As more and more food trucks are delving into catering to supplement their time while not on the streets, we have been inundated with more questions specific to this side of the business. There are many common mistakes beginner caters have run into over the years. We have collected a number of them and put them into this list of common questions and how to avoid or overcome them.

• Never give anything away for free. If you give something away for free, clients will always expect freebies. Just as you train your food truck staff to behave in a certain manner you must train your clients to pay for your services and value your talent. You can give a discount for a charitable event, but make sure you cover all your costs and some of your time.
• Always receive a 50 percent (minimum) deposit before you start working on a job.
• Quadruple your food cost to determine a base price for a client if you need to give an estimate off the top of your head.
• Always put in writing what you’re going to do for a client and what the client is going to do for you. Don’t rely on a verbal agreement.
• Be ready for unexpected things to go wrong at a moment’s notice, and be able to handle it with split-second decision making.
• Hire fantastic staff that will work hard with you and not allow you to fail. They must be ready and willing to walk through fire with you.
• Have a sense of humor and use it often.
• Be ready for some intense manual labor.
• In order to protect your reputation, you have to know your limits. Saying no to something that you aren’t equipped or trained to do or turning down an event on a day when you’re already booked is better than doing it poorly.

These tips will become engrained in your memory after you start catering and gain experience. For now, it’s helpful to have a list to refer to.

If you have any additional tips you would be willing to share with our readers, do not hesitate to share them in the comment section below.