OTHER WAYS TO PUBLICISE YOUR BUSINESS

Keeping afloat in quiet times

Invariably, there will be times when you will find the market rather quiet. Everyone has a period when things are not so busy, especially after Christmas or the dark days of autumn or winter. In order to keep buoyant, you will have to do other things to keep the business going. Here are some examples, all of which you can use for publicity.

COOKERY CLASSES

Are you a good communicator? Then you can capitalise on your premises and your profession to create a series of cookery classes and/or demonstrations. They can be one-offs, individual days or over a couple of weeks.

What to do

Firstly, decide how you will run the class. For example, outline a day, four one-day consecutive weeks, or monthly set of classes for six or more paying students (it generally won’t pay to have fewer) depending on your kitchen size and what you feel comfortable doing. Remember to design the classes carefully around your own prep time, leaving plenty of time to clear up, have some time off and prepare for a function.

Plan the cooking with a domestic kitchen in mind and don’t use hard to find ingredients (see below for suggestions for types of classes). Don’t be too technically advanced or you may lose your students. Have a member of staff in to wash up during the class and help prep before the students’ arrival and put this cost into your budget.

Write to your customers via a newsletter, put up posters and distribute flyers in libraries, shops and elsewhere in your area. Include all the relevant information and contact details.

You can run various classes, for example, if you offer a one-day course:

• 9.30am: arrive, coffee and talk. 10am: start students cooking a two course meal (or whatever you have chosen to do). 12.30pm: lunch with a glass of wine. 2pm: discussion of cooking and Q&A. 3.30pm: departure with pack containing recipes, newsletter, public relations information (flyers, business card, menus, other classes).
• Or, 10am: arrival and coffee. llam–12.30pm: demonstration. Glass of wine with food. 1.30pm: departure, with tips and recipe pack plus menu and public relations information (see above).
• Or you could do the demonstration at someone’s home who has a large kitchen, the owner getting some friends together for the demonstration.

Types of classes

As I said above, the classes can be for a day, two-three days, weekly or even seasonal. And there is a huge variety of what you can offer. Here are some ideas:

• The basics: soups, breads, pates, roasts, simple desserts, jams, biscuits.
• Cooking for family and friends: simple oven dishes using chicken or pasta.
• Cooking lunch with your paying cooks from scratch and eating the meal with a good glass of wine.
• Food from another country: Morocco, Spain, Italy, France, Thailand, Mexico… each country covered in a series of hands-on cooking classes or demonstrations.
• Cooking with spices and chillies.
• Cooking with fish: learning how to skin and fillet fish, for example.
• Cooking with shellfish.
• Cooking with meat and game.
• Cooking with vegetables.
• Pasta day: learning how to make pasta and sauces.
• Men in the kitchen.
• Cooking for children, and with children.
• Entertaining at home.
• Vegetarian cooking.
• Tapas day.
• Simple starters.
• Party desserts, buffets, canapes.
• Christmas: how to get through it as the family cook.
• Demonstration masterclass.
• A local celebrity chef/food writer doing a demonstration.

The most popular cookery courses are Christmas, Men, Children and Entertaining, but other subjects can easily grab the imagination if presented well and clearly on paper.

Calculate your costs carefully before deciding on a price per person. Offer discounts for group bookings: for example, one comes free if he or she books six friends. You can also offer gift vouchers for classes and demonstrations.

Make sure your classes measure up to expectations, i.e. don’t promise more than you can do. Ask your students to fill in a questionnaire before departure for feedback; you will be surprised how much good market research you can achieve.

ADULT EDUCATION CLASSES

Put your culinary skills to good use by teaching cookery at colleges in your area. This is one route for extra income that can be explored if a) you feel you have the ability to teach adults how to cook and b) it won’t interfere with your business as it will mean commitment. Contact the head of the adult education department at your local college or colleges to tell them about yourself, and find out what’s on offer.

I have taught at several colleges and find it very rewarding but somewhat frustrating as colleges sometimes do not have very workable, clean premises. Check out the kitchens thoroughly before committing yourself to a contract: are there enough stations (workplaces) for students? Enough usable pots, pans, ovens, sinks? Are they clean?

Student preparation

Make up a realistic list of types of dishes you could teach your students or choose from the list above. Keep it simple (unless you are teaching haute cuisine). Make a shopping list for your students to go with the recipes so that they can be fully prepared. Specify ingredients such as strong mature cheddar, large eggs, castor sugar, vanilla pod rather than cheddar, eggs, sugar, vanilla, for example.

Ask students to bring containers to take the prepared food home plus cling film and labels so that packing up at the end of each session goes smoothly and you’re not hunting around for receptacles for that bouillabaisse, chicken with pancetta or tart tatin.

One advantage of teaching is that it is a great way to get your catering services known; some of your students may well ask you to quote for a family party, wedding, christening or funeral.

ONE-TO-ONE COOKERY CLASSES

You might well also be asked to give one-to-one lessons to clients and friends. Treat this opportunity as a professional gig and stipulate the hours and time. (Be strict about this as it’s very easy to find yourself chatting well after the lesson should have finished. Your time is precious and it is your business.) Depending what suits you and the client, you can either cook at the client’s home or in your kitchen. Don’t be too over-ambitious in the number of dishes you can jointly prepare and give clear recipes to the student (s).

MASTERCLASSES

Masterclasses are demonstrations of cooking methods which elude the home cook. For example, sauce making, bread making or Thai cooking. You may be approached by a group of friends who would like you to demonstrate dishes to them. Or you may offer classes to clients or friends.

When you are giving a masterclass, it’s a good idea to make clear beforehand what you are offering. Generally speaking, a masterclass isn’t a full meal but a demonstration of how to prepare and cook. For example, Thai ingredients, with a tasting of what you have demonstrated.

The audience

Be very organised and have a step-by-step timetable either on paper or in your mind before embarking on a masterclass. Don’t assume your audience knows a great deal about the subject, but don’t be patronising. Find out about your audience beforehand: if they are sophisticated foodies, don’t talk down to them. Do be prepared for questions and know about your subject whatever its simplicity or complexity.

If, for example, you were cooking with fish sauce, nam pla, you should be prepared for a question about how it is made (fermented salted shrimp or fish). If you were preparing skate, you could tell your audience how they could prepare it at home and give more information on how to grill, poach, how to cut the cartilages, and that it is best bought in winter months. Always have plenty of information ready about what goes well with what, and give the audience tips they will be able to use at home.

Have ingredients on show to pass around the room and to taste. It is a good idea to have someone to help you during the demonstration if you are dealing with a number of people.

Have plates, napkins and glasses to hand around as well as recipes and any marketing tools you have such as business cards and sample menus. You may be asked to quote for a party by someone attending at a later date, so don’t miss out on this opportunity to market your abilities.

CHARITY FUNCTIONS

You may be asked to prepare food for a charity function. These can be a lot of fun, and are also a chance to get some publicity. You may meet an audience/possible clientele hitherto unknown to you – and you to them.

When I do charity functions, I ask for the cost of the food only and donate my time to the charity. Although if the function is a distance away, it’s perfectly OK to ask for travelling costs.

Be sure to get all the information you need in plenty of time. The charity’s committee, who you are dealing with, should know exactly what you are preparing for them and how much it will cost them. You should know how many you are catering for at least five days in advance. Make sure you have enough helpers on the day and that you are not doing it all on your own if it’s a medium-sized or big function. But above all, see it as being part of the community you live in, and enjoy it!

PERSONAL CHEF

You may want to put an ad in the local paper offering your expertise as a personal chef. I have cooked for a number of years on an ad hoc basis for a ducal household and derive much pleasure from it as well as making part of my living from this. You may be replacing the chef during his or her absence (holiday, sickness, in between chefs) or asked to cook only for special occasions. You may also be asked to cook on a regular basis for a well-heeled household or business. If this type of work does appeal to you, you can combine it with your other catering work, or stick only to being a personal chef.

WRITING A COLUMN OR A COOKBOOK

These are two excellent means of maintaining your profile. However, you need to have the right skills and commitment. Do you have anything offbeat or unusual to offer? Can you write clearly, concisely and interestingly? Will your recipes be easy for the general public to use? Can you fit in writing as well as cooking and/or running a business?

Writing a column

If you are keen to do a column in the local press or on the radio, think about what you can offer. Have you got a good story to tell about your business? For example, do you grow your own vegetables, herbs and salad and raise chickens for the pot, all in the back of beyond, and succeed? Do you have particular expertise with unusual puddings, are you a dab hand at terrines or have exotic culinary pizzazz? Perhaps you come from a family which has had chefs for generations.

Contact your local paper, magazine, radio station and talk to the features editor or programme producer about a column. Find out their name and write to them outlining what you have in mind.

Writing a cookbook

If you have an idea for a cookbook, do your research. Go to a good bookstore and look at the cookbooks on offer. Which books would you like to emulate and why? Get their publishers’ names and contact the commissioning editor by name.

Write a one-page letter, outlining your book proposal in clear, concise language your culinary attributes and other background which may be of interest – but only if it is relevant. No need to add your five A levels, your prowess at mountain walking and your bookbinding course.

The Writer’s Handbook (published by Macmillan: www.panmacmillan.com) is full of information about UK publishers, agents, national and regional newspapers. The Guardian Media Guide (Atlantic Books) is also useful.

Contact the Guild of Food Writers (www.gfw.co.uk) for advice how to become a member once you have burst into print.

It takes time and perseverance to get on this particular ladder (as I can testify) but dogged determination can pay off (as I can testify too!).

Do not take on too much media work (should you be so lucky!) – writing a column, a book, TV, radio – as it may take you away from those stoves for too long and your business will suffer. Working in the media is fun, but often fleeting.

FARMERS’ MARKETS AND FOOD FESTIVALS

Having a stall (or sharing one) at your local and regional farmers’ markets and food festivals is a great chance to sell your business. Have flyers, sample menus, cards and any other publicity materials ready to hand out. It is, of course, also a great place simply to sell your products. You can use the opportunity to really market your food well.

Put an easy-to-read list of your products in prominent places around the stall, highlighting your unique selling point (for example, organic/home-grown ingredients/an unusual ingredient/vegetarian/vegan/Thai/ eco-friendly fish).

Display your prices on your products. Passers-by make snap decisions and if they can’t see any prices, they’ll assume that you are expensive and walk on. People tend to be shy about asking, but if you are friendly and informative, they will approach you.

Explain your products. Sell, sell, sell, in an informed, non-aggressive way. Involve your potential customers – ask them to taste some of your products. Nothing sells more quickly than hot (temperature, not chilli factor hot), freshly prepared food. Explain what’s in the food and what it goes with (if it’s a relish, for example).

If you are trying to sell your catering to passers-by, have a small camping gas burner to cook something appealing to get the crowds over to you. The smell will attract them and, by offering a taste of something hot and handing out information about your business, you are making a great impression on them.

Label your produce well to include the ingredients, use-by date, your business name, address, telephone, website or email address so that buyers can place orders at a later date if they like the product.