A Comprehensive List of Business Opportunities For Food Servers (Waiters/Waitress)
- Vending Machine (35)
- Personal Chef (21)
- Specialty Food Selling (16)
- Food Truck (19)
- Bed and Breakfast (17)
- Coffee Shop (33)
- Home Baked Goods (51)
Description: A vending machine business can be a lucrative, minimal-effort business for food servers. A vending machine is an automated do-it-yourself shop for people on the move. Owning several vending machines involves stocking products, maintaining repairs, and collecting money earned.
Products/Services: Vending machines are opportunities for food servers with limitless in products that can be offered. Typical vending machines provide snacks, sodas, beverages, and fresh foods available for purchase for as much as 24 hours. Specialty vending machines can also have specialty items like supplies, food products, dry goods, and many more.
Potential Customers: The usual customers of vending machines depend on where it is located. They are typically placed in high-traffic areas like commercial districts or outside schools.
Description: Personal chefs are considerably professional chefs that form a one-man team to plan, prepare, cook, and serve meals to their clients. Personal chefs can be an opportunity for food servers where they can display expertise in tailoring their cooking according to their client’s needs, dietary preference, and specifications using their skills in the kitchen.
Products/Services: Personal chefs are a jack-of-all-trades for their clients. The food server interested in the endeavor is expected to provide meal planning, grocery shopping, prepping, cooking, and plating professionally made food. They are also responsible for cleaning the kitchen and properly storing food items.
Potential Customers: A personal chef can exclusively have one client or have multiple clients at once. Their usual customers are typical well-off professionals who may not have enough time to prepare meals for themselves or their families.
Description: A specialty food selling business is an opportunity for food servers centered on selling rare specialty food items. Specialty food-selling businesses can be operated on a part-time or full-time basis and can be operated at home and online.
Products/Services: Specialty food items are the bread and butter that the food server should keep in mind in a specialty food-selling business. These are food items that are rare and valuable or are often found in small quantities. Examples are caviar, craft beer, truffles, high-quality chocolate, foie gras, artisan cheese, and more.
Potential Customers: A specialty food business’s usual customers are mostly from specialty markets like gourmet restaurants, stores, groceries, gift shops, and bars. Typical customers are also someone who likes novelty, high-quality products, and experimentation with their food.
Description: A food truck business is an opportunity for food servers which involves owning a large motorized vehicle, such as a trailer or a van, equipped to prepare, cook, and package food for customers. Food trucks are essentially mobile restaurants that serve a variety of different food options to customers.
Products/Services: A food truck business can serve any variety of food or beverages to customers. This will largely depend on the food server owner along with the chef or cook operating in the truck. Localized cuisines, burgers, pizzas, or beverages, are common food products served by food trucks.
Potential Customers: Food trucks travel to different locations to serve a wide array of customers. Food truck customers are usually pedestrians looking for a tasty bite of food to eat.
Description: A Bed and Breakfast business is a hospitality-based operation that can be started by food servers and usually operated in a privately owned family home with the owner/manager living within the premises. It is a unique, more intimate form of lodging.
Products/Services: Bed and Breakfast is an opportunity for food servers interested in offering lodgings to travelers and vacationers. There is typically an average of six rooms available for guests for an overnight stay. Guests are expected to be served delicious breakfast in the morning.
Potential Customers: The usual customers of a Bed and Breakfast are people on holiday, usually couples or families looking for more unique or homey accommodations for their vacation spot.
Description: A coffee shop business involves making use of a commercial property wherein the food server hire baristas to brew different types of coffee and serve them to customers. These businesses are also called cafes. Running a coffee shop business involves budgeting, training staff, and ensuring the cafe attracts its target customers.
Products/Services: A coffee shop's main products are various types of coffee products and beverages like brewed coffee, espressos, lattes, cappuccinos, teas, and frappes. Cafes also serve pastries that complement the served beverage. Additionally, coffee shops are known for their ambiance that promotes relaxation or productivity which the food server should also keep in mind.
Potential Customers: Coffee shops typically serve teenagers, young adults, and professionals who love caffeine or enjoy the particular ambiance that coffee shops provide.
Description: A home-baked goods business is an opportunity for food servers to offer baked sweets or desserts like cupcakes, brownies, etc. straight out of a home oven and selling them to customers. These types of businesses can be operated in the home or an industrial kitchen. Products can be sold on demand or a scheduled production of goods.
Products/Services: Home-baked goods products are usually anything that can be baked by a food server inside their home. Popular items include brownies, cupcakes, cookies, jams, breads, and muffins. Some can also make bigger products like cakes.
Potential Customers: The usual customers of a home baked goods business are typically adults with disposable incomes, looking for a fresh treat.