Is your business considering focusing on serving picnics? If so, your entire line of business will need to properly adapt to the specific issues and factors to consider in running a successful picnic, which has typically been the area with the most consistent repeat business for companies that execute their picnic events well. Here are several tips you can put to good use to ensure that your picnics are profitable.
- Become a “One-Stop Shop” for picnics. Remember, clients always like things to be easy – if you can offer simple coordination of the event they want, from food to entertainment, even to location, your business becomes that much more of an attractive choice. However, be prepared to take some undeserved blame – if one of the vendors you work with messes up, clients will typically blame you, not the vendor. After all, you picked them, right?
- Entertainment is a MUST. This is not a typical catering situation where you simply handle everything that deals with an event’s food. You are coordinating a complete event, so have ready contacts for a variety of entertainment based on what occasion the client wants to have a picnic for, whether it’s a birthday party accompanied with bouncing castles or a corporate outing featuring local art.
- Thoroughly review your menu. For your menu to be profitable, ensure that you can portion and offer your various items depending on the scale of an event, while ensuring that your staff and sources can handle its complexity. For example, limit some items to an event with X number of people or more if they aren’t profitable in smaller production quantities. It’ll definitely help to use Better Cater catering software to review the costs incurred per item in arranging your menu.
- Location, Location, Location… Your client will often need intervention in selecting a location – you’ll need to keep the size, amenities, and local rules regarding such public events in close consideration. Do not be afraid to say “no” on a location – simply explain why the location absolutely can’t work in a location, and work to find an alternative. Of course, if your client has a strictly-set budget, be sure to keep it in close consideration when reserving a location.
- … OR Have Your Own! If you can make the investment, consider creating and maintaining your own dedicated venue. With this, you can specifically tailor the location to your business, allow your staff an ease of familiarity with the location, and even increase your profits by being able to host multiple events per day in the same location!
- Plan for the inclement. Weather is always a hazard to picnics, so plan ahead on what to do if the weather doesn’t cooperate: have backup ideas, delays in plans, vendor coordination, and -if it comes down to the wire, and the client backs out – cancellation fees.
With these tips in mind, your business can adapt successfully to serving picnics, and making a great profit out of them- good luck!
