The catering services business in Lagos is no doubt lucrative because of its many opportunities.
Rendering your services to people in preparing meals for them in a large quantity is now a trend in Nigeria, and making a good arrangement of the people that will serve those meals is great.
Do you really need lucrative opportunities for business in Lagos?
Are you that skillful in cooking different types of meals? Do your have a talent in kitchen that is something beyond cooking? Are you that versatile in baking?
Can you prepare a good meal for more than one thousand people without any mistake? Are you that obstinate of making cool money with that your God-given baking and cooking skills?
If yes, then you need to exercise patience and read through this piece – for it contains all the required information you will need in starting a catering service.
A catering business is viewed as the act of exchanging well-cooked, baked, and palatable foods for a huge amount of money and vice versa.
Your client pays you money for a certain quantity of meals and you serve them accordingly, haven’t deducted all the capital you used to incur the business, you will still maximize your profit. Isn’t this what catering is all about?
10 Steps To Start A Profitable Catering Business In Lagos Nigeria
If you are that passionate to becoming a caterer, then you need to understand some elements which is very crucial to be known before you can be recognized as one.
1. Decide
To start a catering business in Lagos, you need to decide whether to base your service as an indoor or outdoor caterer, if it is only a birthday service you will be rendering, is it a hostels or wedding ceremony program your niche will base on?
A restaurant in Lagos, fast food or a canteen?
Or you are going to serve anybody that needs your delicacies provided they pay you well, all this is what you really need to decide on before going into catering business proper.
2. Training / Skill Acquisition
Haven’t decided which niche you will go for, what is next for you is to go for weeks or months of training irrespective of how good you are in the kitchen. You need the training basically to acquire a certificate so that you will also be recognized in the world of catering business.
Certificate is not enough, you need some legal tender to get your business permit and license from Food and drug regulatory body.
This body oversees any business relating to food and drug, they access and test your ability on this particular field, the equipment you are to use and the environment you will be making use of.
If you meet their standard then you on the right track.
3. Choose A Name
Which name will you name your kitchen?
Name is another essential part of starting this business, your name will serve as the avenue which people will be used to distinguish you from other catering services.
Catchy names will attract more customers to patronize you.
For instance, if your name should reach a premium brand, everyone will long to eat your onions. This is the power of a name, if you don’t have a name then your business will not be known probably it won’t move.
4. Create A Menu
Creating a menu is another important aspect you shouldn’t skip if you really want your business to be a profitable one.
You should prepare your menu so that your clients can know what to order from you.
You need to making sure that all the type of delicacies you deal with are entrenched in the menu list, in case you have people who don’t eat meat as a customer, your menu list should contain vegetable service as well, to crown it all, fixed price should be written side by side of each items.
Try to have as many as you could a menu list just to suit the taste of your customers.
Mind you, your menu list should be portable and something affordable, all items contained therein should be what you can easily find in the market.
5. Find A Location
Since you’ve made up your mind to venture into catering, you need to find a place to put all your working materials or aids, you also need a permanent place where customers can locate you easily.
Look for somewhere neat and place all your equipment there, but if you are operating on a small scale, cooking in your home isn’t a bad idea.
6. Set Up A Kitchen
As a caterer, you will be cooking in a large quantity hence your kitchen must be distinct from the one in your house.
All instruments you are to be used must be bigger I.e industrial materials and it should be costly than the ones to be used at home.
7. Materials / Equipment
Here, you need all that it takes to cook and to serve, if you bake as well you will need all materials to be used. The following are materials an ideal caterer should have;
- Pots of different size
- Knifes
- Spoons of different size
- Cooling van
- Serving plate
- Utensils
- Storage containers
- Turning sticks etc.
8. Hire staffs
A catering business is not a business of an individual, you will need to employ people to help you out in carrying this and that, people who will help you in serving the guest, those to pack and wash plate, and host of others.
9. Create A Website
Websites are the new forms of telling people what your business is all about.
With the rise in technology, designing a good website for your catering business will boo more engagements to potential clients, and a client living in Kaduna or Lagos, Or Onitsha can call you and know more about just by visiting your website.
An online presence will add more advantage over your competitors and help spread your reason to be in business.
10. Advertise
Go and advertise your catering service business to a lot of potential clients. Create a banner, poster, flyer and circulate it to most people who sell bridal equipment.
Advertise in radio stations, Facebook pages and also advertise with some Nigerian blogs.
If you should follow the above steps thoroughly, starting a catering service won’t give you a headache rather you will have a smooth sail in the cause of starting.