Category: Event Catering

London has now launched an overnight service on its Victoria and Central underground services. The first weekend saw more than 100,000 journeys being completed, so it could prove popular. The hope is that it will also prove popular with the catering industry.

Before overnight tubes were introduced, people had to rely exclusively on transport like taxis and buses to travel at night. This might cut a night short due to the time taken to get home, or the price of the journey. By giving people more options to stay out later, it’s hoped that this will give restaurants, bars and other entertainment venues a boost.

The food and drink industries are excited by these changes and hope that it will mean more revenue for them. The industry makes a large percentage of its income during weekends and evenings, so anything that helps people to make the most of eating and drinking at these times is a welcome change.

It’s also hoped that night tubes will help those working in the catering and events industries. It will give workers more flexible transport options, and provide them with a safe way of travelling home late at night after a shift.

If you’re able to cater for events, there are lots of opportunities for you to grow and develop your business. It’s an area where your skills are going to be in demand, and where people will be willing to pay well to get exactly where they want. Here are some of the ways to get the message out about your event catering:

• Advertise. Create professional artwork and make sure that it is seen by as many people as possible. This could include putting up posters and handing out flyers in relevant places.
• Collaborate. Work with venues that hold events so that you have advocates for your business. If they’re happy to recommend you, this can really boost your business when people book their venue.
• Research. A large part of finding new opportunities is knowing how and where to find them. Look for relevant venues and research some trends to see the kinds of people who might want to use your services.
• Communicate. Build up relationships that are strong and ongoing. Don’t just work for someone once – give them you business card and put in a phone call every once in a while to check whether any more work might be available. Be as personable and friendly as you can be.
• Upsell. Make sure that you have lots of different menu options and added extras like catering equipment and room decorations. This will make you as versatile as possible.

Themed parties should be a spectacle from beginning to end, and that includes the food. If an event has a theme, it has to be done wholeheartedly or it can end up lacking the energy and enthusiasm which it needs to succeed. Everything needs to play its part in the overall concept in order to deliver an event which is as believable, fun and entertaining as possible.

You’ll need to know in plenty of advance what the theme is going to incorporate so that you can plan the food accordingly. Be as imaginative as you like; guests will appreciate the creativity. Make sure it’s obvious what each dish is meant to be, however, as you don’t want to end up letting the theme down and causing confusion. Cupcakes are always a good option as they can be made into a variety of shapes using all kinds of different colours. If you are labelling your food, you can give it an imaginative name to fit with the theme rather than just describing what it is. For example, if you’re catering for a Halloween party, call your cupcakes ‘spooky sweet treats’.

Whilst it’s integral to the success of the event for you to embrace the theme, you cannot forget the quality of the food either. This is if anything more important than the theme – your food will always reflect on you as a caterer so ensure that it tastes as good as it looks.

There are plenty of different catering courses to choose between, and whether you’re looking to go to a college, or looking to have one-on-one sessions with a catering tutor, you can pick up the skills very quickly.

Obviously, if you’re a natural in the kitchen, you will have a head start, but you have to put in the time to reap the rewards. The more you study, practice and prepare, the better you will be when you get your own project underway.

Even if you have a basic understanding on catering and little kitchen experience, you’ll learn the basics and improve your skills on a catering course. The more passion you have, the more successful you will be, and many people have their own dream of setting up a catering business and you could be next.

The catering industry can be a pretty exciting place to work, and has a number of differences to the wider restaurant industry. For instance, you’re often required to make different dishes, while in a restaurant you’ll often find yourself repeating the same dishes year after year. In this sense, it can be quite challenging.

Another big part of catering is logistics, whereby you need to deliver the food after it’s made as quickly as possible to the event taking place. It has a number of roles which aren’t in other sections of the food industry, including a driver for the food. Sometimes however, you may find yourself needing to have a transportable kitchen – preparing food at the event, in front of the guests.

Catering services are something which typically makes people think about a wedding, but they can be used for any number of events. If you’re involved in a business networking group, which tends to meet during the morning, then you can probably appreciate this fact.

Business networking groups typically do supply some food during their events, largely because it can help to generate enthusiasm for the event. As these things tend to take place in the morning, before normal working hours, it is also a matter of convenience as well. As the guests can depend on there being some food during the event, they don’t need to be too concerned about missing out on breakfast. All of this contributes towards making the event a continual success.

Whether your networking group numbers less than twenty people or more than fifty, making sure that they have some food available to them can be a massive benefit to the event.