Become a Caterer - Become a Personal Chef - Start a Catering Business

become a caterer

Become a Caterer or Become a Personal Chef

Start Your Own Catering Business or Personal Chef Business

Imagine having a rewarding high-paying job that lets you use your creativity and love of cooking as a caterer or personal chef.

Caterers and personal chefs both offer food services to a variety of clients. Caterers are hired to provide food, beverages, and service for functions ranging from an intimate dinner party to weddings, conferences, and other events for hundreds or even thousands of people. Personal chefs are hired to prepare a limited number of meals for individual families or to provide in-home catering for small dinner parties.

Both careers give you the opportunity to enjoy the freedom of having your own business.

Even if you have no formal cooking training, you can start your own catering business or personal chef business or do both.

With thousands of catered events taking place throughout North America every day, there is tremendous demand for caterers. Catering is a multi-billion dollar a year industry, and is one of the fastest growing food service segments in the U.S. As long as couples get married and corporations host annual parties and conferences, caterers will be needed.

Personal chef services are also in great demand. According to Entrepreneur Magazine, the personal chef business is among the fastest-growing in the country and one of the best home-businesses to start this year. Annual revenue from personal chef businesses is expected to hit $1.2 billion by 2010.

If being a caterer or personal chef sounds like the career of your dreams, the FabJob Guide to Become a Caterer or Personal Chef is for you! In this e-book you will discover how you can successfully start a catering business or personal chef business.

Guide author Lex Thomas started a successful catering and personal chef business which served clients in the United States for six years. In this guide she shares with you her own experiences as well as insider tips and expert advice from other successful caterers and personal chefs.

The guide covers topics of vital importance to anyone who wants to start a catering business or become a personal chef in North America, including:

Getting Ready to Become a Caterer or Personal Chef

Ways to develop your food preparation skills
Setting up your own recipe catalog
How to quickly get practical experience through volunteer work
How to create a business plan for your catering business or personal chef business
Choosing a business name for your catering company or personal chef business
Getting start-up financing for your business
Getting paid experience before you become a caterer or personal chef

Types of food industry jobs
Types of employers (restaurants, hotels, private clubs, seasonal facilities, caterers, etc.)
What employers are looking for
Tips for preparing a resume and portfolio (includes sample resume, sample cover letter, and sample thank you letter)

Starting a Catering Business

Deciding what services to offer as a caterer:

Full-service catering
Corporate catering
Custom catering

Types of events you can cater (buffet, formal dinner, cocktail party)
Menu-planning for caterers
Equipment and supplies you need for your catering business (dishes, silverware, glassware, linens, etc.) and whether to rent, buy or use disposables
Working with food suppliers
How to do a client consultation
Setting your prices (including service charges and gratuities)
How to prepare a catering estimate (including how to deal with possible food price fluctuations)
Preparing a catering contract (includes a sample)
Getting a deposit and arranging for final payment
What to do about cancellations
Scheduling what needs to be done to prepare for a catered event
Tips on quantity cooking and cooking for children
Transporting prepared food
Helpful samples for your catering business, including:

Sample menus for dinners and receptions
Sample client consultation form
Sample estimate
Sample contract
Sample schedule
Sample invoice

Starting a Personal Chef Business

Deciding what personal chef services to offer:

Fresh versus frozen service
Regularly scheduled personal chef services
Occasional or on call personal chef services

Ways to specialize as a personal chef:

By type of client
By type of cuisine (organic, vegetarian, etc.)

Tips for selecting menu items

How much variety to offer
Styles of cooking and ingredients to choose from and avoid
Nutritional analysis and special diets

What to keep in stock in your home pantry
Best places to shop for ingredients
A tip for meeting minimum order requirements with suppliers
Preparing a shopping list to maximize your efficiency
How to do a client consultation (includes a sample personal chef client questionnaire)
Setting your fees for personal chef services
Tips for scheduling your clients and planning a timeline (includes sample)
Strategies for handling complaints
Useful tips for providing personal chef services:

A checklist of what to take with you on the go
Standard portion sizes
Freezing food
Labeling and cooking instructions
Sanitary food handling
Cleaning up (including what not to leave behind)

Helpful samples, including:

Sample entrée and side dish menu
Sample shopping list
Sample client questionnaire
Sample invoice
Sample timeline

Running a Catering or Personal Chef Business

Setting up your professional kitchen (including where to find kitchens, renting versus buying, licenses and permits)
How to find and hire great service staff
How to market your catering business or personal chef business, including:

How to create a marketing plan
Sample slogans that can get your phone ringing
Sample press release to get free publicity
Creative ways to market your business

Providers of professional liability insurance for caterers and personal chefs
Setting up your catering or personal chef office
Computer software that can help you manage your recipes and business

You can have all this and more for an incredible price. It can cost hundreds of dollars to take courses on starting a business, and chances are they will not include specific information about starting a catering business or personal chef business. The FabJob Guide to Become a Caterer or Personal Chef contains some of the best business advice you could get from other sources, plus much more.

It can save you many hours of research, help you avoid some common mistakes, and give you information you need to start your own catering business or personal chef business.

This guide has been selling for up to $39.95 U.S. SPECIAL OFFER: If you buy the guide today, Thursday, March 11, 2010 you can have this valuable insider information for the incredible price of only $29.97. You can earn back the price of the guide your very first day in business. Plus this guide can help you start a catering business or personal chef business much more quickly and profitably.

If you believe you deserve to have the career of your dreams, this guide is for you. It gives you what you need to know to start a catering business or become a personal chef.

Don't miss the opportunity to have the career of your dreams. If you are undecided, take advantage of our guarantee. Buy it, read it, and if you are not satisfied, your money will be refunded.

Ordering is fast, easy and safe. You will receive your guide within minutes.

The guide is an e-book (a file we send to you by email which you can immediately read on your computer). It includes photos and you can adjust the type size to make it as pleasant to read as possible. If you prefer to read the guide on paper you can print a copy from your own computer.

Bonus CD-ROM Also Available: If you would like to have a back-up or spare copy of the guide, you can have it on CD-ROM for only $5 more (plus $5 shipping and handling). You will also receive the e-book so you can read it immediately.

Click here to order your copy of the guide now

Satisfaction guarantee: We are so confident that this guide can help you achieve your dreams, we will give you a refund if you decide within 30 days of purchase that you are not satisfied with the information contained in the guide. Buy now.

start a catering business become a personal chef

197 pages

Availability: You can have this e-book within minutes. Ordering is fast, easy, and safe. (Also available on CD-ROM.)

FabJob.com was featured in the June, 2005 issue of Woman's Day Magazine ("Dare to Dream" article).

"The FabJob Guide to Become a Caterer or Personal Chef gives you the information you need to get started and succeed in this fun and profitable career. And you'll learn some 'tricks of the trade' from top caterers and chefs."
- Lex Thomas

FabJob Guides have been featured in stories at The Wall Street Journal and Entrepreneur Magazine sites

The FabJob Guide to Become a Caterer or Personal Chef explains how to become a caterer and how to become a personal chef, how to start a catering business, how to start a personal chef business, or how to have your own business as both a caterer and personal chef.