Buying a catering company in Orlando and Central Florida

• Repeat corporate clients and a place on venues' preferred caterer lists, so the calendar doesn't depend on advertising.
• Some contract business, like a cafeteria or a daily meal program, to carry the slow months.
• Future events already signed, spread across many clients.
• A chef and a salesperson who know the clients and plan to stay.
• Every menu costed out, so quotes cover food, labor and rentals with room to spare.
• A licensed kitchen with a lease you can keep, enough space to grow, and refrigerated vans in good shape.
• Referrals from planners and venues, not just one-time customers.

• Deposits. This is money the seller collected for events you'll cater. Make sure they're credited to you at closing, and read the contracts' cancellation terms.
• Where the work comes from. How much revenue depends on a few clients or one venue's preferred list, and whether those ties will survive a new owner.
• Contract terms. For contract food service, check how long each contract runs, how it renews, whether the client can cancel, and whether it can pass to you.
• How event staff are paid. Servers and bartenders are sometimes paid as independent contractors. Ask your accountant whether that would hold up, since getting it wrong can mean back taxes and penalties.
• The kitchen. The lease or shared-kitchen agreement, how old the equipment and vans are, and the inspection history on DBPR's site.
• Margins by job type. A drop-off lunch and a full-service wedding make money very differently; ask for results by type.
• Storm risk. What happens to events canceled during hurricane season, and who keeps the deposit.

• Which clients and venues send you the most work, and would they keep calling under a new owner?
• What's already booked for the coming year, and how much have you collected in deposits?
• How do you price a wedding compared with a corporate lunch?
• Who does the selling today, and who does the cooking?
• How do you staff a big weekend, and how do you pay the servers?
• Do you own, lease or share your kitchen, and what are the terms?
• What happens when a hurricane threatens an event weekend?

This region covers Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake, Sumter and Marion counties: Orlando, Winter Park, Kissimmee, St. Cloud, Sanford, Clermont, Leesburg, Ocala and the large retirement communities of Sumter and Lake counties. Tourism is what the area is best known for, built on the theme parks, the hotels, the vacation rental homes around Kissimmee and the Orange County Convention Center. It's far from the only business. The University of Central Florida and the military simulation and training offices near it support a technology base, and health care is a major employer.

Marion County is horse country, with thoroughbred farms around Ocala, and it has added warehouses and distribution centers along Interstate 75. Retirees in Sumter and Lake create steady demand for medical practices, home care, home maintenance and auto services. The building trades, restaurants, and companies that serve hotels and rental homes do well across the region.

Central Florida is inland, so storm surge isn't the worry it is on the coasts. Hurricanes still bring wind damage and flooding, though: Hurricane Ian flooded neighborhoods in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties in 2022. Ask whether the business or its customers were affected.

Tourism keeps demand steadier through the year than in markets that depend on winter residents, with busy stretches around school holidays. Hotels, parks and restaurants compete hard for workers, which pushes up wages for any company that hires hourly staff. New homes have spread fast in Osceola, south Lake and southeast Orange counties and around Ocala, so check whether a company's customers are in growing areas or older ones. Traffic on Interstate 4 limits how much ground a service company can cover in a day.