Category: Catering

When you are working within the catering industry, you are likely going to need to make any food you are offering on your services in bulk. Before you decide what food to offer in your catering service, read through our list of some of the easiest foods to make in bulk.

Pasta has to be one of the easiest products to cook in bulk, and what’s better, you can offer this is a variety of different flavours. Pasta is super simple to cook, with most only needing to be on the hob in water for 10 minutes. Cooking this and enjoying it cold at an event is easy to do. Mixing the cooked pasta with a sauce of the customer’s choice, making for a super simple meal.

Finger sandwiches are also super easy to make in bulk. A loaf of bread can make a large number of finger-sized sandwiches. With you being able to offer a range of simple fillings, this won’t take you long to make up before an event.

When working within the catering industry, you need to find the best packaging possible. Ideally, you want something cheap yet reliable. So, what is going to be the best packaging option?

Cardboard packaging boxes are one of the best choices. These are good for transporting food in, being recyclable, affordable and of high quality. You can purchase these boxes in bulk making for an effective business purchase.

However, sometimes cardboard isn’t the best option with some foods making a bigger mess or having juices. In these cases, plastic containers will be best for you. These can come in a variety of sizes, to hold different pallets of foods in one place. These are commonly used to keep foods like cakes, fresher for longer.

These are the two best packaging options that are most affordable for the catering industry. It is up to you which one you decide to use for your catering business.

Catering for a kids birthday party can be extremely difficult. And what can make it more challenging is when you are catering for this from home to be hosted at home! When you are lacking space but still want to cater amazingly for every child needs and likes. So, what are our tips when catering for a kids birthday at home?

Firstly, you want to think about your audience. Grab a list of some favourite foods for all the children. Having these lists will help you to decide what food is a must-have for the party to please all of the children.

When you are catering for children, you also need to remember about it being balanced. A lot of children will choose to go for unhealthy food. So, try your best to have a selection of fruits available for the children to enjoy.

When starting out in the catering world, it is likely that you will be offering this service from your own home. So, today we are going to share with you some of our tips when you are catering from your home.

Step 1 – Organise Your Kitchen
Before you even begin offering a catering service from your home, you want to organise your current kitchen. You want to work out your storage situation. Know exactly where food will be going that is for your home life. As well as where your ingredients will be going that you need for your catering service. The organisation in your kitchen is most important when running a catering business from your home.

Step 2 – Cleanliness
When you are working as a caterer from your home, you will need to have your kitchen inspected to ensure it is safe for food. This means your kitchen needs to be extremely clean. Before you book in for your inspection, make sure you have cleaned every aspect of your kitchen to be able to show a clean and safe area for work.

Step 3 – Packaging
One aspect that home caterers tend to forget is the packaging. You do need to have packaging for your goods. If you are someone who is catering for events, this can be fairly large. You need to ensure you have somewhere practical to store this and remember to use it.

These are just a few of the steps that you need to take to ensure you are able to cater effectively from your home. It is important to remember catering from your home is no different to using a large warehouse. You still need to follow the same regulations as safety is always the number one priority especially in the food industry.

Working in catering is the dream for some people. Whether this is catering full events, or providing people with food-related gifts to suit their needs, the options in the catering industry are endless. But, today we are going to share with you what you need to know when starting out in the catering world.

When you are starting your own catering career, there are many things that you will need to consider. The first and most important is your food license. When working with food you need to ensure that you have your own food license and a hygiene rating to display. This ensures that you are safe to be selling any food-related products from your premises.

You will also need to decide what kind of catering you want to invest yourself into. Do you want to be someone who caters meals for events? Someone who provides the sweet treats? Or someone who is making bespoke gifts that people can share with friends and family? Whichever option you choose you need to complete research into what you will need tool wise to begin with.

With any catering business, you will need to know what food you are using. Research where you can source your ingredients to create your products. This will help you to discover what your pricing needs to be and how much profit you can make.

With any business, the starting point is research. Before you even come up with your business name and idea, you need to research. Research everything you can think of, speak to other people in the industry and get your head right in the game from the first step. The last thing you want to do is miss a vital piece of information right at the beginning.

Baking is a popular hobby, what with all the programmes that are now on television and baking becoming more mainstream. However, if you work as a professional cook and want to bake, the circumstances are going to be very different because:

• You have time pressures
• You need to make bigger batches
• You don’t have the opportunity to get it wrong – you are selling this food

The right equipment helps your baking to be a success. Think about investing in:

• New tins. Tins should be replaced regularly, and you should buy ones that are big enough to accommodate larger batches.
• A cake mixer. For mixing dough, you simply cannot get better results than with a cake mixer. Use a handheld whisk if this isn’t something you can purchase.
• An oven thermometer. If you cook on different sites regularly, you will be using different ovens all the time. You need to make sure they are showing the correct temperature, or your cakes, cookies and sweets could burn.

The New Year is so nearly here. If you have a passion for catering and it is something that you have begun to get more serious about, you should think about launching your own business. What better time to start than in the New Year?

You will have a good opportunity to start a new business if you are passionate about what you do. Do you love cooking? Do you really like entertaining? Is catering something you take a real interest in? If this is the case, you should seriously think about making it your career.

If you haven’t worked in a kitchen before, start by getting some experience. This will also indicate to you whether or not you enjoy it. If you do, continue to build up your experience and then move on to putting the wheels in motion for your own business. Make connections, network, and enjoy food as much as possible.

A catering business is still a business. Whilst food may be your bread and butter, so to speak, there are also many business skills you will need to pick up. This is especially true if you want to expand and grow your catering business.

First, you must make sure you have the infrastructure in place to grow. Can your suppliers deal with larger orders? Will they be able to meet with your new demands and deliver ingredients when you need them to? Talk to your catering supply manager to see what they can offer you.

If you need to begin taking on staff, look for skilled catering professionals who will be able to slip into the role easily. Think about taking on chefs and waiting staff who will understand the industry and who may have relevant qualifications in areas like food preparation, service and hygiene. They will be your biggest asset as you expand.

The catering manager performs an integral role within a company. They are responsible for ensuring the catering quality is high, managing any other members of the team to deliver excellent catering services. Much of the business you receive will be down to your catering manager so it is important to hire the right person for the role.

Look for someone who is an experienced caterer but also an experienced manager and innovative thinker. They will need to have a strong food-related background, with food and hygiene qualifications as well as plenty of practical, hands on experience in the kitchen. However, they will also need to be able to think of new, fresh ideas and come up with menu concepts that work across the board.

Interview catering managers thoroughly to find out why they want the role and what experience they have. Passion and enthusiasm will get people a long way in the pressurised catering industry, so make sure they have this.