Since our founding in 2014, we have weathered many 'interesting times'. Each time we have adapted and transformed into an even better business.
Our current 'interesting times' include the constantly shifting dynamic of fuel prices, unsteady supply of ingredients, increasing costs across the board, changes to staff costs and HR legislation.
The other part of our business 'iCooked', which shares kitchen space and team attention, has grown incredibly fast over the past 12 months. Through this brand we make and sell ready to eat meals.
For 12 months, we thought that the best thing would be to sell Monkey Business Catering and lean into iCooked but it seems that everyone is too busy dealing with their own 'interesting times' to want to take on the adventure of catering.
What will we do now?
We are simplifying and streamlining our catering operations. Our focus is on doing excellent 'drop & run' catering.
Our new menu is halved in size. We have kept all the delicious things that we do well and taken off the things that are ordered rarely or have ingredients that are difficult to obtain.
We know that this means that our menu may not suit everyone BUT that leaves wonderful opportunity for others in the Toowoomba hospitality scene to bring their skills and talents to meet our community needs.
How will you cater for diverse dietary needs?
An aspect of our work that we have been struggling with is the amount of ingredients we needed to keep on hand for a handful of dietary orders. Our dietary requirements can now be catered for through the Petite Dessert Platters, Canape Platters, Fruit Platter or with the individually packaged Snack and Salad Bowls.
This will reduce the ingredient storage costs and simplify how people order for diets.
When we started in 2014/2015, the percentage of dietary requirements in groups was around 2% and they would be 4 main types of diets. We now see an average of 10% dietary requirements requested and the diet types are more numerous than we can list.
What has changed with delivery?
Everyone reading this will appreciate that our delivery costs have gone up. We have increased the minimum order for delivery to a minimum $130 threshold and the cost to $30 per delivery in Toowoomba.
What has changed with onsite and Saturday work?
We are busy during the week and have a fully permanent staff. This means that we have limited availability for weekend work.
Our minimum order threshold has increased to $2,500 with the exception for conference catering.
We also are unavailable for onsite catering, except if you are a long-term client like Business @ Dusk or Toowoomba Regional Council events.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out at chef@monkeybusiness.catering