Private dining business?

[AffIt]

Looking for some input / advice from anybody who may have set up something similar or has used / intends to use such a business.

My dream is to set up a private dining business - small-scale events such as dinner parties / very small weddings / freezer stocking etc.

I'm not a trained chef (although I worked in kitchens on and off when younger), but I am technically very proficient and have catered at scale for family and friends' events in the past. Most importantly, I think, I love cooking and eating!

My intention would be to do this from home / in clients' homes initially, although we do have outbuildings that could, theoretically, be converted into kitchen premises. I would foresee it being more of a 'hobby business' alongside my FT job in IT for a few years, and I appreciate that I would have to undertake certification in food hygiene etc.

My questions (especially to those who run similar businesses) are how did you get started? How did you build a client base and work out your price margins (I have been self-employed in the past, so understand the basics of marketing etc, but would be grateful for specifics)?

For those who use private dining services, is this a thing you do regularly? What are your expectations?

Thank you in advance!

Hopeful bump?

I'll come back to you later, but for now:

Get in touch with your local EHO. They prefer to be told in advance what you're up to, rather than finding out after the fact.

Home kitchen perfectly possible to cook in.

Can get online food hygiene etc certificates.

Marketing - a few people round me do it through Facebook. They advertise what they're cooking that week - think it started in lockdown.

I tend to get most things through word of mouth. I have a few regular customers, I don't have to advertise.

Thank you @barneymcgroo!

Hi OP, I did a bit of this sort of thing last year. I did posh “ready meals” for some of my cleaning/gardening clients; like you, I’ve always loved cooking and am pretty good at it (blushes), and the plan was to run it as a regular thing as part of my general domestic business.

The local EH was really helpful prior to start-up. I did my Level 2 FH online, it was a doddle. There is a lot you need to do if running it from your own kitchen but not from others’. Register your business with the council before you even pick up a spatula! You need a huge file — available on Amazon — that you fill in religiously with all supplier details, fridge temperatures, cleaning schedule etc every time you cook, and every dish you cook. You will also need 2 sinks! That threw me and I had to buy a mobile one. Hygienic packaging is required. Allergen labelling and recording is another big thing.

Sadly, I knocked it on the head after a few months. My kitchen was just too small to cook at scale every day (your outbuilding sounds perfect!), packaging and delivery took a lot of time, and pricing was tricky. In my experience, many people don’t want/can’t afford to pay for the time it takes to prepare and package/serve a high quality, home-cooked meal when they can get a supermarket one or a takeaway for less. Market your product accordingly. My local greengrocer gave me good discounts (although the butcher wouldn’t!) but it wasn’t so much the ingredients that cut margins as the other stuff…

Like you, I’d worked in business for years and had done a cost analysis/plan including price comparisons and so on, but when I started to take into account all the extras like hot water for washing up (so much washing up!), fuel for deliveries etc the profit margins just weren’t high enough to justify the effort. Also, I lived in constant fear of poisoning someone or forgetting to list an allergen, so spent ages checking and double-checking literally everything, every step of the way, and that time wasn’t being paid for 😅 Doing all this alongside my “regular” job was a lot more tiring than I’d expected!

I don’t want to put you off, though! I did enjoy it and my clients all loved the food and were happy with the price; I just should’ve been charging more and didn’t feel I could. If you have plenty of space, are well-organised, price realistically from the off and have good relationships with local suppliers then go for it. Good luck!

Gosh, @LMBoston, thank you so much for your brilliant input!

I suppose that is my major concern - under-pricing myself / underestimating margins to the extent that I end up running the business at a loss, given all the 'hidden extras' that you've pointed out, such as energy costs, fuel etc.

Thank you very much, you've given me a lot to think about.

My pleasure @AffIt 😊 if you need any more info just holler! Let us know how you get on!

Would you consider doing agency work to find your feet and see what you might need to know?

I saw these people at one of the Pub in the Park events and they seem to have a good idea - www.nomadcooks.co.uk/hire-a-private-chef-nomad-cooks (no affliation other than I had a chat with them at the event)

Now that's a good idea - I'll drop them a line, thank you!