Guide to Purchasing Catering Equipment for a Restaurant

Posted by jackbandy on March 16th, 2012

When restaurateurs want to open up catering services, they need bulk catering supplies and catering equipment to run their business. However, they already have an existing food business in the form of a restaurant; their requirements would be lesser than usual.

The first step to choose catering equipment is to decide on whether the business would cater to on-premise services or off-premise services, or both. Planning a catering service at the restaurant premise will reduce the cost and requirement of getting new set of catering supplies and catering equipment. However, if the plan is both ways, which means both on and off premise catering, the list of requirement would be longer. It will then become important to ensure that apart from cooking equipments, there are adequate carriers for both hot food and cold beverages too.

The scope of catering operation has to be identified clearly. A catering service should have adequate equipments to ensure that the job is well done. The maximum number of guests the catering service can serve has to be decided. There are times when one might be tempted to sign up a deal for 300 guests at an event, but failing to provide adequate catering supplies, plates, glasses or flatware can be disgraceful for the company. Hence, it is very important to gauge the scope of operation and commit accordingly.

Scope of transportation is one of the most vital factors to be considered for a catering business. Catering equipment can be hefty. In order to transport such equipments and catering supplies to the location, the business requires efficient staff and transportation facilities. For the start up businesses, it would be wise to use smaller vehicles or even private vehicles for the purpose. However, when the catering plans are large and there are frequent off-premise events, the vehicle has to be larger. Transporting, dishes, foods and staffs to an event will need large and comfortable vehicles.

Restaurateurs are saved from a lot of investment because they can find some useful catering supplies in their own restaurant. As an owner, one must try to find out what are the possible equipments that can be used from the restaurant itself. Whenever there are small catering events, the catering equipment available at the restaurant can be used. However, for larger events, the business should have adequate glasses, dishes, flatware, plates, serving utensils and linens.

Instead of buying catering equipment, it can be wiser to rent some catering supplies. At the initial stage of the business, it would be extremely important to have some financial resources at hand. Therefore, renting chairs, tables, lines and dishes can be a great idea. However, it depends largely on the scope of the business and operation.

Depending on the scope of catering business, the catering equipment and catering supplies should be planned effectively.