Buying a catering company in Southwest 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 Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Sarasota and Manatee counties on the Gulf coast and Hendry, Glades and DeSoto inland: Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Naples, Bonita Springs, Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, Sarasota, Venice, Bradenton, LaBelle, Clewiston, Moore Haven and Arcadia. The coastal economy runs on people who choose to live or spend the winter here: retirees, seasonal residents, and the construction, real estate, health care, financial and home services that follow them. Tourism, golf and boating add to it.

Inland, the economy is agricultural: sugarcane around Clewiston, citrus, cattle and vegetables, with Immokalee in Collier County a center for farm work. The building trades, pool, landscaping and pest control companies, property managers, medical and dental practices, and marine businesses tend to do well along the coast.

This is one of Florida's most seasonal markets. From roughly January through April, restaurants, shops and service companies run at full speed. Summers are slower, so look at monthly revenue, not only the yearly total. The coast has taken two major hurricanes in recent years: Ian came ashore at Cayo Costa in Lee County in September 2022, and Milton at Siesta Key in Sarasota County in October 2024. Rebuilding brought a wave of work for contractors that won't last forever, so ask how much recent revenue came from storm repairs. Insurance costs and flood zones weigh on every property.

Housing costs near the coast make hiring hard, especially around Naples. New communities east of Interstate 75 in Lee, Collier, Charlotte and Manatee keep service companies busy.