Roman's Tips On Product Lines

1. Catering is NOT your product line. The types of catering you sell are your product lines. Here are a few examples:

·   Box lunches

·   Weddings

·   Corporate picnics

2. Go a step beyond:

·   Weddings over 300 guests, weddings under 300 guests

·   Barbecue weddings

·   If you have a venue, allowing other specialist caterers in to do weddings on your off nights – Kosher, Asian, Indian

·   Box lunches for 12, box lunches for 75

·   Box lunches for church groups, box lunches for DMC’s

·   Picnics for corporations, picnics for charities

·   Picnic/barbecue cooking classes

3. You need to measure operating profit for these product lines:

·   Look for disproportionate costs for labor resulting in improper profit (spinning your wheels).

·   Danger: “I need to keep my staff busy” or “They’re here already, why shouldn’t I do more?”

·   Being busy doesn’t always lead to proper growth or proper profit.

·   Often 20% of a month’s volume consumes 50% of the month’s labor costs.

4. Don’t give up on your current product lines – rethink them. Rename them. Resize them