Running a catering business looks like fun, but the reality is very different. The reality involves long hours, problems with staff and suppliers, an unpredictable market and the general public.
Reality television and its obsession with restaurants mean that every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks they know how to run a business. Cooking programmes don’t help much, either. Thanks to Jami and Nigella et al, it is likely that most of your customers secretly think they could cook your food better than you.
Despite – or maybe because of – the recent economic shake-up purging the streets of sub-standard businesses, competition in the hospitality industry is still fierce. This means that your establishment and your food have to be a cut above the best.
Marketing yourself doesn’t have to happen through the pages of your local paper (no one trusts those ‘reviews’ either). It can begin before people even enter your business, before they even reach the front door – it can begin on the street.
Using an A-board to advertise your business and your menu is a well-known and effective marketing tool. The perfect A-board would be a blackwashed sandwich board, written beautifully in chalk and displayed in the right spot.
Make sure the information on your sandwich board is correct, if you are advertising something other than food (and even then, get the menu and the prices right, or you risk not being taken seriously the loss of confidence in your business). Spell things properly!
And finally, think carefully about the image you want to give across, and use the sandwich board and the things you put on there to achieve this.
Tags: A-Boards, outdoor advertising, Point of Sale, sandwich boards