Starting up an afternnon tea business

[GeorginaD92]

Hi im just looking for some feedback really, im sat here not im employment as i have 2 young children and i would like to help my dh with the income, iv been looking at a lot of things but just couldnt decide untill the other day when it just popped into my head! An afternoon tea party company! So basically i was thinking of doing themes to suit all types of parties, we would supply everything even decoration if wanted!, home made cakes etc, there is nothing like it in my area, does anyone think this could work or am i getting to ahead of myself, thankyou for reading 😊

My ds is a chef. His dream is to open a tea room doing afternoon tea. In his current job they make a lot of cash doing so!! Good luck on your venture op.

Where would you host these parties?

Do you mean go into people's homes?? Have you got storage space / food license / money to fund and advertise?

It would be down to the customers for the venue! I would love to have a little cafe for it but prices where i am are quite high at the moment

Yes i have the space and money and no food license as such as im just trying to get feedback to see if it could work 😊

It sounds easy, but it's actually quite complicated. You need food hygiene certificates, food preparation certificates, liability insurance in case of allergies, places to store all of your stock, etc.

In my experience, these types of afternoon tea things being brought to your venue are far too pricey and people end up doing it themselves for much less money.

It'll be a huge outgoing first to get all of your stock before (if) you start to see a return/profit.

What do you intend to charge and how much profit would you make? You’d likely only be able to do one per day initially.

I imagine tea parties are likely to be weekend dates like Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Can you manage that?

What would your potential customers get from you that they couldn’t get by booking the same at a ready made venue?

Have you experience/training making desserts or pastries? Is your kitchen suitable for getting approval for this use or are you planning on renting a commercial kitchen? What sort of venues are you thinking customers will choose? As most venues that afternoon tea is in obviously serve food already so would likely not give permission for food to be brought in from elsewhere.

Hi
A friend of mine ran a very successful catering company. She cooked in her own kitchen. I was amazed it passed the hygiene checks as there were dogs running around and birds in cages too, but it did. So it can't be too hard to get the certificate.

It will be a LOT of work and you'd probably have to hire people to help. The money is uncertain. You may get no orders for weeks on end then six on one day and be expected to suddenly provide 200 scones and 18 different cakes to high standard. Sandwich making is very time consuming.

I've worked casually in catering on and off for years just helping out friends who are in the business and it really can be low profit very long hours. It wouldn't be my first choice of work with young children. I don't want to be a downer but you have to prep everything to a very high standard, constantly working in the kitchen, timing cakes so they don't clash with nursery pick ups, keeping inquisitive fingers away from pretty icing etc. And then when you finally get an order out there's a shed load of washing up to do... Think hard about how you'd cope, getting out three different orders to three different places all for 3pm on the same day when your DC are off nursery or school with D&V. If you can visualise how to cope with a worst case scenario like that, then you could probably survive in the competitive market.

I used to run a children's party business. With two young kids it's a challenge. There will be initial financial outlay, you'll need a website, pli and indemnity insurance, food hygiene certification, and you'll need to be very hot on allergy advice and information. You won't make much of a profit in the first year. And you will need to keep accurate financial records for hmrc as you will also need to register as self employed. It is possible to do (I used to make about £2-300 profit per party) and it can bring you a modest income but it is A LOT of work when you have little ones and it's not regular AND you will spend a lot more time on your business than you realise. Honestly if you want to supplement your household income there are easier ways to do it.

Are there many places around you which will permit external catering? Most function rooms (if they provide catering) won't allow external catering to be brought in (exceptions for sweet tables and event cakes).
So if venues are off the table, you'll be delivering at houses, schools and social club type venues? And private venues of course.
Who is your customer? Has anyone tried similar either in your area or near by? If so, was it successful? If not, why did it fail?

Event dressing companies are quite common, they provide all sorts of decorations and chair covers etc so it might be an idea to offer to partner up with one of these rather than throw your hat into the ring as competition (re the decorating obviously). Many of the these companies also do sweet carts and cupcake wheels etc so it would be a nice add on for them to work with you on afternoon tea...

Afternoon tea is the time when your dc are likely to need you the most, and although some might be happy for you to just drop off, others might want waitress service, otherwise they could just go and buy the stuff themselves. If you are keen on catering then maybe look into providing lunches at offices. Send around menus the day before, people order sandwiches, cakes etc, delivered to their desks. Cakes can be made in the evening, lunches once children are in school.

In Milton Keynes there's a company called flossys afternoon tea where she takes all the China and food and lays it out at the people home for whatever occasion and then goes back, cleans up does the washimg up and go. She does really well.

I’ve just had a visit from the council for my food hygiene certificate. The woman was lovely and it was actually really helpful hearing her advice as there were things I hadn’t thought of. They can’t refuse to give you a certificate but you will be given a number rating - I got a 3 but with advice on how to improve. Good luck!