What to do?

[smokerpa]

I think I have this in the right area. I read the sticky for stuff in the catering, and I'm pretty sure this belongs in Q-Talk.

As some of you may know, I did a big cook last weekend for close friends and family. Of course I posted this on my Facebook page.

All week I was asked by people if I would do a birthday party, or an event that someone had coming up. A lot of stuff around holiday parties in December. I never gave any consideration to this. All were willing to pay "fair market value".

I liked kicking back with my buddies and having a beer. We shoot the crap about anything that nobody cares about. The food was just a product of all the time we told our wives we needed outside doing manly things with the cooker. You know, it takes five grown adults to stand around it to work.

Well today made me think a little harder. I was approached by two other people. One is having a 150 person wedding that they would like me to do in June of next year. They told me they would pay me what I consider an outrageous amount of money. I had another person ask me if I would do a 75 person holiday party. Again, that is a significant amount of money. When I say significant, it is enough money to make 500% profit. That gets me going a little.

So here it is. Would you think about filing for all the paperwork and crap to do this over a handful of requests? I never thought someone would pay for my food, but that seems to not be the case here. The money for the fees and permits is not a concern for me, but if I did any of this, I would do it legitimately. I guess I'm not sure what road this would take me down if I did this.

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Teleking]

If going legit with the HD I see no issues. However I think some up front costs on additional equipment to go all in might be a deal breaker. Any idea on personal chef laws as opposed to outright catering options?

Edit: I don't cater or even play one on weekends, just worked for the HD in a past life.

 

[pjtexas1]

That's great that your q is so good that people want to pay for it. The concern I have when people make these requests is that it's turning my hobby into work. One of these days it might be fun to see how far it could go but I really like my current job and my time off. Do you have what it takes to serve and feed hundreds of people? That's a lot of silverware, plates, cups, etc.

Most importantly, how are you calculating your profit? Not that I know how just wanted to see if you are taking everything into account.

 

[smokerpa]

So the personal chef situation is related to those who actually cook in ones home or is cooking for those of one home. I asked that to a person who I know that owns a catering company. They are a large catering company in the area, but they don't do Q.

Paul, you hit the nail on the head. If you read my post, I talk about shooting the crap with my buddies. That is honestly what it is all about for me. I have a very demanding job M-F that is a salaried position, but I'm use to spending my weekends during this time of the year sitting in a tree. I make a good pay, so the money would not be necessary, but it is enough to look at.

With regards to profit, I calculated how much sauce, rub and meat products I would need. I calculated the cost of the materials required to make the rubs and sauces. Cost of materials for the sides. I also took gas to and from the event as a cost. Also calculated the cost of pans and foil and those things. My wood is free for the Shirley.

The only thing I did not count at this point in time are the warmers and such. Reason being is that a buddy who does that catering company said I could borrow anything I need from him until something would go big if I went this route.

In all situations that I discussed above, I'm only asked to bring the product. Maybe catering is not the right word. Show up and provide the food. Maybe I'm missing some other costs.

It's all pretty bizarre in my mind. I know a lot of people where I am from and have a lot of questions. My fear is opening a door that I might not want opened. I'm a pretty detailed oriented guy who takes a long time to jump into something.