Employee & Freelancer Expenses

$151

$352

Website Costs

$223

$7,215

Business Formation Fees

$600

$4,700

Equipment & Supply Expenses

$66

$1,200

Retail Business Expenses

$1,250

$11,650

Inventory Expenses

$350

$14,750

Food Business Expenses

$2,125

$36,000

Vehicle Expenses

$2

$10,004

Advertising & Marketing Costs

$75

$5,286

Software Expenses

$150

$2,420

Total Startup Costs

$4,992

$93,577

UCLA Conferences & Catering

conferences.ucla.edu

2,352

Chipotle

chipotle.com

6,595

University of Notre Dame Catering

catering.nd.edu

8,055

WSU University Catering

catering.wsu.edu

9,547

KSU Catering

catering.kennesaw.edu

15,034

IU Catering

catering.indiana.edu

18,572

USU Catering

catering.usu.edu

22,007

ezCater

ezcater.com

30,542

Qdoba

catering.qdoba.com

81,428

Hospitality recruitment at Caterer.com – find hotel, restaurant, chef & bar jobs today

caterer.com

129,412

Fogo de Chão

fogodechao.com

131,605

Flexibility

You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own.

Ability to start your business from home

It's not necessary to have a physical storefront or office space to get your business started. You can do everything from the comfort of your own home, at least in the beginning!

Little startup costs required

The cost to start a catering business costs significantly less money than most businesses, ranging anywhere from 62 to 93,577.

Meaningful business connections

You never know who you will meet as a catering business. This could be the start of an incredible business opportunity!

High customer retention rates

Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer.

Pick & choose the clients you work with

Catering Businesses have the ability to choose the clients they work with. You have the freedom to work with only a few loyal clients or with hundreds of clients!

Low margins

The gross margins for your catering business are typically around 11%, which can make it more challenging to incur new expenses and maintain profitability.

High employee turnover

In the catering business, employee turnover is often high, which can be quite costly and time consuming for your business. It's important to try and avoid this as much as possible by offering competitive pay, benefits, and a positive work environment.

Taxes

As a catering business, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it.

Niche Market

A niche business is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can be the key to your success. However, it can be more challenging and time consuming to find the perfect niche market and target audience.

High overhead expenses

With starting a catering business, there are overhead expenses that come with selling a physical product. You will want to make sure you strategically budget for these overhead costs. We discuss this more in the startup costs section below.

You may need to charge sales tax

If you are selling your products in various states, you may be required to charge sales tax. Although this may not impact your financials specifically, it can be a headache to create a process and procedure for this. To learn more about sales tax, check out this article