Going Into Business for the First Time

I was in a new job in a new segment of the industry, which I pointed out in my previous post, with a lot more free time and I was not spending that time wisely. I found myself reverting to old habits with old friends. I had to do something or I was afraid I would end up with some serious health issues.

My thought was to start a business that I could use my skills as a chef, that I could do while still keeping my full-time job.  The only logical direction was catering.  Most of the business was in the evenings and on weekends, which is when I was now off!.  I began assembling the necessary equipment at auctions, used equipment companies on the Bowery in NY and restaurants that were going out of business.  I stored most of it in a storage unit while I found a location to build a kitchen, which came very quickly in the form of an industrial brick building in the middle of the town I was living in at the time.  And suddenly “The Fabulous Food Caterers” were born.

Somewhere along the line in the restaurants I had worked in, I picked up the nickname of Fabulous Phil by some waitresses.  I honestly cannot remember what prompted it but it stuck.  It seemed to work and we were in business.

The first year was great.  I was able to keep working and run the catering business at night and weekends.  I was busy and we were making enough money to pay the rent, buy whatever we needed which now included 2 vans and a fully equipped kitchen to operate out of.  I was feeling pretty good about my decision and we really started to get press which expanded our customer reach.

We began to get a following suddenly I was faced with a dilemma.  As I looked at the parties we had booked for the upcoming season, it became apparent that I would not be able to keep a job and run this business.  It was going to get very busy and require a full-time commitment in order to be successful.  This was a real crossroads I had not thought this would happen so quickly and I had been spending all of the money on building the infrastructure of the business and marketing.  I really did not have much reserves to carry me personally if anything went wrong.  I worked as long as I could and saved as much as I could until the winter was over and the party season began…………