Adding a catering arm may bring in that added revenue stream you're looking for.

Building a new line of business makes a lot of sense, especially in today's economy. Catering is a natural offshoot to restaurants and can be a worthwhile extension of your brand. But launching a catering division today requires a new set of rules—rules that cater to more austere corporate events and scaled-down special events.

"The catering customer has changed," says Michael Roman, president/founder of Catersource Magazine, Conference & Tradeshow, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. "They're looking for catering at less cost, but they don't want cheap. They want less fluff, so no big shrimp hors d'oeuvre, but maybe shrimp salad. They're looking for good value. Corporate shoppers are looking for catering that's easy for them to justify."

"Corporate catering isn't just about elegant food at large company parties," says Edward Levesque, chef/owner of Edward Levesque's Kitchen in Toronto. "It's about good sandwiches for downtown boardrooms. That need is still there. Where good catering comes in is making sure your sandwich is worth the extra money. I've got to make a better tuna-salad sandwich than a quick-serve can make. So I use good-quality tuna, capers, really good bread and a really great mayonnaise."

Although the type of catering that works in today's market may have changed, many strategies for implementing a catering division remain the same. "Catering is the art of quality, volume foodservice balanced by the science of making profit," says Roman. Here are three of Roman's strategies that may help you launch a profitable catering service:

1. Hire and manage a really good salesperson.
   This person is selling your catering orders. Chefs need to be involved throughout that process. Make a list of dishes that are easy to execute in the kitchen and a list of dishes that require chef approval. Allow the salesperson access to the kitchen. Let him or her get involved in your world, so they can understand it better. A chef should have veto power over a salesperson's wishes, which are really the customer's wishes.
2. Create a catering Cost Wall in your kitchen.
   Use Velcro and stick items you use for catering on the wall. So, have a foil pan on there with the cost underneath it, for instance. Put an empty bag of corn on there with the price underneath it. Your kitchen staff needs to understand food and equipment costs in catering.
3. Form a customer advisory board before finalizing your catering menu.
   Ask your best customers, folks who are passionate about your food, to come in and talk about what they'd like to see on a catering menu. They'll help you form a good core, and may give you ideas for things you haven't thought about.

Three of Levesque's catering strategies:

1. Offer value dishes with quality ingredients.
   My catering customers are happy to go for the chicken pot pie rather than an expensive dish, but they want quality there. So: organic chicken in the pie, beautiful, local vegetables in the pie and a flaky, homestyle crust. My meatloaf is made with sirloin. It's meatloaf, but it's a really good meatloaf.
2. Get to know your market.
   What do your clients want? They want your food, but presented uniquely. They want wow factor, but you can deliver that without breaking the bank. Who are your clients? Look around your neighbourhood: law offices, insurance companies? Where are you?
3. Provide really great waitstaff.
   You can outsource this, but I think it's better to find the waitstaff yourself—from your current staff and from your files. You can guarantee a better end result if you know the people that you're working with.