Transcript

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Speaker: [00:00:00] Trying to get your first paid catering as a passionate cook can feel huge. You’re excited, but you’re nervous. You’re not sure what to say to people. You’re afraid to call yourself a chef. You don’t even know if anyone’s gonna take you seriously and pay you. Here’s the truth. You don’t need years of experience.

You definitely don’t need to try to fill your whole holiday calendar. You don’t need to put up a website. You just need one first step, and in this video I’ll show you exactly how to book your first catering event, even if you’ve never cooked for paying clients before. Hey there, chef Shelley here. I help passionate cooks just like you start personal chef businesses so you can get. Finally paid to cook on your own terms, not having to work restaurant hours, not having to run a commercial kitchen, no staff inventory, all that kind of thing. In this video, I’m gonna walk you through step by step how to get your first paid [00:01:00] catering event, and by the end you’ll know exactly what to say, where to find people, and how to get your first event with confidence and stick around ’cause I’ve got a bonus tip at the end that’ll help you turn your very first event into a repeat booking.

The most important thing is to keep your offer simple. This is not the time to spend weeks developing huge catering menus, overcomplicating. It is just going to overwhelm you, and it actually makes it harder for clients. We think that it’s great to have a huge selection or just to tell people, I can cook anything you want, but in reality, that makes it more difficult instead.

Just come up with a few easy holiday menus. For example, if you want to do holiday dinner parties, are you going to do three or four courses? Are you able to do max four people for a seated dinner or eight people?

[00:02:00] Decide how many courses and how many people you could do for a plated dinner. Make up your sample menu and do your pricing. Maybe you wanna do holiday cocktail parties. Decide how many hor d’oeuvres you can do if you’re going to include some finger dessert. Maybe a mocktail or something they can add to alcohol.

We can’t provide alcohol if you don’t have a liquor license, but again, make up that sample menu for a cocktail party and then price it out. That’s it.

When you’re starting out, simple will give you confidence and plus, clients love easy decisions. If you need help with pricing, by the way, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss next week’s video all about pricing catering. Now I know the fear you’re thinking, but Chef, I don’t have all these client testimonials and stuff yet.

Well, have you ever cooked for anyone before? Of course you have. Have they ever complimented you on your cooking? Yes. Start writing those [00:03:00] things down and using them. You’re cooking all the time, right? What’s for dinner tonight? Get in the habit of taking pictures of food you’ve cooked. If you need to even cook a sample spread right now when I’m publishing this, it’s the beginning of October.

Do something for a small group of family or friends and take photos. You can post them with simple captions like loved making this holiday dinner, or. Appetizer party for friends. Now booking one or two holiday events, or I still have a few days left on the calendar dM me. This is enough really to get started showing people what you can do.

You don’t need a huge portfolio to land your first gig. You’re showing what you can do. You don’t need to wait for paying clients. To feel like you are good enough or to give you permission if people love your food now, that’s exactly what you need.

Now, where to get these catering events, [00:04:00] right? Your first catering usually always comes from your circle, not a stranger.

You’re much more likely to get your first event by telling friends, family, coworkers. Hey, I’m offering small holiday catering this season, and then tell them what kind like seated dinners up to how many people or cocktail parties for, up to how many people or a holiday brunch. This clarity makes it easy for people to thank.

Oh, I wanted to have work people over this would be perfect. Or, oh, I have a friend who always does a holiday party and they were complaining how they didn’t wanna have to do all the work again this year. Remember, you are not trying to build some giant catering business out of a kitchen with staff and doing events for a hundred people.

You’re just trying to get your one first easy yes with an event that you are confident doing. , When you’re first starting out, after you’re getting the [00:05:00] word of mouth out through your friends and family, and if you’re working a job to there, you don’t need to run ads or even build a website.

Honestly, here’s a little secret. Nobody’s gonna go to your website unless you tell them to go to your website, so it’s totally superfluous as a step. Use what’s already available to you. Make a Facebook page free and easy post in local Facebook groups. Use neighborhood apps. Keep it short and simple. Hi, I’m booking one or two small holiday events this season, or if you wanna kick it up a notch, I only have one or two spots left for holiday events.

Message me if you’d like to skip the cooking and enjoy your party. Keep it casual. Again, you’re not a big catering company trying to score events for hundreds of people. You are wanting to be a personal chef looking for your first opportunity, and that makes you really approachable. Once you get that first event, don’t [00:06:00] stress and make it over complicated.

It doesn’t need to be French Laundry or Gordon Ramsey ready. That is not your specialty. Think of it as your entrance to the world of boutique catering. Now that being said, you shouldn’t do anything practicing on the paying client. You should be using recipes that you already know that people love.

But when you get your first event, that will give you the photos, a testimonial, and more confidence, which will make booking the second, third, or 10th or next year, so much easier. You don’t need to worry about trying to bust your butt right now to go full time. A big part of this in the beginning is just getting the confidence and proving to yourself that it can happen for you and that you can do it.

Now, here’s a bonus tip at the end of your very first catering job. Not at the event after it’s over, follow up with a handwritten thank you. Clients really appreciate that personal [00:07:00] touch, and ask them if they would like to pre-book you for next year, even if they say no, you’ve planted the seed. And if they say yes, you’ve already turned your first holiday Catering into a repeat annual client.

So that’s the things you can do to get your very first holiday catering as a personal chef. Keep your offer simple. Use compliments and photos as social proof. Start with the people that you know and then introduce yourself locally. Use your first catering event as your stepping stone. And remember, this isn’t about filling your calendar with dozen events or trying to take on events that are too big for you to handle.

It’s about proving to yourself with that first event that people will hire you, pay you to cook and love your food.

There’s no better feeling than cooking for someone, having them pay you, and thank you for [00:08:00] what you did as they’re paying you.

If you found this helpful, be sure to subscribe. Every week I share strategies to help you start and grow your personal chef business because the clients are out there and they’re hungry for what you’re cooking.

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