The global COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected the catering industry. The pandemic has had a major effect on the economy and running of every country and industry. This article will look at 7 ways to reduce the costs of your catering business without making any sacrifices to the quality of the service and food you offer in the post lockdown world of 2021.

1) Minimise Food Waste

Food waste can add up to a lot of money wasted for your catering business. This doesn’t make good financial sense and should be avoided as best as possible. Think about ways your business can preserve leftovers and excess food moving forward into 2021. A great option to achieve this is to invest in a vacuum packaging machine. Vacuum sealing extends the shelf life of food by removing air and sealing it within single seal vacuum pack bags. A vacuum pack machine is also a great way to safely store food that has been prepped in advance which can then be cooked at a later date.

2) Reevaluate Your Menu

The start of a new year is a great time to relook at your menu. Making some changes to your menu is an easy way to cut down on costs, while also keeping things fresh and interesting. When reevaluating your menu, it is best to start with removing any menu items that aren’t popular. Next, you should look for potential ways to make popular items more cost-effective. Such as by looking at the cuts of meat you are using and for ways to use leftovers as part of another dish to make sure nothing is going to waste. It is all about looking at your options in a creative way!

3) Opt For Plated Meals

If your catering business normally offers buffet-style meals, you may want to consider switching to plated meals. By making this switch you will spend less money and have less waste by offering a plated meal over a buffet. With a buffet-style option, there is a lot more food to prepare and this, in turn, means more supplies to buy, higher labour costs, and more wastage.

4) Don’t Over Order

Another great money-saving tip is to make sure you are not going overboard when doing your purchasing. It is important to only purchase exactly what you need to cook and make sure you are cooking the right amount of food. What this means is that you need to be very precise when it comes to portion sizes and taking down orders correctly. The goal is to not have any waste at the end of an order. Everything that was purchased should be cooked, and then used to fill the order.

5) Consider Commercial Kitchen Space

By using a commercial kitchen space for your catering business, you can eliminate a lot of stress and expenses. Expensive rent issues, location costs, and legal issues of owning a building can all be a thing of the past. There are many practical benefits to renting a commercial kitchen space too as they often have all the latest equipment and prep tools and offer great storage solutions, both cold and dry, if needed.

6) Embrace Modern Marketing

In our modern world, there are some great, cheaper alternatives to paid-advertising that you could explore in 2021 for your catering business marketing needs. Focus on your social media presence by setting goals and creating a strategy, as posting randomly will get you nowhere. What is most important is being genuine and really aiming to connect with your audience. Also ask your current customers to write reviews, whether, on your website or social media, glowing customer reviews are highly important as people trust online reviews almost as much as if they were to receive a recommendation from a friend or family member. Network as much as possible as customers are more likely to work with you because they recognise you and your business.

7) Support Local

Shopping locally can offer more flexibility, as small, local businesses can optimise their services to best fit your needs. Look into local listings to see if there is another company that costs less. There are also added benefits to the entire local community when you buy locally, as more jobs are created, money is kept within the community, the community stays unique and offers specialised services and more consumer choices, reduces environmental impacts, and much more. So try your best to support local in 2021 to cut costs and to enhance the lives around you.