The weather is turning colder, the leaves are off the trees, and Halloween decorations are everywhere: it’s the holiday season. That means that we’re entering the busiest and most profitable time of the year for catering services. FSR Magazine has a great piece about how to pull off holiday catering without losing your money or your mind. The big takeaways are that you should know what you can realistically provide, let people know what your services are, and not take on huge jobs just because they are profitable.

Before getting into catering, you should ask yourself what services you can provide and figure out what your capabilities and costs are. Research what sorts of food travel and hold well, and train staff to be knowledgable about the food and polite and helpful with clients. Don’t take enormous jobs with a high payout that you know you don’t actually have the capacity to do. Many restaurants make the mistake of jumping from catering 50-person events to catering 500-person galas, and provide poor service as a result. Customer satisfaction is paramount, as we all know how important good Yelp reviews are. Most importantly, anyone who wants to start catering should calculate their costs down to the penny before advertising to clients.

With these tips in mind, you should be prepared to tackle the holiday catering rush and come home with a present for yourself too!

Read the full article here: 3 Tips to Get a Catering Division Running by the Holidays