Making Money by Making Sandwiches:
Boxed Lunch Catering Is A Tasty Business!
Michelle Couch
mgcouch@mindspring.com
In true Dr. Laura form I have always longed to proclaim "I am my kids' mom!", but could not financially figure out how to do so. As a 30 year old woman, I guess you could say I was the victim of my own success. I focused on my career in my early twenties and by the time I married at 27 years old I was making more than my spouse in my corporate consulting job. This was fine until we decided to have children and I found it impossible to find any work that would allow me to provide the income that our family needed while allowing me to stay at home with my children. Throughout high-school and college I was always told that I could do anything that I wanted to do and be anything that I wanted to be#133;but no one told me that what I would want most of all was to be a stay at home mom.
I have never really thought of myself as "exceptional" in the kitchen and quite frankly I have never spent a lot of time cooking, but I've spent a tremendous amount of time in the Boardrooms of the firms that I consulted for in my corporate career. More times than not we held "working lunch" meetings and sandwiches were catered in for these events. So, I decided to launch my own boxed lunch catering business to cater (literally) to the corporate world that I had left behind. With an emphasis on providing upscale, gourmet boxed meals and specialty party trays, we have catered business lunches, training meetings, group outings and special events. The business is perfectly suited for stay at home moms (or moms wanting to work just a few hours per day) because of the ability to start things on a small scale and grow at a rate and pace that fits with your lifestyle. Depending on the amount of work that you are willing to do, profits could range from $100 to $1000 per week.
I have outlined for you below a few things that need to be done in order to get started:
Check with your local Health Department regarding the specific rules and regulations that apply to caterers in your area.
Legally register your business within your state and/or municipality and acquire the appropriate licenses to operate.
Identify businesses and professionals in your area who use catering services.
Go for it! Start prospecting for clients from your prospect list and start making sandwiches! You are certain to be surprised at the opportunity that exists.
---As a former consultant, Michelle welcomes the opportunity to work with you on developing a strategy to start your own catering business. She has also developed an implementation workbook which provides step by step instructions for getting your own boxed lunch catering business off the ground (based on what she has learned on her own journey). For more information, please contact her by e-mail at
mgcouch@mindspring.com
Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com
