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How to Start a Luxury Picnic Business


We’ve all heard the buzz around this new trending industry which is a side hustle for some, and a full-time job for others. One thing we’ve confirmed through our research, though, is that the luxury picnic business has picked up super-speed in the last two years of the pandemic and is a highly profitable entrepreneurship venture that runs low on running costs and brings in maximum profits. 

The pandemic brought many unfortunate experiences we never thought life would throw at us. Losing our jobs and being forced to stay cooped up indoors was one. People in the hospitality and entertainment industry faced the brunt when the world no longer required as many event managers or restaurant owners. 

However, in this despair, arose new opportunities and hopes of earning bucks through different ventures and side hustles that one wouldn’t expect in normal times. The luxury picnic business is one such avenue worth exploring. In fact, in the past two years, many people from the hospitality industry and inexperienced amateurs who enjoy being creative and putting things together, have taken up the luxury picnic business as a side hustle. 

As we can tell through our research and interviews with luxury picnic business owners, the industry is low on running costs and high on profits. People love it because, as customers, they get to enjoy yummy food and great company in a cozy setting complete with Instagram-worthy props and ambiance. 

Your inner creative child who wants to have fun and make money while doing so is compelling you to tap into the potential of this industry and set up your very own luxury picnic business. Starting up any new business, however, can be overwhelming. You may be confused about what process to follow, which tools to use, how to get ahead with an effective business plan, and whether this venture will bring in the revenue that justifies its hype. 

Read on as we help you navigate your way around all the ins and outs of the luxury picnic business and answer your queries about setting up your very own. 

In this post we will cover the following points;

What Is a Luxury Picnic?

So, what is a luxury picnic? To put it simply, it’s an outdoor custom picnic experience organized and curated by professionals for you to enjoy good company over delicious food in an ambiance of your choice. You get to enjoy the great outdoors and indulge in fun activities of your choice or laze around with friends over a cuppa. What sets this business apart is the simple pleasure of getting dressed and showing up at the picnic with everything set up in advance for you just the way you want. Even better is that you don’t have to worry about cleaning up afterwards. The event planners do that for you.

Thus the essential services provided by the luxury picnic planners are the setup and picnic decor, food and beverages, service, and clean up. It’s a complete restaurant-like experience for a lesser cost. 

The luxury picnic industry gained popularity when people craved social and recreational experiences during the pandemic. When indoor coffee and dining with your friends or loved ones were no longer an option, people flocked outdoors and re-discovered the outdoor picnic experience. This was when some intelligent entrepreneurs and event planning enthusiasts tapped into the opportunity of providing people with an outdoor picnic cum dining experience where friends could meet casually or celebrate special occasions in their lives in larger gatherings without worrying about catching the virus. 

The pros of this booming industry outweigh the cons. It’s a business which can run smoothly online without a traditional brick-and-mortar storefront setup. This means low overhead and running costs such as rents, utilities, and bills. At the other end of the spectrum, it brings higher profits if you use a smart business model and a faster rush of clients through advanced online bookings and social media advertisements. 

The luxury picnic business symbolizes hope and possibilities in times of despair and uncertainty. Its success shows that you can try new and innovative approaches to earning money when the conventional work model is no longer effective.  

How Much Revenue Does a Luxury Picnic Business Generate?

After researching and interviewing several luxury picnic business owners of different scales across the board, we can safely say that this industry is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. 

Our findings inform us that on average, a mid-scale business owner with medium-priced packages earns approximately between $12,000 to $15,000 a month. As the business grows and there’s a client rush with back-to-back bookings, earnings take the form of advance payments on future date appointments. This monthly income from, let’s say, up to 60 bookings a month can go well beyond $15,000 a month. 

Revenue earned each month is directly proportional to the scale of the picnic, the number of guests, and investment back into the business. All things said and done, and after reinvesting back a good amount in your business, it’s safe to say you can comfortably take home between $5000 to $6000 a month. 

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How Much Do You Need to Invest in a Luxury Picnic Business?

How much money you need to invest to kickstart your luxury picnic business entirely depends on where you want it to head and the scale you want to operate. These factors determine your essential and optional costs. 

Essential costs are those which are absolutely necessary to bring your business into an active operational mode. These include your setup costs like business and domain name registration, business software, essential marketing tools, website building and hosting, permits, transportation, supplies, and service and clean-up costs. 

Then there are optional costs, which are included in the business plan, which can help the business operate better and reach new heights. However, it’s your call as the business owner how far you want to stretch your budget with these. For some of you, perhaps what we call optional here may be an absolute essential cost. Some of these costs include but are not limited to utilities and rent (for storefront business), business insurance, lawyer fee, employee salaries, advertising material like business cards and brochures, and social media marketing.

Factors like buying standard supplies one time and then reusing them for each picnic are one way of bringing down your cost. This, however, does involve any washing or sanitizing costs. You can expect your cost to go up for add-ons like food, props, and activities. 

Below we break down these essential and optional costs with approximate figures which are based on our industry research and are subject to change with time and circumstances:

Essential CostMinMax
Business Registration (LLC & Corp)$50$500
Domain Name$12$200
Website$10$800
Business Email$1$15
Supplies$250$1000+
Software $0$170-$200
Transportation $0$10,000
Permits and Licence$50$700
Optional CostMinMax
Insurance$500$2000
Lawyer Fee$0$1500
Social Media Management Tools$0$50
Social Media Ads$0$50
Print Advertising$0$300
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How Do You Start a Luxury Picnic Company?

Starting a company from scratch is an exciting and exhilarating experience. It comes with its fair share of confusion, queries, and cold jitters. There is an abundance of ‘how-to’ information floating on the web, and you may be overwhelmed and intimidated by it all. 

Without stressing further, you can safely follow these fundamental steps in getting your luxury picnic company started. 

  1. Pick a Business Name and an Eye-Catching Logo

First things first; you need to have a name for your company. Though your mind may be running in overdrive churning out all sorts of creative titles, remember to keep your business name short, simple, and something that potential customers can easily remember and recall. 

Once you have the perfect name for your company, you need to check its availability. This ensures that a company with the same name does not already exist somewhere else. Searching the availability of the name may not be as humongous a task as it appears to be. You can begin by Googling the name. A wise next step would be to check the relevant official website of the Secretary of State. 

After you’re done picking up a name, choose a logo for your company. Getting a professional logo made can be a pricier option and cost you anywhere between $1000 to $5000. If that’s not your cup of tea, you can opt for cheaper options, such as ordering a custom-made logo from Etsy for anywhere between $200 to $500. You can also use free online graphic design tools like Canva to design one yourself. 

  1. Set Up Your Business Website

We can’t stress enough the importance of a good business website. Consider your website your virtual storefront. It reflects your brand identity and image. Moreover, it’s ‘the’ way to attract customers and build the credibility of your business. 

When you plan on building your website, or have it built for you, keep in mind that the site has to provide an efficient and user-friendly experience to your customers. For that, having a workable technical knowledge base is a wise idea. Don’t stress over it if you don’t have one though, as the world today is lucky to have several credible web hosting companies like HostPapa that provide you with website building, hosting, and maintenance services. 

HostPapa provides you with all the necessary technical and website support services through its shared hosting service to give your business a powerful online presence. Through our shared hosting service, your website gets essential facilities like security and backups, free domain registration, business email, and much more. Besides this, HostPapa’s high-performance servers ensure incredible page speed that enhances user experience. 

When you choose our shared hosting package, you get to design and build your custom website all by yourself in a few easy steps using our Website Builder. Alternatively, you can install WordPress with a single click. For those of you who still feel nervous building a website yourself, we at HostPapa provide the option of building your custom website for you. So once you let HostPapa into your professional life and trust us with your company’s online presence, you can sit back and relax as we take care of everything for you.

  1. Create a Detailed Luxury Picnic Business Plan

As with all other businesses, a luxury picnic business also needs a sound, practical, and well-researched business plan to operate and thrive. Consider your business plan a step-by-step process that you need to follow in order to get things started and stay afloat. It will include streamlining all important aspects of the business like startup costs, running capital and budget planning, service/product planning and pricing.

Thus you can follow some of these basic steps to organize your entire course of action:

  • Register your business and domain
  • Open a business bank account and EIN
  • Market research on products, supplies, vendors, and popular services in demand
  • Make a purchasing inventory
  • Purchase basic supplies
  • Plan and price your service packages
  • Market your company
  1. Promote Your Business

The last bullet point above brings us to a very important aspect of any business, marketing. No matter how great your offerings are and how cute your ideas are, if you don’t market them well, you won’t sell. 

There are several ways you can market your business. For starters, as industry experts tell us, you need to physically get out there, pick a few popular picnic locations and set up your display. Then click pictures you post on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Getting images circulated on social media is the fastest way you can gain a large follower base. In this day and age of social media marketing, you’re lucky you have such a powerful tool to market your services. Make the most of it by uploading cute Instagram-worthy images. Instagram is a great platform for showcasing your creative ideas. The more attractive your Instagram posts, the more followers you will have, which roughly translates into more potential customers. 

If needed, hire a professional photographer to take pictures for you. With a luxury picnic business, it’s all about aesthetics. Thus invest the maximum time and money in the quality of your picnic setup pictures. Additionally, you can make use of social media advertising tools like Google Ads, and ads on Instagram or Facebook to put up paid ads.

Word of mouth is a slower but effective way of gaining customers in real-time. Also, the use of traditional print marketing material like business cards, brochures, and flyers is a professional approach to marketing your company and services. 

How Much Can You Charge for Your Services?

Luxury picnic business owners typically charge for standard services part of all picnic packages. These include the planning, setup, food, and cleanup. Then different packages offer different types and number of services. 

There’s a basic package, usually for 2 to 4 people. It covers costs for table setting, basic decor, a picnic basket or charcuterie board, and cleanup. These packages are usually priced between $150 to $ 250. Extra charges apply for each additional add-on in terms of food/beverage items, decor and props, and activities. 

Luxury packages will be typically more expensive but will have a range of added features and services like sparkling beverages, additional food items, and activities like canvas painting and games. Also, you can tailor your picnic package according to the occasion and your preferred theme.

Customizations and tailor-made packages usually have higher costs which can vary from company to company. 

How To Get a Licence for the Luxury Picnic Business

Licences and permits can be a scary proposition for any new business owner. The truth of the matter is, that in the luxury picnic industry, you will need a permit for each and every single picnic you host. 

Permit regulations differ according to the region you are in, as well as the location of your picnic. Each picnic location, such as parks, beaches, and campsites. has its own rules and regulations regarding private picnics. So a good idea would be to research the laws of your area and the picnic location to check how you can get a licence. 

Consequently, you will then need to get in touch with the location/park admin or director and follow the necessary procedures for getting a permit. In some areas, you’ll have to submit a “Certificate of Liability Insurance” for a set cost. It’s an essential expenditure, but also an investment that will help things smooth sail in all your future picnic projects. 

Final Thoughts

Starting any new business can be a daunting and overwhelming task. Where there’s endless excitement at the surplus options of materialising our dreams, there are often nerve-wracking feelings of confusion and anxiety stemming from not knowing how to streamline the entire process. Getting organized with a step-by-step course of action and a practical business plan can help us get out of this state of disorientation. 

On the brighter side, the idea of opening a luxury picnic company is a promising one with a tried and tested record of high profits and lower start-up costs. A gift of the pandemic, the luxury picnic business has reintroduced us to the concept of outdoor social and recreational gatherings, and at the same time given us hope of earning money through new and unconventional business possibilities.

Last modified on: March 26th, 2024

Categorized as Web Hosting

Mehreen is a content writer with an added experience in proofreading and editing. She is a history buff who loves her book collection, especially South Asian history titles. While she is a good swimmer and a fitness freak, she also finds her zen painting and embroidering.

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