Deciding as to whether go with catering franchise or to starting your very own independent business could be really a tough thing. Your decision will surely depend upon the kind of person that you are, how independent you want to be, the amount of the startup capital that you have and the business experience you already have. On the other hand, when starting up your catering services, here are some of the things that you need to consider: • Start up cost- with a franchise; it is likely that your cost for the startup will be high, as you will surely have to set up everything in accordance to the specifications of the franchisors. You may also have to purchase equipment and any other supplies of the franchisers or simply lease business premises concerning their needs. As a franchisee, you would then be obligated to pay out the fees in order to head off the office. The startup costs for your own independent catering businesses are likely to be a little lower. • Risks- with catering franchise opportunities, you need to jump up straight into serious business with the large initial investment. On the other hand, an independent business could surely let you ease into it in a slow manner. Whenever the things do not work well with you, then there’s no need for you to worry, as you would not be out of your pocket with your own business into the extent that you will be with a catering franchise. • Proven systems- one of the best advantages of a catering franchise is that, you are benefiting from the expertise, in which your franchiser had already gain for years now. They have already spent up for years in term of developing a catering business system that is proven in order to work well and must be able to be duplicated to work well with anywhere. You will surely gain the access for this proven system and likely to receiving training in the entire aspects of managing the business around. You could also be a part of a marketing and advertising effort that will surely be organized by the head office of the franchise, yet paid out of your fees. • Branding- another advantage of purchasing into well-known franchise is the recognition of its name that you will surely inherit instantly. This way, customers will be familiar with your brand and might even patronize it. So, if you would like to go on catering franchise, those benefits mentioned above will be all yours.