food and beverage preparation, pricing, locations, room and bar setup, and more
* Prepares you to handle a wide range of events, from simple cocktail parties to large, complex affairs -- with a special section on weddings
* Includes vital information on food safety, hygiene, and health
* Contains troubleshooting checklists to help you ensure success -- and avoid party disasters

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Catering offers a unique opportunity for home-based entrepreneurs. Low startup costs and overhead make it an ideal do-it-yourself business. This step-by-step guide takes readers through every aspect of setting up and operating a catering business. It includes practical details on hiring help, planning events, interpreting client needs, and delivering successful partners. Checklists, hor d'oeuvres recipes, and anecdotes make this guide user-friendly and fun. It also focuses on security, pricing, handling clients and guests, and finding supplies.

From the Back Cover

Your hors d'oeuvres are the stuff of cocktail party legend.

You're a superb chef and a whiz with people.

Do you have what it takes to run a profitable catering business?

If you're thinking about starting up your own home catering venture, this is the book for you-with everything you need to know about selling your services, hiring help, planning events, and delivering successful parties. Combining Christopher Egerton-Thomas's detailed, step-by-step advice with instructive anecdotes of both triumphs and failures, this practical guide supplies you with all of the key ingredients you need to transform your catering ambitions into reality.

Explains how to get business, plus how to identify and serve client needs effectively

• Covers caterers' qualifications and skills, staffing levels, hiring and management of employees
• Provides solid guidelines on equipment and supplies, food and beverage preparation, pricing, locations, room and bar setup, and more
• Prepares you to handle a wide range of events, from simple cocktail parties to large, complex affairs — with a special section on weddings
• Includes vital information on food safety, hygiene, and health
• Contains troubleshooting checklists to help you ensure success — and avoid party disasters

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (October 24, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471141062
• ISBN-13: 978-0471141068
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #920,633 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #90 in Books > Business & Investing > Small Business & Entrepreneurship > Hospitality Businesses

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This book isn't even vaguely worth the price., February 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Run a Catering Business from Home (Paperback)

I'm sorry I wasted my money on this book; I'd seen it mentioned in various catalogs but hadn't been able to find it in my bookstores, so I didn't know what I was getting. It offers only a glib tone with mostly unhelpful anecdotes and an absolute dearth of useful details. You'll probably know even less about starting a home-based catering business after reading it than before.

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars too vague and general, January 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Run a Catering Business from Home (Paperback)

this book is more about general catering, rather than how to start your own business. after reading this book, i did not feel i knew what my next steps were. a much better book is "how to start your own home-based catering businees" by denise vivaldo. she writes about legal ramifications, insurance, budgets (with worksheets and what % normally is spent on food, service, etc), business plans (with excerpts from her own), menu examples, and resources! i found that book very, very, very imformative on how to start a legitimate business

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Terrible,waste of time dissapointmnet, November 12, 2008

By 

J. Christodoulides "julies views" (sydney,australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Run a Catering Business from Home (Paperback)

This book is ridiculous,it has nothing really to do with catering and there is alot af talk about absoloutely nothing.This book did not help me one bit in starting my own home based catering business,it is so mixed up and is almost like a list of short stories about catering events
This book was a waste of money and time,very very dissappointing