Product DescriptionEssential information and how-to advice from the best in the business Catering Like a Pro is a must-have resource for anyone thinking about starting a catering business. Packed with recipes and exciting new ideas for creating theme events and dramatic experiences, it explains the catering industry from the bottom up. This revised and expanded edition covers everything necessary to get started, including real-world advice on contracts, hiring help, managing events, and sample forms and invoices. A handy list of resources—from equipment and ingredients to legal and business directories—helps make it easy to get up and running smoothly. Interviews with some of the best star caterers in the business offer inspiration and valuable tips for those new to the game.
Francine Halvorsen (New York, NY) is a professional culinary writer, consultant and artist who has traveled and lived all over the world. She considers herself lucky to be invited to share meals at some of the best tables everywhere. A graduate of Columbia University, she is the author of Catering Like a Pro, The Food and Cooking of China and Eating Around the World in Your Neighborhood, all published by John Wiley & Sons.
What Others Say
Learning what not to do
This is a book I used in my research to see if I wanted to start a catering business. Catering Like a Pro: From Planning to Profit told me about all the down sides to the business and I quickly realized I did not want to get into the biz. Good start if you wish to research before diving in!
The book does have a lot of recipies to use for large events that I use while entertaining.
Revealing truth
Catering Like a Pro: From Planning to Profit saved me from making a bad decision. My friends kept telling me I made great parties. Good buffet, interesting appetizers, great dinners. They told me I should consider doing it professionally to make extra money.
One of the books I read on the subject was this one. It has good recipes, more importantly it describes recipes in a manner that enable scaling for different sizes of event and helps you choose the right recommendations for different size events.
It also describes what's involved in actually doing professional catering. I was convinced. Turning a hobby into a business can ruin the hobby. Rather than go Pro, I'll stay a happy amateur; but one with better skills in managing the parties I through.
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Catering like an idiot
Catering Like a Pro: From Planning to Profit is a collection of vague and uninformative quotes, dated menus, and common sense advice. One word for Ms Halvorsen, ICE. The details of coffee and tea service are poured over, yet, at no time does the book remind the would-be caterer to buy ice! It is amazing that in such a competitive publishing world that books like this are written.
good for a beginner
I think this was an excellent book for a person starting to plan a catering business--minus the large recipe section. It tells you exactly what to expect in this business, and includes helpful sample forms (i.e.billing, invoice) that will surely come in handy. In addition, Halvorsen includes helpful lists for restaurant schools,wholesale markets,kitchen suppliers, etc. for many cities throughout the US. Definitely worth the book price and recommended for someone who is starting out or even thinking of starting a business in the industry because she tells it like it is!
a very good intro to professional catering
When I bought Catering Like a Pro: From Planning to Profit we had been catering for awhile on a very small scale. Halvorsen does a excellent job of presenting catering as it really is, hard work, long hours and requires exceptional people and mgt. skills. She offers sound suggestions to help those on a shoe string budget choose wisely and avoid major catering pitfalls. The invoices and forms she uses as examples are more than adequate for anyone to use in their own fledgling business. For a basic book she covers alot of material in a general way leaving you with a outline of the areas you WANT to do more indepth research about. The only problem area for me with Catering Like a Pro: From Planning to Profit is the recipe section. I would rather have had a resource list that I could have pulled material from ... Read More
