Posted by Suzanne Pickett on October 12, 1999 at 00:56:12 :
In Reply to: Specialized catering posted by REBECCA on September 21, 1999 at 15:16:10 :
: Several years ago I was working as an event manager for a large, mostly corporate catering company and quit in order to go to school full time for chef training. I am now in the process of putting together a business plan for my own catering company. In working in the industry for a major company and getting to know a lot of the local competetion it came to my attention that there is no catering company in my city that seems to specalize in catering to cocktail parties. I would like to focus my company on this sector of the industry by developing an extensive and hopefully more interesting menu of hors d'oeuvres than available with other caterers.Do you think there would be a fesible market for this type of catering. I would also do work for corporate lucheons etc. but would like for the focus to be on hors d'oeuvres. Any input would be greatly appreciated. By the way the city I live in is a large metropolis (3,000,000).
: Thanks for any advice in advance!
Rebecca,
I think the success of your idea depends on the market in your area. Are cocktail parties/ horsd'ouvres only parties popular year round? Figure out who your target customer is and do a market survey to test the idea. I was a caterer for 14 years in the San Francisco area and you would not have been able to survive unless you were flexible and diverse in the types of menus and parties you catered. However in Los Angeles it might work.Doing drop-off horsd'ouvres, selling to other caters and or delies could expand your base in addition to full service.