The Everything Guide to Starting and Running a Catering Business: Insider's Advice on Turning Your Talent into a Career (Everything: Business and Personal Finance)

I stumbled across this lovely little book a couple of weeks ago. At first I was disappointed that it was written in 2007. I normally only review "just released" books on Amazon. But I'm making an exception for this book because I want to have a record reminding me that it exists and is worthy of recommendation to my SCORE clients. I found the book to be both well organized and well written. It includes an introduction, 20 chapters and three appendices as follows: 0. Introduction 1. What is catering? 2. Understanding the catering industry 3. Required skills for a caterer 4. Getting started as a caterer 5. Researching your business opportunity 6. Developing a concept 7. Being a personal or private chef 8. Developing a catering menu 9. Pricing your services & menus 10. Developing a catering plan 11. Proposal writing 12. Marketing yourself 13. Marketing your business 14. Dealing with clients 15. Considerations as you grow 16. Partnering to grow your business 17. Catering challenges & equipment recommendations 18. Useful catering tips 19. Outsourcing 20. New trends in catering A. Resources & suggested reading B. Glossary C. Personal chef client info form (LDA Form) It would be so nice if there were more business books written using the Table of Contents for this book as a guide for startup guides on various small businesses. This book could easily be re-written for hair salons, landscaping companies, pizza shops, law offices, etc. It's really an outline for any startup and what should be considered when investigating, researching, and writing a sound business plan to use as a roadmap to success in starting a company. The business plan provided in this book included the following 8 parts: (1) Exec Summary, (2) Mission Statement, (3) Biz Overview, (4) Market Analysis, (5) Competitive Analysis, (6) Marketing Plan, (7) Operations Plan, & (8) Financial Plan. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to start a small business. Read it and rewrite it for the company you want to start. 6 stars! PS. I especially liked seeing the plug for SCORE-dot-org at page 126! Do you enjoy cooking for others? Is your buffet table a work of art? Are your parties the best in the neighborhood? Then catering may be a great career for you! It's all here-from getting licenses and choosing the perfect name to developing menus and getting the word out. Seasoned food expert and caterer Joyce Weinberg covers all aspects of the catering business and shares her secrets to success with you, including how to: Choose a specialty-fancy fundraisers, company and family picnics, or romantic weddings Learn the ropes before you start your business Create a marketing plan that gets your company noticed by all the right people Find clients and generate repeat customers The Everything® Guide to Starting and Running a Catering Business is all you need to make your passion your profession! Joyce Weinberg is a seasoned food industry professional with twenty years of catering and restaurant management experience. She designed and managed her own acclaimed restaurant and catering company, Beyond Measure, in Philadelphia. She founded New York Food Tours & Events, a Manhattan-based food tour and guided tasting-event business. Ms. Weinberg lives in New York, NY.