Congratulations if you are one of the many people who have decided to take your love of cooking to the next level. Many people who love to cook dream of setting up their own restaurant or café, but not many will have the confidence to do so.

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Catering is about much more than cooking

Although cooking up a treat in the kitchen may be your forte, as a restaurant or café owner you will have to wear many business hats alongside the traditional toque.

Firstly, you will need to be a good negotiator as you go looking for premises. You will also need to be good at communicating as you network with your new business neighbours and deal with the bureaucratic side of your business, such as trading standards, town planners and environmental health officers.

You will also need to learn how to keep stocks replenished so that you do not run out of key ingredients and learn to cook portions so that you neither have too much food or too little for your customers.

Finances will obviously take up a big chunk of your time as you keep accounts and learn to balance the books. After all, you need to make sure you are bringing in a tidy profit to pay the staff wages and creditors.

Finding catering suppliers who work when you do

You will also find that you work odd hours depending on whether your premises cater more for the breakfast crowd, lunch or dinner. This also means you are clocking on or off when many of your suppliers are not in the office. Trying to talk to your catering suppliers between 9am and 5pm may be impossible for you.

This is why you need a company dealing with catering supplies and equipment that trades online. You can look at its website at your leisure, read up about the different catering supplies and equipment on sale and compare prices. You can then make your order.

If you use a company such as www.247cateringsupplies.co.uk, which never closes, you can place your order at any time of the day or night and everything will be delivered straight to your door.

If you have a tablet or laptop, you can take a look during the quieter moments in the kitchen or once you have left work.