I recently spoke about the perils of being a corporate caterer in the winter months, and about how one month’s normal business feels like it’s crammed into 21 or 22 days. As you know, this always annoyed me, but there’s another factor that can make winter months even more challenging.
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If you own a restaurant, you know that the weather can be your mortal enemy at times. Early in my career, I owned a fast food restaurant in a university area; my place totally relied on walk-in traffic. If it was sunny and nice, we could have a great lunch, but rain at noon represented a dollar loss that would never be recouped. When I became a corporate caterer, I was happy that for once I didn’t have to live and die with the weather. Rain, wind, and cold didn’t bother me as customers usually had their events and meetings regardless, and I could casually watch the nightly weather report and not fear that a steady rain would cost me hundreds of dollars.
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The holiday season unfortunately brought the weather quickly back in focus. Since we were in Boston, true winter could start anytime in late October or early November. To be honest, I used to enjoy temperatures between 35 and 42 degrees since our vehicles would be natural refrigerators. We didn’t have to ice any cold food or find enough insulated Cambros and coolers to handle a large event.
If it got really cold, our trays and platters would still be OK in the unheated truck for a short time period, and we were comfortable navigating these temperature issues. Snow, however, was another thing altogether.
Stay tuned for Part II of “Catering Weather” next week. I’ll include some tips as to how you can counteract terrible weather!
Editor’s note: Michael Rosman and Michael Attias will be conducting an interactive half-day seminar, “All Things Corporate Drop-off Catering” on March 15, 2017 at Catersource in New Orleans. The session is included in the purchase of a Catersource all access pass, or can be purchased separately as a one-off. For more information, visit http://schedule.catersource.com/track/all-things-corporate-drop-off-catering
If you would like to contact Michael Rosman directly about his consulting and coaching services, you may call him at 781-641-3303, email him at [email protected] and visit his membership website www.TheCorporateCaterer.com. Michael is a regular contributor to the Catersource.com website, and also has published two books which are available for purchase at www.catersource.com/catersource-store
