How to Become a Food Service Professional
Published at 06/08/2021, Updated on 04/05/2022 , Reading time: 5 min
Working as a food service professional allows you to combine the specialism of delivering great food with the benefits of turning exciting profits. If you’re thinking of making a career change with a food service franchise, here’s what you need to become a food service professional.
The food sector is one of the most popular sectors in the UK and is one of the most popular ways for Brits to relax. The industry employs over 440,000 people and in 2019 turned over £104.9 billion [Food and Drink Federation].
If you’re looking to make a career change with a food service franchise, you’ll be working in a busy, profitable industry. But, how do you become a food service professional?
What is a food service professional?
The food service industry covers every kind of food establishment, with restaurants and mobile food services making up the majority of the food service sector with around 88,000 different services [statista]. As a professional working in this sector, you can expect to be working across this industry in whatever capacity you choose.
As a professional, you’ll be dealing with a lot of the management side of your business. You will need to be organised, capable of managing a team, comfortable multitasking, and confident at running a food service team. While you’ll need to work hard, there are also many benefits to working in this sector.
Flexible working: As a food service professional, you’ll be your own boss. You’ll be able to work flexibly to working patterns that suit you.
Changing market: The food industry may still be serving tried-and-tested dishes from many years ago, but demand for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and religion-friendly food has skyrocketed. You can expect to be experimenting with new ingredients and new dishes all the time.
Experience: Working in this sector, you’ll need to combine a number of different skills that will all be tested in equal measure. Whether you choose to remain as a franchisee for the rest of your career, or decide to move on, you’ll be well-experienced with an expansive skillset.
Support and training: One of the biggest benefits to working as a franchisee in the food service sector is that you’ll be able to profit from the training programmes put together by your franchisor. You’ll be learning from the best in the industry and putting those lessons into practice.
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How do you become a food service professional?
If you’ve decided to become a food service professional, you’re in great company. There are thousands of people just like you working across this sector. So, here’s everything you need to know to get yourself set up.
1. Choose your franchise
Before you go any further, you’re going to need to research what franchise options are available to you, which ones are most suitable, and which ones aren’t for you. This doesn’t need to be a boring job though, as there are a number of different food franchise opportunities that you can filter through on Point Franchise.
When deciding which options are right for you, highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each option. All this information will come in useful again further down the line, as some of these businesses may soon end up being your competitors.
When analysing your options, try asking yourself the following questions:
- What food is on offer? Does it interest me? Do I know anything about it? Am I passionate about it?
- How does the franchise work? Do I like and agree with how the business operates? Would I do anything different?
- How much training is on offer? Will I need more or less training? What support will I have with recruiting team members?
- What are the costs? Can I afford to open this franchise? Is there help covering some of the costs? What are the ongoing fees?
As you work through these questions, you’ll eventually come to find the right option for you.
2. Put together your business plan
Once you’ve got everything you need, put together your business plan. This is a great opportunity to show your franchisor, bank, or fellow professionals that you have everything it takes to run a great food service franchise.
While your business plan will always need to be specifically tailored to the person reading it, you should always include as many relevant details as possible on things such as your desired premises, financing options, price range, future growth and recruitment planning.
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3. Keep it modern
Many food franchises have had to adapt to survive over the last few months. But, at the same time, many will have been able to reach new customers, perfect new ways of working, and find new ways of attracting revenue. Familiarise yourself with how your franchise has dealt with these restrictions and decide if you want to keep these services running, or if you think they should change.
Although as the franchisee, you are the more junior partner, franchisor-franchisee relationships should always be reciprocal. If you think you know a way your business can be more efficient, you should feel confident to present your idea to whoever is open to them.
4. Be creative
Most franchises won’t require you to have previous experience in the food sector or sales to get set up. This is normally because many of the best franchisees bring their own diverse experiences with them. So, you should feel free to embrace your creativity and detail how your experience means you can run your food business differently, and potentially, even better than predicted.
Franchise opportunities in the food sector
1. Auntie Anne’s
Auntie Anne’s is the world’s largest soft pretzel chain. For a minimum investment of £40,000, you’ll be given comprehensive training and ongoing support in your journey as a franchisee. You won’t need previous experience, you just need to be passionate about customer service and the food industry. Additional financial support is available as the franchise can put you in touch with a personal finance broker.
2. Veeno
Veeno is a UK-based Italian wine franchise. After a total investment of £80,000, you’ll be able to run a turnkey franchise for a lower than average price for the food sector. You’ll receive specialist training along with marketing support and site analysis and software tools.
Make a career change and start a food service business today
Franchising is one of the best ways to be a part of the food service industry, but if you want to see a complete list of franchising opportunities in different sector, you can see a full list of the UK franchise directory.