Catering: A Guide to Managing a Successful Business Operation Hardcover - 2015

From the rear cover

A COMPREHENSIVE, UPDATED GUIDE WITH ALL THE INFORMATION NEEDED TO LAUNCH AND OPERATE A SUCCESSFUL CATERING BUSINESS OF ANY KIND

Today, most customers attending a catered event demand that the overall experience of food, beverage, and service be as good as, if not superior to, that provided by their favorite restaurants. Add in the skyrocketing numbers of high-end food trucks, pop-up restaurants, and farm-to-table dinners dotting the landscape from coast to coast, and the opportunities to impress through creative marketing, alluring merchandising, and menu innovation with catered events have never been greater.

From launching the business, establishing pricing, setting up a kitchen, staffing, and marketing to planning events, organizing service, preparing food, managing the dining room and beverages, and developing menus, Catering, Second Edition provides detailed guidance on every aspect of the catering business, showing operators how to troubleshoot and creatively solve problems. This book is an indispensable guide for anyone who wants to succeed in this rapidly expanding segment of the foodservice industry.

This Second Edition is thoroughly revised and updated to include information on catering for dietary restrictions and food allergies, contemporary techniques such as sous-vide technology, and plating and presentation. A new chapter of practical mainstream and on-trend recipes has been added, in addition to sample menus for a variety of catered events from brunches to black-tie affairs. Meanwhile, this Second Edition and a companion website include essential business forms and caterer's checklists, making planning of events even easier.

Catering, Second Edition is an effective training tool for caterers and would-be caterers, showing how to plan and execute profitable and creative on- and off-premise catering operations.