Everything you need to help start your own mobile event catering business for free.
Useful business advice, help, ideas and tips
to get your new mobile outdoor event catering business started.
START UP A MOBILE CATERING BUSINESS
STEP5. EXPANDING - GROWING
Borrowing to grow In an ideal world we would all love to expand our business using the profits
we've already made and without needing to borrow any extra funds. Very few
businesses manage to expand without some form of additional funding particularly
if they have only been going for a few years and although business may have been
good, have not had time to accumulate large reserves of capital to reinvest in
the business.
A new catering trailer, additional towing
vehicle and associated equipment could easily amount to several tens of
thousands of pounds that you may need to borrow. Keep your borrowing to a
minimum and the risk involved is reduced, your business expansion plans are more
likely to succeed without a huge financial burden. If it looks too costly at the
moment try scaling down your plans or hold off for another 12 months while you
accumulate additional capital from your profits.
Obtaining funding for expanding a mobile
catering business can be real fun and games. Many mainstream commercial lenders
and some banks tend to have a very limited knowledge of the mobile catering
industry and it tends to be a case of educating the lender or bank about how
your mobile catering business operates before you even get down to showing
figures. Consequently the lack of knowledge tends to lead to higher interest
rates on loans and generally poor deals.
KEY POINTS
Time to expand Your bookings are increasing, but is it the right time to think about
growing your business? Find out more
Borrowing to grow
Is it possible to expand your mobile catering business without increasing your borrowing? Find out more
Financial planning Plan your finances before you take
the leap and expand your business.
Find out more
Diversify Don't put all your eggs (or hotdogs) in one basket. Find out more
Employing help You can't keep doing everything yourself and you will need to employ at some
stage.
Find out more
Most businesses need finance at some stage either to start up
or to expand. But try to keep your borrowing to an absolute minimum. Look at
other alternatives as well, such as borrowing from family members or savings. If
you are not entirely sure always get independent financial advice.
Here are a few guidelines before you contact lenders and finance companies.
1.Decide exactly how much you need to borrow and how much you can afford to
repay each month. 2.Think about whether you want the loan secured or unsecured.
Secured loans generally have more favourable interest rates but you will be
asked to provide security in the form of your property or other asset. 3.Compare
interest rates carefully even if it means going through all our
advertisers
websites to get the best deal. 4.Have all your personal details at hand before
phoning or applying online. For example: details of all your existing mortgage,
loans and credit cards.
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