Most culinary arts students dream of owning their own food business at some point after they graduate. This is especially true for those who are highly ambitious and studying in a premier culinary arts college like Enderun Colleges. What some students don’t immediately realize, however, is that there is no need to wait. In fact, many students can start their own small food business while taking their culinary arts degree in Manila!

Setting up a food business as a student isn’t as difficult as it might sound. Furthermore, it’s actually a great idea since you have the option of continuing your business after you graduate, setting you up for success early in your career. If you are interested in giving it a try, here are a few things you want to contemplate when setting up a food business as a culinary student:

Make a Solid Business Plan

Like any business, you’ll need to draft a solid business plan. This little document will help you identify your goals and outline the steps you need to take in order to achieve them. This is where students who take business and management classes as part of their culinary arts program will have a distinct advantage.

Be as realistic as possible when making your business plan as overly grand ideas will only make it impossible for you to start your business properly. If you need help, consult one of your instructors or even speak to a business administration professor in your school.

Online or Physical Store?

The choice between starting an online business or a physical store may seem difficult, but this is mostly because you may be thinking of opening up an actual storefront in a commercial area. If this is possible for you, by all means do so! However, culinary students can opt to open a small stall in their school’s cafeteria instead, especially if they plan to start a business with like-minded students.

Choosing to go online, though, may be the easiest way to run a business as a student. The way to do this would be to be open to taking orders during the weekday and making your food deliveries on the weekends. This set-up makes it easier for you to plan out your workload, as well as help you better balance your studies and running your business.

Hawk Free Samples to Strangers Before You Start

Ideally, it’s a good idea to test market interest before diving into starting a business. You can start out by giving away free samples of your menu items to students and faculty around campus. Similarly, you may want to visit your friends and neighbors to give them a little taste of what you plan to sell. Don’t forget to ask for feedback on the taste of your goods, as well as have them rank which ones they liked the most and survey their thoughts on how you should price your products. Remember: these people will very likely be your first customers, as well as repeat business.

Advertise Your New Business

Last, but certainly not least, you’ll want to advertise your new business in order to drum up interest and increase orders. Thanks to the rise of social media, small businesses can easily market themselves and their products to a wide audience. Consider creating business pages on both Facebook and Instagram. These two platforms are exceptional at reaching audiences who are happy to try out and support small businesses. You may also want to explore using other platforms like TikTok, based on the target audience you identified in your business plan.