If you are going to be a professional caterer you have to get used to bidding on jobs. You will also have to come up with some creative ideas to establish yourself in the market and build your client base. This is especially true when your new company consists mostly of yourself, with a few friends willing to help serve when you need them. With some careful thought, you can intrigue executives and win bids for corporate catering Biloxi competitors wanted for themselves.
Listening to your clients and discovering exactly what they want to achieve with their business events, is very important. The marketing director may be anxious to impress a superior for instance. If you can offer suggestions to keep her project under budget without sacrificing quality, you will have an interested potential client. A simple suggestion is to fore go the obligatory cocktail hour and formal sit down dinner and replace it with an elegant cocktail reception complete with chef attended action stations.
An open bar, with unlimited alcoholic choices, can eat up a budget. You might suggest limiting the bar to specialty beers provided by local microbreweries and relatively unknown, but award winning, wines. If you present these as unique opportunities for guests to sample beverages not normally offered, most will choose them over the usual whiskies.
Controlling food portions is another way to keep the budget in check. People love buffets and food stations, but they tend to pile as much food as possible onto their plates. Formal dinners require china, cutlery, and additional staff, but this extra cost is more than made up for in the food savings. Servers circulating the room with hors d'oeuvre filled trays are much more cost effective than a pre-dinner buffet.
If asked, you can express your opinion about the choice of venues. The marketing director may be more focused on the room amenities and parking spaces than whether or not the venue has a fully functioning kitchen. If it does, the caterer won't have to supply a generator or portable oven. Allowing the caterer to pick up during regular business hours will eliminate extra charges.
Steak and lobster may be the marketing director's first choice when it comes to the menu selection because these are items commonly served. If she is open to suggestions, you could offer different ideas, like braised meats accompanied by local fruits and vegetables. If appropriate, an ethnic menu will get the guests talking and engaged.
One easy way to cut down on the cost, that no one will ever notice, is to opt for one style of china and glassware for each dinner course. You don't have to spend a lot of extra money on special glasses for the bar either. Standard glasses make a lot more sense.
Succeeding in the catering business can be tricky. You will have plenty of talented competition vying for the most prestigious jobs. In order to build your client base, you have to be attentive to the needs of your customers and deliver the best food and service in the business.
Listening to your clients and discovering exactly what they want to achieve with their business events, is very important. The marketing director may be anxious to impress a superior for instance. If you can offer suggestions to keep her project under budget without sacrificing quality, you will have an interested potential client. A simple suggestion is to fore go the obligatory cocktail hour and formal sit down dinner and replace it with an elegant cocktail reception complete with chef attended action stations.
An open bar, with unlimited alcoholic choices, can eat up a budget. You might suggest limiting the bar to specialty beers provided by local microbreweries and relatively unknown, but award winning, wines. If you present these as unique opportunities for guests to sample beverages not normally offered, most will choose them over the usual whiskies.
Controlling food portions is another way to keep the budget in check. People love buffets and food stations, but they tend to pile as much food as possible onto their plates. Formal dinners require china, cutlery, and additional staff, but this extra cost is more than made up for in the food savings. Servers circulating the room with hors d'oeuvre filled trays are much more cost effective than a pre-dinner buffet.
If asked, you can express your opinion about the choice of venues. The marketing director may be more focused on the room amenities and parking spaces than whether or not the venue has a fully functioning kitchen. If it does, the caterer won't have to supply a generator or portable oven. Allowing the caterer to pick up during regular business hours will eliminate extra charges.
Steak and lobster may be the marketing director's first choice when it comes to the menu selection because these are items commonly served. If she is open to suggestions, you could offer different ideas, like braised meats accompanied by local fruits and vegetables. If appropriate, an ethnic menu will get the guests talking and engaged.
One easy way to cut down on the cost, that no one will ever notice, is to opt for one style of china and glassware for each dinner course. You don't have to spend a lot of extra money on special glasses for the bar either. Standard glasses make a lot more sense.
Succeeding in the catering business can be tricky. You will have plenty of talented competition vying for the most prestigious jobs. In order to build your client base, you have to be attentive to the needs of your customers and deliver the best food and service in the business.
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