Identify Opportunities
From the competitive information you've gathered and evaluated, and from your assessment of what kinds of food you like to cook and serve, you'll now want to conduct some of your own primary research to further define your catering concept.
By now, you should have at least a couple of ideas of the type of catering services you'd like to offer. Conduct your own research to help you determine which concept will be the best received in your area. If your concept involves relatively expensive prices, ask questions about how much people would be willing to pay for top-quality food and service. If your concept involves ethnic cooking, ask people if they enjoy eating new foods, what kind of food they most enjoy eating, and whether they like spicy foods.
While you want a concept that is different from the other caterers in the market, you don't want a concept that is so unique and original that it's ahead of its time. If customers don't immediately understand what you're offering, you'll have a hard time selling proposals and making your business work.
Conduct Your Own Research
One of the easiest and best ways to get feedback on your business idea is to write a short one-to two-page survey, and give it to a group of friends, acquaintances, and work colleagues to fill out and give back to you anonymously. Ask people to hand the survey back to you. If you let people take the survey home and mail it back to you, you'll get far fewer back. Even if you give them a self-addressed stamped envelope, most people won't return the survey. So don't try to conduct a mail survey. E-mail surveys work well and are easy to set up. Check
The results you get from your survey will tell you whether your ideas will find a receptive audience or whether you need to go back to the drawing board.
Writing a Survey
Try writing your own customer survey and hand it out to people who you think might be your target audience. Give it to people as they go into or out of a local gourmet store. Give them a pen and clipboard, and ask them to fill it out for you on the spot. Thank people for their time; give out a wrapped cookie, chocolate bar, or dollar bill along with your business card to everyone who returns a completed survey.
Alert
If most caterers in your area don't include a service charge as part of their bill, make sure to ask your survey respondents whether they would appreciate a service charge instead of tipping or whether they'd object to such a charge.
Make sure that the survey is no longer than a page or two, as people won't take the time to answer more than that. Have a combination of open-ended questions and specific-answer questions. Ask people to check a box if you can use their e-mail address to contact them with special offers and news about your business.
Here are some examples of questions you may want to include in your survey:
Have you ever hired a caterer?
If yes, for what type of event and when was it?
Were you happy with the job they did?
What could they have done better?
If you could find a caterer who could cater a party in your home for a reasonable price, would you hire them?
How much would you be willing to spend per person for a catered meal?
$15–$25 $26–$40 $41–60 $61–80 $81–99 $100–$115 $116–$130 More than $131 per person Rank the most important things you look for in a caterer.
— Good food — Reputation — Reliability — Friendly Service — Ability to provide rentals, entertainment, flowers, etc .— Price — Other ______Do you entertain at home? If not, why not? If yes, when? For what occasions?
What kind of food do you like to serve your guests?
How many people do you usually entertain?
Test out your concept ideas. If you want to specialize in corporate catering, ask the respondents if their company or workplace uses caterers for lunches, parties, or other office events. If you want to cater weddings, ask respondents what they'd look for in a wedding caterer. Ask each respondent for his or her income, education level, age, whether they've traveled outside the United States, and anything else that may help you learn about your potential customers. This is potentially sensitive information, so you may want to make the section optional.
