When you are starting out in the catering business, you have to learn how to bid on jobs. You probably don't have the staff, except for the friends you can enlist as servers, or have as much name recognition as more established caterers. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit though, you can come up with ways to outbid your competition on jobs for corporate catering Biloxi executives will appreciate.
Listening to your clients and discovering exactly what they want to achieve with their business events, is very important. The marketing director may be anxious to impress a superior for instance. If you can offer suggestions to keep her project under budget without sacrificing quality, you will have an interested potential client. A simple suggestion is to fore go the obligatory cocktail hour and formal sit down dinner and replace it with an elegant cocktail reception complete with chef attended action stations.
Limiting the bar is an obvious way to keep the budget under control. Done correctly, the guests will never suspect. Local microbreweries should be happy to supply their beers, and little known wines, with great reputations, will make the guests feel privileged, not limited. Sparkling water and specialty drinks can round out the bar offerings.
You can suggest ways to control food portions to the marketing director. Exotic food stations and buffets are great, but when guests serve themselves they tend to pile food onto their plates. A sit down dinner requires more staff, china, and cutlery, but you will make up for it with less food consumption. Servers offering guest hors d'oeuvres during cocktail hours will cost less than pre-dinner buffets.
You could even make some suggestions when it comes to the venues being considered. Venues with fully equipped kitchens don't require the extra expense of bringing in generators and portable ovens. If the event times are flexible, and the catering staff can come in and pick up during regular business hours, instead of after hours, the company will avoid extra charges.
The menu selection will have a lot to do with the overall cost. Filet mignon and lobster are great, and guests have come to expect them, but they among the priciest items you can choose. A menu filled with local produce and braised meats is delicious and economical. An ethnic theme is another original idea that could be considered.
A final cost saving measure you can suggest is choosing standard china and glassware, instead of fine china and specialty glasses. The guests will never notice that the same dinnerware is used for each course. The same goes for bar glasses. It's not necessary to have a specific glass for each type of drink.
Succeeding in the catering business can be tricky. You will have plenty of talented competition vying for the most prestigious jobs. In order to build your client base, you have to be attentive to the needs of your customers and deliver the best food and service in the business.
Listening to your clients and discovering exactly what they want to achieve with their business events, is very important. The marketing director may be anxious to impress a superior for instance. If you can offer suggestions to keep her project under budget without sacrificing quality, you will have an interested potential client. A simple suggestion is to fore go the obligatory cocktail hour and formal sit down dinner and replace it with an elegant cocktail reception complete with chef attended action stations.
Limiting the bar is an obvious way to keep the budget under control. Done correctly, the guests will never suspect. Local microbreweries should be happy to supply their beers, and little known wines, with great reputations, will make the guests feel privileged, not limited. Sparkling water and specialty drinks can round out the bar offerings.
You can suggest ways to control food portions to the marketing director. Exotic food stations and buffets are great, but when guests serve themselves they tend to pile food onto their plates. A sit down dinner requires more staff, china, and cutlery, but you will make up for it with less food consumption. Servers offering guest hors d'oeuvres during cocktail hours will cost less than pre-dinner buffets.
You could even make some suggestions when it comes to the venues being considered. Venues with fully equipped kitchens don't require the extra expense of bringing in generators and portable ovens. If the event times are flexible, and the catering staff can come in and pick up during regular business hours, instead of after hours, the company will avoid extra charges.
The menu selection will have a lot to do with the overall cost. Filet mignon and lobster are great, and guests have come to expect them, but they among the priciest items you can choose. A menu filled with local produce and braised meats is delicious and economical. An ethnic theme is another original idea that could be considered.
A final cost saving measure you can suggest is choosing standard china and glassware, instead of fine china and specialty glasses. The guests will never notice that the same dinnerware is used for each course. The same goes for bar glasses. It's not necessary to have a specific glass for each type of drink.
Succeeding in the catering business can be tricky. You will have plenty of talented competition vying for the most prestigious jobs. In order to build your client base, you have to be attentive to the needs of your customers and deliver the best food and service in the business.
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