Are you Dreaming of starting a vegan catering business from home? Do these things!
If you’re wondering if it’s possible to use your personal kitchen to start a vegan catering business from home, the short answer is……..hell to the yes you can!
The long answer is that It actually depends on what state you live in and what you’ll be serving.
Many states have a workaround and it’s possible to use your own kitchen to prepare foodstuffs to sell.
For example, most states allow food preps in a personal or home kitchen, as long as it’s not meat and eggs, but that wouldn’t be a problem cause your vegan anyway. 😊
There’s a bill that was passed in California a couple of years ago called the “cottage food law” that allows people to make food products in their own home and sell them at the markets, so check your own state and see what’s up and maybe you can do some workarounds to make it happen!
Contact your local health department to find out about the policies you need to follow.
Check with your local health department and find out what you need to do to operate a vegan catering business out of your own home.
There are certain guidelines and paperwork that you’ll need to fill out to get started. It’s also a good idea to get a business license and start an LLC. It’ll safeguard you if someone gets sick from your food and wants to sue you.
Hopefully, that’ll never happen because you’ll be following all the food prep best practices that you were trained in, but you never know, and would be best to protect yourself!
Decide if a home-based or commercial kitchen is better.
If for some reason (it’s highly likely) the health department doesn’t allow you to operate your vegan catering business from your home, the next best option is to work out of a commercial kitchen.
When you’re first starting, you should definitely take things slow and think about how to save money at this point because If you decide you don’t like the food business grind you can exit stage left without too many holes in your pocket.
Some ways you can save money when you’re first starting:
Do some research and work in kitchens that already have equipment on hand.
Check with friends who own cafes/restaurants, they might not mind if you use their kitchen in the off hours.
Churches and other businesses might have kitchens you can rent out for a smaller fee.
Some ways you can save time when you’re first starting out
Work with or hire a mentor that’s in the vegan catering niche. It’ll save you so much time if you work under someone for a few months, so you can see if you like the job in the first place. It’ll also help you streamline your process and gain experience.
The kitchen tools that you use in your business need to be the best because you’re batch working. Time is money and if your equipment is old school and scrappy, it’s going to slow you down and make your job more challenging than it needs to be.
Do your market research.
There are a few broad categories of catering that include mobile, private, and restaurant catering.
Mobile catering- all the food trucks/pop-ups, festivals, and fairs, setting up shop on a busy street corner selling vegan hot dogs, you get the picture.
Private catering- they organize catering events for weddings, business events, etc. Now more than ever people are opting for healthier food choices, so there is a huge opportunity to have a profitable vegan catering business.
Restaurant catering- usually hired by a hotel or restaurant to organize and prepare catering events.
Get out there and see who your competition is and take notes.
You’ll want to get a feel for what people are making, how much they’re selling it for, what’s popular, and what isn’t.
How do they present their business, what kind of labels do they use, what kind of vibe do they give off, and use it as inspiration for your own business?
Test your food offerings before selling them to get feedback.
It’s best to perfect a few food items instead of offering many products that aren’t that great. Keep your menu super simple in the beginning and you can always add more items down the road when you’re a pro! Some of even the most pro chefs still keep their menu simple!
Many people in the vegan food business help each other out and are colleagues instead of seeing each other as competition, so it’ll be pretty easy to talk to other vendors and they might even give you some tips!
Advertise, market, and find your customers.
This is where many people fall off the train when starting their vegan businesses. As far as marketing goes a vegan catering business might be one of the easier businesses to be profitable in because word of mouth is huge in this space.
In this kind of food business space, people are going to be coming to you instead of the other way around!
Think about it, if someone comes to your pop-up and they had an awesome experience and you were nice to them, and made an effort in preparing their meal with love and serving with love, (sorry… the hippie in me is real) then your business will be successful.
People will tell their friends and start showing up to your pop-up in droves!
Most important… It’s crucial to have a strong online presence because many people look online first to research and judge your business before they go check it out.
Having a professional-looking website is key to helping your business grow and keep you sane in the process. Many people are ordering online now, so it can help streamline your process if orders are placed online instead of by texting and calling!
By working with a web designer who is also trained in SEO, it’ll help put your business on the map sort of speak and your vegan catering business will be more searchable amongst all the online “noise.”
Of course one of the most important marketing tools is Instagram and Facebook, but it shouldn’t be used in place of a website.
Websites are more robust and you own the content, whereas; with social media, the algorithms are always changing so it’s possible your posts are just floating out there in the internet abyss somewhere and not being read.
I will end this out with a little news flash! With the current pandemic happening, some states are required to shut down bars, although; If the bar sells food they’re allowed to stay open.
With that being said, bars are getting creative and are hiring caterers to prepare grab-and-go meals for their customers so they can stay open.
The vegan home catering niche is gaining popularity because many people want to “work from home”, set their hours, be their own boss, and at the same time do what they love! I can get down with that.
