Chef Martin is the Owner and proprietor of Delicussy Catering Services Limited. He has run a successful catering business for the past 7 years and has seen many good and bad seasons. Chef Martin has a few tips to share on how to run a successful catering business.
Have reliable suppliers
As a catering firm we deal with very sensitive supplies including meat and poultry products that can easily get contaminated. Your suppliers should be aware of this and also adhere to the food handling guidelines. They should also be after your success; working with suppliers who can go out of their way to ensure that you get the quality products is a plus. My grocery supplier ensures that I can get the best potatoes even when the whole country is struggling to get quality potatoes. It may be costly than usual, but I echo the effort put in, to ensure we get the best.
Have reliable team of staff
Your success in this business is determined by the team of staff you have and how sold out they are to the vision of the organization. I have staff in my team who want nothing else but to work with me. Those are my gem; I can trust them with any task and it will be done beyond my expectations. Empowering your staff with entrepreneurial mindset makes a huge difference in how they see your organization. They want it to succeed so that they also know how to build successful business.
Be time conscious
We always say time is money, and in the kitchen, we don’t have a human supervisor, time is our supervisor. So everything you do, you have to be aware that time is watching you. You have to offer both quality and speed. We deal with events and any delay will mean that you will mess up the whole program of a function, apart from that you will not have enough time to set up, and take photos for marketing your services. To avoid loses and penalties, you should be on the ground at least one hour before serving time.
Be consistent/have the right systems and structures in place
There is nothing as crucial in a service provider or organization as consistency. When I visit a restaurant, and I am impressed on the first day, I may choose to go back, but when I go back and the food quality or service is watered down, I may not go back there, because of the inconsistency in service delivery. As a caterer you should also strive to be consistent with the quality of food you offer, presentation of the food and the staff, and also in the food portioning. This is made possible by having simple systems like recipes manual for your dishes, staff uniform, equipment checklist, and food handling and safety systems.
Plan, plan and plan
Catering business is handwork and each event is treated as a new project/product. You budget for it, shop for it, receive goods for it, prepare the items, do the actual cooking, load the vehicle, do set up, serve, take turns, clean up, load the vehicle, drop the items to the kitchen, pay staff etc. Planning starts from the time you are sending that quotation to the client to the time you are executing the service. Missing any bit of planning may lead to losses or mediocre service delivery leading to poor service delivery. It takes me approximately a week to plan for an event. Before launching a product, a company does various tests to ensure that all is well before it is considered good for human consumption. So before launching this product, ensure that everything is in the right place.
Bonus point
You should always be organized, clean, composed, and have customer excellence. Build lasting relationship with your clients, they are your ambassadors. Always aim to wow the guests, because they are your next clients. Proper accounting ensures that you are compliant hence can bid for high profile functions.
Chef Martin Ochieng, CEO Delicussy Catering Services Ltd.
Cell phone: +254780815916/+254720995671
Email: delicussycateringservices@gmail.com
Contact Person- Chef Martin
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