Catering (Small Events)

Small event catering — birthday parties, corporate lunches, holiday gatherings, bridal showers — is a side hustle that turns cooking skills into $500-2,000 per event. The math is straightforward: charge $20-40 per person, serve 20-50 guests, and you are grossing $400-2,000 per event with food costs around 30-35% of revenue.

The barrier is not the cooking — it is the logistics. Transporting hot food, setting up a buffet or plated service, managing dietary restrictions, and cleaning up afterward all require planning and organization. The caterers who succeed as side hustlers focus on a specific cuisine or format (BBQ, Italian family-style, taco bars, charcuterie spreads) and build a repeatable system around it.

Starting small is the move. Cater a few events for friends at cost, document the results with photos, and use those to market on Instagram and local Facebook groups. Corporate catering is the steadiest income — companies order lunch for meetings and events regularly and find a caterer they like, they stick with them. One corporate client ordering weekly team lunches at $500/week is $2,000/month from a single relationship.