How to Know if Catering is the Perfect Business for You

Catering is not a business for everyone. Some will only do it for the money. But remember, there are so many things about catering that you might not like, especially because it’s a very diverse industry with lots of things to consider. So before you embark on starting a catering business, you need to be sure that you’re doing the right thing for yourself.

How do you know if catering is the right business for you?

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1. You have a love for cooking

This is where every business should start – passion. With passion, you can do almost everything. As long as you are happy with cooking, you’ll never run out of joy in cooking food for your customers. And therefore, you know that this catering business isn’t just part time or until you find another industry where you can focus all of your attention to. If you love cooking, then you should know just enough to survive many faults, flaws and possible situations that could arise from catering.

2. You are GOOD at cooking

Just because you love cooking doesn’t make you a good cook. But in order to start a catering business, you need to be GOOD at cooking. This means that the food you cook is actually delicious. The food you cook should be tasty, healthy and you don’t settle on something that doesn’t meet your taste. If your friends and family say that you’re a bad cook, then maybe you should get more experience first before embarking on a business.

3. You have experience in cooking

But besides your passion and the ability to cook, you also need to be experienced. Just because you know how to cook a beef patty doesn’t mean you can cook Fettuccini and Lasagna. Just because you know how to cook spaghetti doesn’t mean you can cook Lasagna either! In order to do good in your catering business, you need to know how to cook different things. You might even have to dabble in different cuisines before you can truly embark on a catering business.

4. You know how to cook quickly

While speed isn’t as necessary as the others, it definitely helps a lot. So what if you can cook a mean Spaghetti if it’ll take you three hours just to cook for three people? Now that’s not a sustainable idea if you’re going to be cooking for plenty of people.

5. You want to start a catering business

It’s not just about the cooking anymore when you have a catering business. You should also be passionate about this business. You need to WANT to cater to build a catering business.

6. You know how to market a catering business

Marketing a catering business can be easy if you know how to. You can provide your own custom beverage napkins, plates and cups, you can partner up with events planners and wedding planners, you can even partner up with companies to help you boost your business. But in order to make it a sustainable plan, you need to know your market too.

If you have all of these qualities, welcome to the world of catering! If not, experience is a great teacher too. 

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Tips to Brewing a Good Cup of Coffee

Everyone needs to know how to make a great cup of coffee. Not just any ordinary type of coffee, a great cup of coffee that you can appreciate every day. While you can always opt for the 3-in-1 packs bought in any grocery store, you can’t really control the strength and taste of that kind of coffee. On the other hand, you can also look for coffee syrups for sale, but even if you use that to change the flavor of your coffee, it’s not the same as brewing your own coffee.

If you really want a good cup of coffee every morning, you’re going to have to learn how to make one –the semi-old fashioned way – with a coffee maker and some coffee beans.

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To help you blend the perfect taste of coffee for your daily dosage, here are a few tips:

1. Consider the amount of coffee you need

When you brew your coffee, do you even consider how much coffee grounds you put inside the machine? Do you consider the amount of water you add? If you don’t, then the taste of your coffee highly relies on this factor. Always measure the amount of water and coffee to put inside the machine. If you’re only brewing a cup for one person, do remember that a standard cup of coffee holds about 6 ounces. However, a regular measuring cup holds as much as 8 ounces. If you don’t measure the coffee and water well, you’ll end up with too much coffee.

2. Use quality water

Most of the time, the quality of water is a major factor to brewing a tasty cup of coffee. Do take note that water from different sources produce different tastes. Sometimes, you have to use a specific type of water in order to make your coffee. Tasteful coffee is usually brewed with mineral water.

3. Use coffee syrups

Many years ago, coffee was coffee. Bitter, strong, dark, it was coffee. But today, the flavor is what greatly defines the value or quality of a cup of coffee. Unfortunately, not everyone likes the original bitter taste of coffee. Not everyone can drink the same taste of coffee several times a day. This is why people have started to buy coffee syrups to help them change the flavor of their beverage from time to time. At least, by pouring syrup into their coffee, they can spice up their coffee with different flavors. Flavored syrups vary from different fruits like strawberries, bananas and blueberries to basic tastes like vanilla and caramel.

4. Avoid burning your coffee

Did you know that you can actually burn your coffee? If you keep your coffee on a heated surface longer than necessary, your drink will start to burn. As a result, the taste of your coffee will be even more bitter than usual. If that’s not a taste you’re after, keep your coffee pot on a neutral area once you’ve finished brewing it. Coffee pots are usually insulated so you don’t have to worry about your coffee getting cold. 

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How to Learn to Make Various Drinks in the Shortest Amount of Time

Setting up your own coffee shop means that you have to be prepared to do everything. It’s not just about the place, the budget and your supplies anymore. It’s also about learning to give your customers what they want. And when what they want is a variety of other drinks, you need to take the time to learn how to make them, otherwise, you could lose the opportunity to gain some loyal customers.

However, learning how to make drinks cannot be done just overnight, especially if you really have no experience with that kind of stuff. What if you’ve already opened up shop and people are already asking about the drinks? In order to learn in the shortest amount of time, here are a few tips to getting the drinks down pat.

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1. Watch videos

Videos are great tutorials to helping you learn how to make a drink. All you have to do is find a quality tutorial group that can teach you step by step on mixing drinks. If you’re an active learner, videos are a good form of education so you can actively watch what the barista is doing in the video. Unfortunately, if you have questions about what they’re doing, you won’t get an answer immediately.

2. Read articles online

On the contrary, reading articles can also be very beneficial. Just by reading articles, you know the types of ingredients you need, how much coffee syrups is required in the drink, what type of sugar you might use and how much coffee beans you’ll need for each drink. Reading articles allows you to learn about these drinks. You won’t get to see a person make the drink for themselves, but if you can follow instructions easily, you’ll probably get the hang of it in no time.

3. Take a short course

What better way to learn how to make drinks than by being taught in a class? Bartending and making drinks is a sort of art. There are steps to perfect certain drinks and sometimes, videos and articles just don’t make the cut. Instead, you can enroll yourself in a short course to help you learn more about making drinks in real time. The best thing about it? You’ll probably be learning from the best of the best.

4. Ask a friendly barista or bartender

If taking a short course and paying a few hundred bucks for it isn’t an option for you, then you can always ask a friend who is a barista to teach you. You can’t guarantee that they know everything but they probably have a few tips and tricks of their own. Of course, you can’t guarantee that they’ll be able to teach you well either. If you have several friends who are in the barista business, ask them all to teach you so you can learn different tips and tricks from them.

Once you’ve gotten some skills of your own, practice. The more you learn how to make drinks, the more you get better at it.  

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How to Set Up a Buffet Table

One of the best ways to set up food at a party is to create a buffet table where everyone can just come and take the food that they want. However, setting up a buffet table doesn’t just mean that you can place everything randomly on the tables. You can’t simply put the custom beverage napkins in the line of all the main courses and the desserts with the appetizers. It’ll only drive you and your guests crazy because they don’t know which table they should go first. And they won’t be able to find what they want easily. They’ll end up having to ask you or the waiters, disrupting the whole process.

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In order to keep an orderly fashion with your buffet table, you can set it up in two different ways.

By meal classification

First of all, classifying your buffet table by the type of meal you have is one way to be smart and organized throughout your party. Classifying by meals means that you keep the appetizers (first course) on one table, the main course (second course) on another and the utensils, desserts (third course) and drinks on another. Keeping your food arranged in this way helps your guests to know which table to go to for the food they want. They won’t get lost in the line and they won’t have to cut lines just to find what they want. If you arrange the tables in the right way (appetizers first, desserts and drinks last), you won’t have a problem keeping your guests in one long line. This is a good way to have an organized buffet.

If you have a controlled buffet, you can keep the waiters in line so they can easily set the food down on each plate. Always keep your utensils, beverage napkins and cups in one table. If you separate them, guests will have a hard time looking for it and you don’t want that to happen.

By type

On the other hand, you can also have your meals arranged by its type. You can set the meat in one table, the vegetables in another and finger foods in another. However, if you plan to do this type of buffet, you need to make the first table for the utensils, plates, napkins and cups. People usually need this first before they get any food and it is essential that they find them. Don’t forget to entitle each table too so that people won’t have a hard time finding what they want. Keep the desserts in one long table. You can either have a separate table for drinks or you can keep a drinking station by the desserts.

Arranging your buffet tables by the type of food allows you to keep your food in a bigger space. You don’t have to crowd your guests in one place, but you can keep them going back and forth from different tables. This way, no table gets too crowded and no lines are too long.

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