Who Can Cater Your Events If You Cannot?

In the last blog, I talked about applying the E-Myth principles to small business. Along the same lines of the E-Myth philosophy, and growing your company, caterers must ask themselves this important question : “If I cannot personally be present to cater an event – can somebody else do it for me? And will they do as good of a job? Do I have a solid “bench” to draw upon? This is a critical question for small businesses owners who rely only on only themselves to execute. All too often the answer is actually “No, I do not have those resources”.

Catering is a very hands on business for most owners. They are personally involved in the full management of the event. I know one of my parents was always present at EVERY event – just to ensure the event was perfect.

But consider this…

We recently talked to a client who broke their ankle. After casting up the break, the Doctor told the owner – no driving for six weeks. Wow, think about that. That one statement alone significantly altered the plans for the entire company! The situation was serious because the owner could not drive – and was limited to crutches. Fortunately family and friends rallied around him, and he was at least able to be on-site to supervise. But what if he couldn’t be there? Who would have made sure that EVERY event still executed as smoothly as if he were actually there?

So think about the maximum number of events in a day or night. Now take yourself out of the equation as being involved. You want to start training your best people to be able to manage that number of events. Hiring new people who can run those events might be something you will need to explore.

In addition, It might be a good idea to have a short term disability policy in place. I know, that’s  not going to get the event(s) catered, but it may help defray some of the costs of adding the extra labor needed during that time.

I said in the beginning that this topic actually ties back to E-Myth. Here’s how : forget about a broken ankle or disability, it is the Entrepreneur that is not available for an event. Why? Because the Entrepreneur is too busy designing and planning the bigger and better company!