Experience of owning catering business?

[Bettedaviseyes111]

Does anyone have experience of owning their own catering business and what have been the pitfalls vs benefits?

I am considering purchasing a leasehold for a small local cafe but this would be a complete change in career for me (have been in corporate management roles for 20+ years) and would be doing it alone, as much as I want to realise this opportunity and have found myself in a position to do so I’m wary of the risks. I had previously intended on trying a mobile van but have been made aware of an established cafe leasehold that has just come up.
I would be intending to keep the offering minimal i.e coffees, tea and cakes only, so as not to overreach.
Advice appreciated, as would any ideas regarding profitability of a van vs cafe.

You’d really need to look into running costs and how much the business currently makes to see if it’s worth it. Running a cafe is expensive, time consuming and you never get any of the summer off as that’s your high season.

If you’re only serving coffee and cake you’d need to make it a destination to give people a reason to go because they can get that anywhere. So the cake would have to be completely fab and you’d need an excellent social media presence.

I have managed successful restaurants, but even when charging upwards of £300 for 2 for dinner we weren’t clearing a huge profit.

I would see if you could get some experience in the hospitality industry before you bought the leasehold. If you love it it’ll make you happy to be there every day slogging it out. If you don’t you’ll regret it and hate it.

It's brutally hard work. Staffing is a nightmare. You have the added and obvious but overlooked aspect that your stock goes off! It is incredibly hard to make money. The people know in catering all work very long hours and have lifestyle businesses.