What it takes to run a catering business

Food as a necessity of life is always on a high demand which makes it a very lucrative business for women that want to venture into catering business.
In a chat with Mrs Olabisi Diete-Spiff, the owner of Enrich Catering Services, Abuja said it is imperative to have passion for providing sumptuous meals and to be well-organised as well as being able to work long difficult hours for you to run a successful catering business.
 “A caterer must know how to cook well, be friendly, courteous, and have an understanding of every segment of the business. A caterer must be able to wade through the different personalities of each client,” she said.
Getting customers and managing them is another secret to help keep your catering business successful. Diete-Spiff reveals that she started with her personal contacts and referrals from clients she has worked for to get customers for the business. “ I also established relationships with event planners, food vendors, bridal ships and photographers to get  more customers,”she said.
Diete-Spiff said the major challenge of running a catering business is pressure to meet targets. The continuous increase in the price of foodstuff, goods and services and unstable power supply is also another challenge.
The capital to start the business depends on how big you want to start, “I started with less than a million naira and I have invested my profit back into the business to acquire right equipment for a quintessential job”.
To manage a catering business, Diete-Spiff said you have to be involved in the day to day running of the business. “Even though I hire professionals for different segments, I do not leave the entire cooking process to them because customers are accustomed to my peculiar tasty meals. You will see me chopping vegetables and the next moment I am cleaning the cooking area in less than an hour I am on the stand to serve guests at the events,” she said. 
Other services a caterer can offer aside cooking as revealed are imaginative menu for different occasions, healthy dieting for clients, complete event planning which involve decor, entertainment and some other items required to make an event a success.