Marketing Your Catering Business

You enjoy cooking, planning and working with people so much you chose to pursue an education in catering. Have you obtained the necessary licenses and certificates required to run a catering business? Have you drawn out your plans for your catering business? Did you receive approval for the business loan you inquired about to help you build the catering business you've been dreaming about? Great! Now, you should be ready to move on with your next step: marketing your catering business so you can earn the income you've been working so hard to achieve.

Let's discuss a few of the many ways one can market his or her catering services, shall we? It will be up to you to decide which ways you want to market and how busy you want to be. Some caterers prefer to do only weddings and those caterers still make a good income, but there are also caterers who want to market to many for a larger income. Select the preferences you feel are right for you and start marketing!

Notify the Media About Your Catering Business

As soon as your business is up and running, write-up and send a press release to all the newspapers and radio stations in the areas you wish to labor in. Make sure the release tells about you, your education and your services. Create a catchy headline and make the content of your release persuasive. In other words, sell yourself through words.

If you don't believe you can write an effective press release, hire a writer to do it for you. Some writers charge up to $200 for this service and others may charge a little less. Shop around and you'll find a writer to assist you in no time.

Start a Catering Business Web site

The Internet has become a very popular place to promote, and several people now search the Internet for services they need, products they're looking for and much more. Get your catering business in front of those people by creating a Web site or having one built for you. Make sure your Web site is search engine friendly, gives information about you, your business and your education (to show your experience), provides a list of your current and past clients, includes your pricing information and the type of services you offer, mentions the areas you travel to, and any other information that you feel will "sell" you to Web shoppers.

Parties and Showers

With a catering business, you could do birthday parties, anniversary parties, wedding showers, baby showers, family parties and/or celebrity parties. For birthday parties, you can advertise in newspapers. Place your advertisement in the newspapers located in the areas you wish to travel to. If you only wish to cater in your local area, then advertise in your local newspapers. The same marketing technique can be applied for wedding showers, baby showers and family parties. Just be sure each advertisement is written to fit that specific party or shower.

Marketing your catering business to celebrities may be a tough one, but it is possible to get your name in front of them. One way would be to create the Web site I discussed above. Another way would be to research the celebrities. Find out what newspapers and magazines they read then place an advertisement in those publications. In addition, if you hear about a celebrity who is having a party or baby shower, you can always whip up a convincing sales letter and send it to them. Alternatively, if you know the name and address of the person hosting their party or shower, send your sales letter to that person. Your sales letter should also include a business card, brochure and price sheet. If you decide to do celebrity parties, showers and etc., prepare yourself to travel, unless you live in an area where some or many of the celebrities live.

Create some flyers to hang up around local department stores, grocery stores, convenient stores, restaurants and etc. Be sure the flyers you create are tear-off flyers, and have the part that interested prospects will tear off to include the name of your catering business, your name, your phone number and your Web site.

Conferences and Meetings

Many employers have meetings and conferences for their employees, and many of these employers hire caterers to serve their employees. To really market to businesses, you need not be shy. Pay a visit to businesses in the areas you plan to work in, ask to speak with the manager, and leave a sales packet with him in case he ever needs a caterer for a conference or meeting. Your sales packet should include a business card, sales letter, brochure, a list of clients and companies you've worked for in the past, and a price sheet so they will have an idea of what it will cost to hire you.

Classes

Market to colleges and universities in the areas you plan to work. Many colleges and universities sometimes set up short classes for individuals, and when they arrange these classes, they usually offer some kind of refreshments, lunch or dinner. One way you can market to colleges and universities is through the college or university's newspaper, newsletter or magazine. In addition, you can run an advertisement in magazines for colleges and universities.

Fund-Raisers

Many schools, churches, non-profit organizations, businesses and etc. plan annual fund-raisers. Check listings in the areas you wish to work in for these annual fund-raising events. Once you have found the listings in those areas, contact the place hosting the fund-raiser and market your catering business to them. The best person to contact is usually the fund-raiser's organizer.

Speaking Events

Writers, college professors and many others plan speaking events to promote themselves and to share their expertise. Run advertisements in publications for these type people to get your catering business noticed.

Family Dinners

Usually the wealthy and rich folks have their Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, New Years and other dinner parties catered. Run an advertisement in publications geared toward the wealthy and rich folks. Most of the time a publication will share their demographics with the public, these demographics will tell you their subscribers' annual household income and other information that will help you determine if the largest percentage of their subscribers are wealthy or rich.

That concludes the list of places and ways you can market your catering business. However, before I end the article, I would like to leave you with one other tip: When marketing your catering business, have your advertisement and sales package announce that you offer free food samples. Offering free food samples to your clients will give them an idea of what they can expect; many people like to "try before they buy," so give your clients the opportunity to do just that.