Posted by: CTC Training
There’s nothing more rewarding than sharing your passion with the world. Starting a catering business allows you to share your love of food while developing your catering skills and growing your brand.
You’ll get to be your own boss, set your own hours and discover what it takes to make it in the catering industry. Delicious!
Interested in starting your own catering business? In this guide we explain everything to consider before you start.
Earn Qualifications
There are two qualifications you must obtain before starting your catering business:
The Level 2 Award in Food Safety for Catering teaches learners how to maintain good personal and workplace hygiene. Completion of the course allows learners to take responsibility for food safety in a catering environment and understand how to keep food safe from contamination.
Earning this qualification is mandatory; it is illegal to prepare food without first demonstrating your knowledge in food safety training.
The Level 2 Award in Fire Safety Principles is an introductory course in fire safety awareness. It is the perfect entry-level option when it comes to fire safety training for employees and will help the participant become a fire marshal at work.
Both of these qualifications can be completed through CTC Training. The courses will be run at your venue on a date and time specified by you.
You must complete The Level 2 Award in Food Safety for Catering and the Level 2 Award in Fire Safety Principles. Both of these courses are available through CTC Training.
Find Your Niche
A key foundation of any successful business is finding a niche and building around it. While you may love all types of food, it’s important to hone in one or a small number of cuisines. Your brand will suffer if you don’t have an established identity, and the quality of your food will suffer if you oversaturate your menu. The best advice is to find what you’re best at and focus all your efforts on making it great.
Focus on one or a small number of cuisines rather than a wide selection.
Register Your Business
You need to apply for food business registration if you want to sell food in the UK. This can be done for free on the government website, but it will need to be completed at least 28 days before you begin selling food to the public.
Apply for food business registration on the government website.
Obtain Catering Insurance
Insurance is crucial for protecting you and your workers against a number of possible scenarios. There are many different types of insurance, all with various policies and levels of cover.
It is important to inspect all the different types of catering insurance and obtain those that apply to your business.
Catering insurance includes:
- Catering public liability insurance
- Catering employer’s liability insurance
- Catering van insurance
- Business interruption insurance
- Stock insurance
- Business content insurance
Take out catering insurance to protect yourself against all eventualities.
Acquire Catering Equipment
Make sure you have all the necessary equipment you need to run your catering business successfully. Plan which utensils you’ll need to carry out your job and ensure you have a safe, clean and suitably sized place to store it all.
Catering equipment/utensils include:
- Knives
- Forks
- Spoons
- Spatulas
- Ladles
- Mashers
- Chopping boards
- Scissors
- Scales
- Mixing bowls
- Tin openers
- Graters
You’ll also need to consider other kitchen supplies, including:
- Kitchen roll
- Tin foil
- Clingfilm
- Washing-up liquid
You should also consider whether you’re going to be a mobile or stationary caterer. If you will be travelling round, you’ll need a suitable catering van or trailer.
Gather all the equipment you need to run your business. Don’t forget about hiring a van or trailer if you plan on being a mobile caterer.
CTC Training offers the qualifications you need to start your catering business, among a range of other online training to help learners develop their careers. We pride ourselves on being flexible, which is why you can complete the online courses at your leisure.
You’ll gain access to our 24/7 online portal, where you can access course content and upload assessments on a schedule that suits you. For courses that require in-person assessments, we let you choose the date and time, and then we’ll come to you.
If you’re interested in enrolling on a course with CTC Training, book online or contact our team.
