Catering Business or Working in a Restaurant
written by UltraJob
Preface: This article will help you to decide take informed decisions between a catering business and working in a restaurant.
Today, more and more people turn to catering and prepared food for their special events. Growing numbers of newly graduated chefs are striking out on their own, turning to this field for an alternative culinary career.
What is the difference between a catering business and working in a restaurant?
While both career choices are fast paced, catering has a different pace than working in a restaurant. A restaurant has fast hours, when people wait in line and the kitchen goes crazy. A catering business has fast days, when everything must be done at once and ready to go when the guests arrive. It involves coordinating all the dishes at one time-and usually with a smaller staff. People who open their own catering businesses often hire their own waiters, or serve the food themselves, so there's a lot more multi-tasking on the part of the catering staff. And while this may sound quick, catering also involves a lot of downtime. Hours may be spent planning menus with clients, experimenting with new tools and mapping out a day. After all, few catering companies cover special events seven days a week!
A catering business tends to be less steady than a restaurant. And if you're starting at the ground level, it's unlikely you'll be needed every day. If you start up your own catering business directly out of culinary school, you'll have to build your own reputation-and you won't have a storefront to lure people in. You'll rely on friends and connections for your business, which is guaranteed to be slow at times. And you'll have to invest in a lot of your own cooking supplies, which can be expensive.
If you're in culinary school and are considering working in catering when you complete your degree, you should take the time now to find a job or internship with a catering company. Not only will this provide a prospect for future employment once you finish your course work, but it will also give you a realistic, inside look at how the catering sector works.
Today, more and more people turn to catering and prepared food for their special events. Growing numbers of newly graduated chefs are striking out on their own, turning to this field for an alternative culinary career.
What is the difference between a catering business and working in a restaurant?
While both career choices are fast paced, catering has a different pace than working in a restaurant. A restaurant has fast hours, when people wait in line and the kitchen goes crazy. A catering business has fast days, when everything must be done at once and ready to go when the guests arrive. It involves coordinating all the dishes at one time-and usually with a smaller staff. People who open their own catering businesses often hire their own waiters, or serve the food themselves, so there's a lot more multi-tasking on the part of the catering staff. And while this may sound quick, catering also involves a lot of downtime. Hours may be spent planning menus with clients, experimenting with new tools and mapping out a day. After all, few catering companies cover special events seven days a week!
A catering business tends to be less steady than a restaurant. And if you're starting at the ground level, it's unlikely you'll be needed every day. If you start up your own catering business directly out of culinary school, you'll have to build your own reputation-and you won't have a storefront to lure people in. You'll rely on friends and connections for your business, which is guaranteed to be slow at times. And you'll have to invest in a lot of your own cooking supplies, which can be expensive.
If you're in culinary school and are considering working in catering when you complete your degree, you should take the time now to find a job or internship with a catering company. Not only will this provide a prospect for future employment once you finish your course work, but it will also give you a realistic, inside look at how the catering sector works.
October 11, 2007 at 12:01 PM
Great post! I may be referencing this in the future!