A wedding with delicious food and drinks is one people will talk about for years to come — and what bride or groom doesn’t want their guests to rave about their big day?
Starting a wedding catering business takes careful planning and consideration. We’ve put together this guide with the essential steps you need. Plus, we’ve included a free business plan template you can download and get to work on ASAP!
12 Things You Need to Start a Wedding Catering Business
Starting your business is a multi-part process that can take several months to a year. Follow these 12 steps to set yourself up for wedding catering success!
1. Do Your Research
Competitive Research
No matter where you operate your business, you will compete with other wedding caterers for clients and job opportunities.
As you research competitors in your area, ask yourself these questions:
- Who are your direct competitors? These are other wedding caterers offering a service or menu similar to yours.
- Who are your indirect competitors? These are other businesses that don’t offer services or menus like yours, but that clients might choose over you, including ones that rank highly on Google or are more established in your area.
- What do they offer on their menu?
- How do they price their menu and services?
- What are their greatest strengths and weaknesses?
- What do customers have to say about them? Read Google and Yelp reviews in addition to customer testimonials on their individual sites.
Customer Research
While it can be tricky to know who your target customer is when you haven’t officially started your business, you get a better idea of your potential audience by looking at the clients of your direct competitors.
For example, if you want to start a budget-friendly wedding catering business, read reviews and testimonials from clients of the other low-cost caterers in your area.
- What are their demographics? This includes age, income, location, and cultural background.
- Do they throw big weddings (100+ guests) or smaller ones?
- What are their pain points? For example, are they struggling to find a catering company that can adapt dishes to suit various dietary needs?
Industry-Wide Research
Competitor and customer research gives you a good feel for your local wedding catering market. Still, it’s also crucial to understand the industry at large and how your business fits into it.
You don’t have to dig too deep, but you should know the following:
- What are the current consumer trends? This can include dietary preferences, business models, or cuisine type.
- What are the peak times of year for wedding caterers?
- What does the demand for wedding caterers look like this year?
- How is the wedding catering industry projected to grow?
Pro Tip: Market research is an ongoing task for all businesses, as consumer trends and economic conditions change from year to year. To stay up-to-date, check out Food Liability Insurance Program’s (FLIP) annual economic trend report for valuable insights to help you strategize each year!
2. Set Up Your Business
Business Structure
Decide on a business structure for tax and organizational purposes. Some of the most popular structures are:
- Sole proprietorship
- Partnership
- Limited liability company (LLC)
- Corporation
Pro Tip: The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has a handy guide on choosing a business structure if you aren’t sure which one is right for you.
Business Model
Wedding catering companies generally operate on one of these three models:
- Full service: These caterers provide both food and beverage services, and may even offer event planning.
- Drop-off: Drop-off caterers prepare food outside the venue and deliver it to the event.
- Truck or cart: The popularity of food trucks and their conveniently mobile design has led many of these businesses into the wedding catering space. They typically allow clients to book by the hour.
Business Name and Registration
Coming up with a memorable and clear name for your business can be challenging. Try using a name generator to get the creative juices flowing, or ask ChatGPT for a list of ideas.
Once you’ve picked one, register it with your Secretary of State’s office to make it official.
Branding
Here’s your chance to take the creativity you normally apply to your culinary endeavors and use it to give your business a personality!
Developing your brand involves a few aspects, including:
- Picking brand colors to represent your business
- Creating a logo
- Writing your mission statement (e.g., Why are you in the wedding catering business, and what do you hope to do for your clients?)
3. Follow Local Laws
Every state has cottage food laws, which regulate home-based food businesses. If you plan on storing, preparing, and/or cooking food in your home as part of your business model, you must follow the cottage food laws in your area.
These regulations are meant to ensure home-based food businesses operate safely and don’t pose a public health risk. They often include:
- Restrictions on the types of food you’re allowed to sell
- Requirements for labeling homemade food
- Revenue caps for home-based food businesses
- Limitations on storing or cooking food in your home kitchen
While some states allow you to cook food at home and bring it to a wedding, others have a commissary kitchen requirement. This means you must prove you have access to a licensed commercial kitchen where you store and prepare food for consumption.
Even if it isn’t required, renting a commercial kitchen can benefit your business. Unlike a home kitchen, you’ll have access to industry-grade equipment and a spacious working area, allowing you to produce larger volumes of food for big weddings.
Learn more about navigating the commercial kitchen industry from Ashley Colpaart (Founder and CEO of The Food Corridor) and FLIP Program Manager Kyle Jude.
4. Obtain Necessary Licenses and Permits
All businesses, including wedding caterers, must carry certain licenses and permits to legally operate their business.
Many of these requirements vary by state or county, so check your local agriculture or health department’s website for full details.
Most wedding caterers can expect to need the following licenses and permits:
- Business license: Legally recognizes your business in your state
- Health department permit: Usually obtained after passing an inspection from your local health department
- Liquor license: Required if you plan to serve alcohol at weddings
- Food handler’s permit: Typically required for anyone on your staff (including you) who will be handling, preparing, or cooking food
5. Secure Funding
Starting a catering business from home typically costs between $10,000 and $50,000. It’s a big investment, but there are plenty of funding options to make your catering dream a reality.
While using personal funds is ideal because you won’t owe interest or have to pay anyone back, you can get financial assistance through:
- Small Business Administration (SBA) loans: Designed specifically for small businesses, these loans have low interest rates and take 1–3 months to get approval
- Bank loans: Enjoy fixed interest rates for predictable payments
- Private investors: These individuals typically want equity in exchange for their investment
- Microloans: Loans up to $50,000 from lenders or non-profits; perfect for covering the start-up costs of most catering businesses
- Grants: Money for your business you don’t have to pay back, courtesy of the government or private organizations
- Crowdfunding: Friends, loved ones, and generous community members may donate money to your venture through Kickstarter or GoFundMe
6. Create Your Menu
Now it’s time for what you’re probably most excited about: deciding what kinds of foods, beverages, and services you’ll offer your clients!
Consider these factors while building your menu and offerings.
What Menu Categories Will You Have?
Most wedding caterers offer appetizers, side dishes, main courses, desserts, and a simple beverage service.
If you want to include alcoholic drinks in your beverage service, you’ll need liquor liability insurance. This coverage protects you if you’re held responsible for damages or injuries caused by an intoxicated guest.
What Kind of Service Style Will You Offer?
How Will You Accommodate Dietary Restrictions?
What Kinds of Catering Packages Will You Offer?
7. Get Your Equipment
Cooking
- Ovens
- Grills
- Stoves
Refrigeration
- Refrigerator
- Freezer
- Coolers
Serving
- Serving trays
- Chafing dishes
- Ladles
- Tongs
- Drink dispensers
- Glassware
- Tableware
- Silverware
Bar Equipment (If Offering Alcohol Service)
- Ice buckets
- Specialty glassware (wine glasses, champagne flutes, etc.)
- Cocktail shakers
- Jiggers
- Muddlers
- Strainers
- Corkscrews
Pro Tip: If you rent a commercial kitchen, you gain access to industrial-grade ovens, stoves, and refrigerators. Even if your local government doesn’t require you to cook and store food in a commissary, you can save money on this expensive equipment by renting a space that already has it.
8. Set Your Prices
Pricing your menu and services correctly is key to running a profitable wedding catering business.
After learning what your competitors charge for their services during the market research phase, you have a solid idea of what clients expect to pay. However, don’t fall into the trap of matching or undercutting their prices without doing the math. They may have completely different operational costs and profit margins than you.
Your prices must factor in your:
- Food costs: The raw cost of the ingredients for each dish you serve
- Labor costs: Wages for your waitstaff, bartenders, etc.
- Overhead costs: Includes fixed costs that remain consistent throughout the year, like insurance premiums, and variable costs, such as ingredients
- Service fees: What you charge for services like set-up, food delivery, staffing, clean-up, etc.
Once you’ve calculated the total cost of these, include your profit margin. Most catering businesses have a margin between 7 and 8%, but well-established businesses can have margins as high as 25%. Remember, you can always increase your margins as you grow.
There are two main ways wedding caterers price their packages and services:
- Tiered pricing: Packages with more inclusions, such as those that include bar service or waitstaff, carry a higher price tag. Lower-tier packages are more budget-friendly, but only include the basics like food delivery and set-up.
- Per-person: If you want to cater large weddings, per-person pricing may be the best fit for your business. Simply divide the cost of catering the event (including food, labor, transportation, etc.) by the number of guests. Keep in mind, this method requires you to calculate prices for each wedding.
9. Protect Your Wedding Catering Business With Insurance
This is just one real catering claim example among many. Because this person was insured by FLIP, we were able to cover this $71,570 claim and save them the financial burden.
While this case may sound extreme, the average catering claim our policyholders file is a whopping $4,300. Is that something you’re prepared to pay out of pocket?
That’s why wedding caterer insurance is so essential — it can shield you from unexpected expenses that could bring your business to a halt, temporarily or permanently.
Beyond saving money, many venues and clients expect caterers to provide proof of insurance and will only hire or partner with you if you are insured. FLIP’s policy meets most venue requirements, meaning you can book more gigs as a fully insured business.
10. Hire Staff
A solid team of trained, friendly catering staff is critical to your success. Catering weddings is a lot of work that involves many moving parts, so hiring dependable employees is a must.
Here’s how to approach building your team:
- Determine what roles you need to fill: You’ll likely need servers and cooks to start with, but as your business grows, you may also hire supervisors. If you serve alcohol, add licensed bartenders to that list.
- Write job descriptions: Every role you need to hire should have a clear description of responsibilities, required skills, and the number of hours per week the employee is expected to work.
- Post the open roles: Use job boards like Poached (industry-specific) and ZipRecruiter to share your job descriptions and recruit applicants.
- Schedule interviews: Select the most promising candidates from your pool of applicants and ask them questions specific to their skills and previous work experience.
- Hire and train employees: Make sure every member of your team has taken and passed a food safety course, such as ServSafe, to ensure they know food handling best practices. If you hired bartenders, they also must pass a state-approved alcohol safety course.
Pro Tip: All states except Texas require employers to carry workers compensation insurance, with many mandating this coverage if you have one or more employees. FLIP makes it possible for you to get this critical coverage online and skip the usual hassle. Learn more about getting workers compensation insurance today!
11. Develop a Marketing Strategy
Website
Your website is the hub for all information about your business. It’s likely to be the first place people go to learn about your services, so it’s essential to make a good impression with:
- Consistent branding
- Simple, intuitive navigation
- Fast load times
- High-quality imagery
- Relevant keywords for search engine optimization (SEO)
- Your contact info
- A form for requesting quotes
Social Media
73% of Americans are active on social media, so use these platforms to promote your business:
- TikTok
Use these platforms to share updates about your business and behind-the-scenes videos. Take advantage of their paid advertising features to promote your posts or run ads that target specific users on the app who are most likely to become your clients.
Traditional Marketing
Digital marketing is a necessary part of your marketing strategy, but these traditional marketing tactics remain effective:
- Partnering with wedding venues to become a preferred vendor
- Creating a referral program for clients to receive gift cards when successfully recommending a friend to build word of mouth
- Participating in wedding expos where engaged couples come to scope out and sample goods from a variety of vendors before hiring them
Pro Tip: Discover more must-try catering marketing ideas and get a strong start to your promotional efforts!
12. Create a Wedding Catering Business Plan
Perhaps the most important step of all is putting together your wedding catering business plan.
One of the biggest reasons businesses fail is a lack of planning, with 45% failing before their fifth year. But with a robust business plan, you avoid making this same mistake and set yourself up for success instead.
Also, when you’re applying for business loans, banks and lenders expect to see your business plan before considering funding your operations.
Your business plan should compile all of the topics we’ve covered in one convenient document. They are usually organized into these sections:
- Executive summary: A short, intriguing description of your wedding catering business
- Company description: A description of your business that builds on your executive summary, including your mission statement and goals
- Market analysis: Your customer, competitor, and industry research
- Marketing strategy: How you will promote your business and through what channels (social media platforms, direct mail, etc.)
- Loans and financing: How you’re funding your business and what funding you still need
- Operational costs and financial projections: Your expenses, profit margins, and expected annual revenue
- Certificate of Insurance (COI): A document issued after you purchase wedding caterer insurance with details about your coverage
Take the hassle out of organizing your business plan and download our template for free!
Maintain a Successful Wedding Catering Business
It takes courage and passion to start a wedding catering business, but with careful planning, you can turn this dream into a reality and enjoy success for years to come.
Of course, there’s more to being a caterer than having a business plan. Get our top tips for running a prosperous food business and learn how to keep your catering operation profitable at any stage!
Alex Hastings
Seattle-based copywriter and (WA) licensed insurance agent Alex Hastings leverages her experience as a lover of fast-casual food, baked goods, and iced oat milk lattes. She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from Western Washington University. Before working at Veracity, she was a retail copywriter at Zulily and an English language teacher in South Korea. Alex is fully trained on FLIP insurance coverages and writes content that connects food and beverage business owners with the policies they need.
Seattle-based copywriter and (WA) licensed insurance agent Alex Hastings leverages her experience as a lover of fast-casual food, baked goods, and iced oat milk lattes. She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from Western Washington University. Before working at Veracity, she was a retail copywriter at Zulily and an English language teacher in South Korea. Alex is fully trained on FLIP insurance coverages and writes content that connects food and beverage business owners with the policies they need.
Kyle Jude
Kyle Jude is the Program Manager for Food Liability Insurance Program (FLIP). As a dedicated program manager with 10+ years of experience in the insurance industry, Kyle offers insight into different coverages for food and beverage business professionals who are looking to navigate business liability insurance.
Kyle Jude is the Program Manager for Food Liability Insurance Program (FLIP). As a dedicated program manager with 10+ years of experience in the insurance industry, Kyle offers insight into different coverages for food and beverage business professionals who are looking to navigate business liability insurance.
