177 Scrumptious Catering Business Name Ideas
Considering there are more than 128,000 catering businesses in the United States alone, it’s no surprise settling on a unique name when starting a catering business can be challenging.
Picking the right name gives potential customers an idea about the services or food specialty your business provides, creates a good first impression, and helps you stand out from the competition.
What catering names are you allowed to use? How do you come up with something that represents your delicious food the best? And what about business name best practices?
Related: How to start a catering business
Also see: How to start a restaurant
If you’re unsure how to answer those questions or are struggling with finding a good name, you’re in the right place. Keep reading to learn my top tips for choosing the perfect business name and how to make sure your favorite choices are available to register.
Let’s dive in!
Tips for Choosing The Best Catering Business Name
If you’re struggling to develop some business name ideas, one of the best things to do is just to start brainstorming. As you go through the tips outlined below, make a list of words, phrases, and terms associated with your business.
From there, you can narrow down the list and cross off ideas you don’t like.
Once you have several top considerations, we’ll walk you through how to make sure you’re allowed to use them. This last step helps you narrow down your list even more so you can make a final decision.
1. Consider What you Plan to Offer
There are several types of services a catering business can offer, so it’s worth considering the services and food type you plan to offer when picking a brand name. Maybe you want to focus on corporate catering or weddings, or you bake sweet deserts.
Add the different types of services you want to offer to your brainstorming list.
Remember to avoid anything limiting your business’s future growth if you decide to go in another direction down the road.
2. Location-Specific Terms
Many catering businesses are specific to a geographic service area. So, if that’s true for your business, consider adding a location-specific term to your business name.
You can consider things like:
- City nicknames
- Neighborhoods
- Regions or states
- And descriptive terms
However, consider what happens if you expand outside your intended service area. Does the name become limiting? If so, it’s best to avoid it if you plan to expand or change directions later.
3. Avoid Business Names That Are Hard to Pronounce, Hear, or Spell
Despite the technological advances in voice search, assistants like Siri and Alexa struggle to understand slang and other confusing words.
This could limit how often your business shows up in voice (and text-based) search if your name is hard to spell, pronounce, or hear. Because of that, it’s important to avoid complicated words, industry jargon, and using numbers in place of letters. While having a unique catering company name is good, being too unique may not be so good.
Keep your business name as simple and easy to remember as possible so potential customers can easily find you.
4. Consider Alliterations and Rhyming Words
Alliterations and rhymes make for catchy names and are easy to remember. Because of that, they make for small business names.
That said, it’s not always easy to come up with them. Start with choosing a few of your favorite words from your master brainstorm list.
Then, you can Google “words that start with C” to come up with a name like Classic Cuisine or G for Gourmet Grub or whatever letter you’re using to create an alliteration. Alternatively, you can search “words that rhyme with _____.”
It can be time-consuming, but it’s an excellent place to start.
And don’t forget to add any exciting finds to your brainstorming list while you’re at it. Try not to overthink the names you come up with. Just write them all down as some of the more interesting ones may spark better ideas later.
5. Steer Clear of Initials or Obscure Acronyms
Initials and unusual acronyms are hard to remember, so they typically don’t make great business names. They can also be challenging to pronounce and confusing for voice search as well.
Furthermore, there are 325 different two-letter combination possibilities in the English language. And the odds of your customers remembering the specific letters you chose are pretty small.
6. Imagery Words
Another consideration when brainstorming name ideas is whether there are industry-related words that could also lend themselves to be used in a logo. For instance, a catering business could use silverware or a chef’s hat and focus the name around the image.
Related: How to create a logo for your business.
7. Still Struggling? Try the Owner’s Name
If you’ve made it this far and are still struggling to find the best name, you can always consider using the business owner’s name. Doing so works well if the owner also plans to be the face behind the business.
Something to keep in mind is that using the owner’s name as the business name can make it more challenging to sell the business in the future.
List of Catchy Catering Business Names
Here is a list of existing catering business names that may help give you some creative ideas. While many of these names may be available for you to use, be sure to check first to be sure they can be used.
Tips on how to check business name availability are after the list of names!
- 7 Dreams Catering
- 805 Catering Co
- A B C Catering Truck
- A Better Way Catering & Events
- A Caribbean Taste
- A Fancy Fiesta Catering
- A New Beginning Catering Service
- A Quiet Cook Catering
- A Taste Of Paradise Catering
- A Touch Of Elegance Catering
- Able Catering
- All Aspects Catering
- All Seasons Catering
- Anise Mediterranean Catering
- Apple & Hickory Catering Co
- Apple Spice Box Lunch Delivery
- Armando’s Catering 4u
- Around The World Catering
- At Home Catering
- Authentic Fine Catering
- Bachman’s Wholesome Catering
- Back Bar Catering
- Bad Ass Street Tacos Catering
- Bad Piggy Catering
- Basil Pizza Bar Catering
- Bella Banquet Hall & Catering
- Bert’s Fine Catering Co
- Best Choice Catering Company
- Best Express Catering
- Beyond Catering
- Big Country Kitchen
- Big G’s BBQ Catering
- Black Tie Catering
- Blackwell’s Catering Co
- Bless Your Heart Catering
- Bliss Catering
- Blossom Catering Co
- Blue Crush Catering
- Blue Star Catering Service
- Bluewave Catering
- Bon Appetit Catering Co
- Breakfast Catering
- Brothas’ & Sistas’ Catering
- B’s & B’s Catering Service
- Bulacan Bakeshop & Catering
- Cali Caters
- California’s Best Catering
- Carlson Catering & Events
- Cast Iron Catering Company
- Cater Me
- Catered By Diana
- Catering Artists
- Catering City
- Catering For All Occasions
- Catering Inc.
- Catering Truck
- Celebration Catering
- Chef Dave’s Catering
- Chicken Taco Catering
- Chloe’s French Catering Co
- Classy Catering
- Coast To Coast Catering
- Cooked Clean Catering
- Corner Cafe Catering
- Cowboy Up Catering
- Creative Catering Co
- Creative Cravings Catering
- Crisp Catering
- Crystal’s Socal Catering
- Cutting Edge Catering
- Day Beak Gourmet Catering
- Deb’s Personal Chef Catering
- Delectables Catering
- Deli Up
- Delicious Catering
- Delicious Dishes
- Deluxe Catering
- Effortless Moments
- Eli’s Signature Peruvian Catering
- Elite Catering
- Excuse My French Catering
- Exotic Gourmet Catering
- Fabulous Food
- Fabulous Taste Catering
- Fancy To Fantasy Catered Affairs
- Farmstead Catering Co
- Favorite Foods Catering
- Firehouse Fred’s Catering
- First We Eat Catering
- Floating Lotus Catering
- Fly By Night Catering
- Fresh Start Catering
- Fresh Table Catering
- Fruitfull Foodies Catering
- Fuget About It Catering
- Garden Of Heaven Catering
- Go Express Catering
- Golden Gate Catering & Events
- Good & Plenty Catering
- Gourmet Bites Catering & Events
- Gourmet Catering
- Grand Affaire Catering
- Guahan Grill Catering
- High On The Hog Catering
- Honey Blossoms Catering
- Hope Catering Service
- Ideal Custom Catering
- Intentional Catering
- Jersey Girl Catering
- Jr’s Catering & BBQ
- Juanita’s Catering Service
- Just N Thyme Catering
- K & K Bakery & Catering
- Katering By Katie
- Kelly’s Kitchen & Catering
- Key Ingredients Catering
- Kiss The Chef Catering
- Let’s Eat Catering Group
- Limelight Wedding Catering
- Liquid Catering
- Liquor Catering For Less
- Love At First Bite Catering
- Lunch Box Catering
- Lunch Time Catering
- Main Street Catering
- Marvin Gardens Catering
- Masterpiece Catering
- Meadow Farms Catering
- Mediterranean Catering
- Mexican Salsa Catering
- Mexico Bonito Catering Truck
- Mon Cheri Catering
- More Than Enough Catering
- Napa Valley Catering
- Oasis Catering
- Off The Vine Catering
- Ola Catering Service
- Orange County Catering
- Pacific Harvest Catering
- Party In A Box Catering
- Pink & Purple Catering
- Posh Catering & Events
- Prestige Catering
- Prince Catering
- Pro Caters
- Ray’s Catering
- Real Food Catering
- Red Bicycle Catering
- Red Plate Catering
- Remarkable Events Catering
- Rise & Shine Catering
- Root Cellar Catering Co
- Rosy & Sons Catering Service
- San Diego Indian Food Catering
- Sandcastle Catering
- Scratch Catering
- Seasons Gourmet Catering
- Signature Catering
- Simply Lovely Catering
- Simply Recipes
- Sky Catering
- Slice Of Life Catering
- Smelly’s Creole Catering
- Smokehouse Catering
- So Cal Eats
- Soul Fusion Catering
- Southern Cafe Catering
- Special Events Catering
- Tasty Catering
- Tasty Food
- The Catering Queen
- The Great Spoon
- Toast the Host Catering
- What’s Fresh
- Who’s Cookin’
- Wildflour Catering & Design
- WYLD Child Catering
Is Your Catering Name Available to Use?
At this point, you should have several top considerations to choose from. And the best way to narrow it down further is to check each one for availability.
This step is vital because using a name that someone else is using could be very costly, time-consuming to rebrand your business, and possibly embarrassing. There are several places to look to check whether a name is available to use, so let’s walk through each one.
Can the business name be registered in your state?
If you plan to register your catering business name as a corporation or LLC, each state requires a unique company name.
This makes it important to search the Secretary of State’s name database in the state you plan to register to ensure your name isn’t already in use.
In most states, sole proprietorships and partnerships are required to register a Doing Business As (DBA) or Assumed Name if they aren’t doing business under the owner’s full first and last name. A few states require them to use a unique name, while others will let you pick just about any name you choose.
Related: How to check business name availability in your state
Is your catering name already trademarked?
When searching for a name for your new catering business, you need to make sure your new name isn’t trademarked by someone else. If it is, you may not be allowed to legally use it.
Thankfully the United States Patent Trademark Office (USPTO) makes trademark searching a breeze through their Trademark Database.
Remember that if a name doesn’t show up in this search, it isn’t necessarily available. Every business has some limited protection through a common law trademark. This means another business can’t open up shop down the street with the same name, as this creates confusion for customers. Also, be sure to check local competitors by doing a Google search and looking through the Yellow Pages.
If your name is available and you want to protect it from being used by anyone else, you can register your name with the USPTO.
Related: How to check for a trademark
Is a domain name available with your business name?
A domain name is your business’s digital address. With so many people researching online, it’s crucial to make sure your catering business name is also available as a domain name.
Website addresses aren’t as critical as the first two searches, but it’s still worth doing as a domain can cost as little as $10 to pick up. Typically, you want your domain name to be “yourbusinessname.com” without any numbers, dashes, etc.
You can easily search for a domain using NameCheap’s domain name search tool.
Hopefully, you now have some good business name ideas for naming your catering business. Once you have this list narrowed down to just a few and researched that they are all available, start asking friends, family, and potential customers their thoughts to get feedback, and then pick your perfect catering business name!