Start a Craft Services and Production Catering Business

1. 1

   Know the difference between craft services and catering

   Craft services runs the continuous snack, coffee, and drink table that is available all day, restocked constantly, and set up wherever the crew is working. Catering serves the actual hot meals on a schedule. They are separate jobs, often separate vendors, and craft services is the far cheaper entry point with much less equipment.

2. 2

   Sort out the licensing before you take a job

   You are a food business, which means a food handler certification, a food service license, and in most places a licensed commissary kitchen where food is prepared and equipment is cleaned. Mobile operations need health department approval for the vehicle. This is a real government licensing lane and productions will ask for proof.

3. 3

   Build the kit for working anywhere

   Set is a parking lot, a warehouse, a field, or someone's driveway. You need tables, canopies, coolers, hot boxes, generators or battery power, water, hand-wash setup, waste handling, and a vehicle that carries it all. Working clean in a place with no plumbing is the actual skill.

4. 4

   Learn how crews eat

   Dietary restrictions are not optional extras on a modern set; vegan, gluten-free, allergy-safe, and halal or kosher requests are routine and getting them wrong is remembered. Crews also snack constantly through a long day, so volume, variety, and steady restocking matter more than culinary showmanship.

5. 5

   Price by head and by day

   Production food is typically bid per person per day, sometimes with separate rates for craft services and for meals, plus a truck or setup fee and overtime for extended days. Build your bid off real headcount, real hours, and the honest cost of working out of a parking lot, and quote change terms for the days that run long, because they will.

6. 6

   Get on the list productions actually use

   Register with your state film office directory, get to know local line producers and production managers, and do one commercial or independent shoot flawlessly. This industry hires almost entirely by referral, and one production manager who trusts your food will carry you into their next three shows.

7. 7

   Diversify beyond production

   Local production is seasonal and can go quiet. The same equipment and licenses serve corporate events, construction site catering, festival vending, and private events, which is how experienced operators stay steady between shoots.

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