Should You Niche Down Your Catering Business? The Case for Specialization

The Generalist Trap: Why Being Everything to Everyone Is Killing Your Margins

I spent the first seven years of my catering business trying to be everything. Corporate events on Mondays, weddings on Saturdays, nonprofit fundraisers on Thursdays, and bar mitzvahs whenever they called. I thought diversity meant stability. What it actually meant was competing on price with every other caterer in a fifty-mile radius while working nights and weekends for $2,500 events that barely covered my labor costs.

Here's the uncomfortable truth about being a generalist caterer: you're in the commodities business whether you like it or not. When your website shows that you do "all types of events," you're telling potential clients that your bacon-wrapped fig appetizer is interchangeable with the competitor down the street. And you know what's interchangeable? Prices. The client picks whoever answers the phone fastest or undercuts by $3 per person.

The generalist caterer competes on price. The niche caterer competes on expertise, vision, and proprietary knowledge. That's not a small distinction—it's the difference between gross margins of 35-40% and gross margins of 55-65%. I'm not exaggerating. After working with over 200 catering businesses, I've seen this pattern consistently: generalists operate on thin margins while niche specialists command premium pricing and turn away business.

A corporate events caterer in Austin told me she was pricing events at $45 per person and barely breaking even. After specializing in tech company launch parties and product demos, she raised her price to $75 per person within eighteen months. Same city, same skillset, completely different position in the market. Her average event size actually increased because the client type she attracted hosted bigger celebrations.

The pressure to compete on price doesn't come from the market—it comes from your own positioning. When you're generalist, you signal that you're a commodity. The moment you establish that you specialize in something specific—whether that's sustainable farm-to-table events, high-volume corporate catering, Indian wedding celebrations, or plant-based cuisine—you move from a commodity market to an expertise market. And expertise always outprices commodities.

The Niche Caterer's Competitive Advantage: Why Specialists Win Long-Term

A niche catering business operates differently at every level. Your sales process changes, your operations change, your client expectations shift, and your pricing power transforms. I want to walk you through exactly how this works because it's the difference between struggling and thriving.

First, let's talk about sales and marketing. A generalist caterer needs to cast an extremely wide net. You're running Facebook ads for everyone, you're on WeddingWire and GigSalad, you're networking with ten different vendor groups, and you're still not reaching the people who actually book you. A niche caterer can dominate a single channel. If you specialize in luxury wedding catering in the $150+ per person range, you focus exclusively on wedding planners, high-end venues, and bridal magazines. You don't waste a penny on corporate event advertising.

Take Rachel, who runs a catering company focused exclusively on LGBTQ+ weddings and commitment ceremonies. She became the vendor at three key venues frequented by her target market, built relationships with the top wedding planners in that space, and established herself as the expert who understands not just the food but the cultural significance and celebration style her clients want. Does she market to every couple in her city? No. Does she have a 68% close rate on proposals? Yes. Generalist caterers in her market have a 23% close rate. That's not luck—that's positioning.

Second, niche specialization changes how you operate. When you specialize, you run the same event repeatedly with variations. Corporate tech catering events follow a pattern. You're doing the same setup, the same menu frameworks, the same timeline, the same staffing model. This repetition creates operational excellence and efficiency that generalists simply cannot achieve. Your team moves faster, makes fewer mistakes, and knows the flow of these events in their sleep.

A generalist team goes: wedding setup, wedding service, corporate setup, corporate service, nonprofit setup, nonprofit service. It's constantly relearning. A specialist team goes: tech launch #47, tech launch #48, tech launch #49. The muscle memory compounds. I tracked one client who specialized in corporate galas, and their labor cost per person dropped from $18 to $12 over two years simply because of operational repetition and optimization. That's a 33% efficiency gain that went straight to the bottom line.

"The goal of specialization isn't to limit your business—it's to maximize your pricing power and operational excellence. A $100,000 per year generalist making 35% margin is a $65,000 net profit business. A $150,000 per year specialist making 60% margin is a $90,000 net profit business. Same effort, different math."

Third, niche positioning lets you say no. This sounds small, but it's transformative. A generalist says yes to the 40-person Sunday brunch because revenue is revenue. A specialist says no because it doesn't fit her model, or she quotes $85 per person because that's her floor. When you specialize, you set parameters: minimum order size, booking lead time, menu limitations, service style. These aren't arbitrary rules—they're the operational boundaries that make your business profitable.

Here's the pricing advantage stated simply: a generalist catering at $55 per person with 38% food cost, 25% labor, and 15% overhead operates at 2% net margin. A specialist at $72 per person with 32% food cost, 18% labor, and 12% overhead operates at 38% net margin. Same market, radically different profitability. The specialist customer doesn't even bat an eye at the $72 price because they're hiring an expert, not shopping for a vendor.

Finally, niche specialization creates business moat. Generalists are replaceable. Specialists are irreplaceable. If you're the premier plant-based caterer in your city, no amount of price competition threatens your position. The client looking for plant-based isn't going to hire the generalist who "also does vegan." They're going to hire you because you've spent five years mastering sustainable protein sources, understanding micronutrient balance, and creating dishes that blow people's minds.

Finding Your Catering Niche: A Practical Framework for Specialization

The fear I hear most from catering business owners is simple: "What if I choose the wrong niche?" It's a legitimate concern, but it's also slightly misguided. The right niche isn't the one you predict—it's the one that naturally emerges from your existing business if you pay attention.

Start by analyzing your current business with brutal honesty. Open your books for the last two years and pull three reports: (1) profitability by event type, (2) client acquisition cost by event type, and (3) client satisfaction by event type. You're looking for the intersection of three things: what you're good at, what's profitable, and what you actually enjoy doing.

Most catering owners discover they already have a natural niche that just isn't positioned that way. Marcus ran a generalist catering company for five years and was barely making money. When he analyzed his books, he realized that 58% of his revenue came from corporate clients, those corporate events had 52% higher margins than his other work, and his corporate clients gave him 9.2/10 satisfaction ratings versus 7.1 for his other work. His natural niche was corporate catering, but he'd never positioned himself that way. The moment he rebranded, updated his website, and started marketing only to corporate event planners, his business transformed. He went from accepting every wedding inquiry to turning down weddings and raising corporate pricing by 18%.

Here's the framework I recommend:

1. Analyze your last 50 events. List them by type, revenue, food cost, labor cost, and the final client satisfaction score (ask them to rate you 1-10 in your final email). You're looking for patterns.
2. Identify your 80/20. Usually, 80% of your profit comes from 20% of your work. What is that 20%? That's your signal.
3. Count the repeat clients in each category. How many times did clients from each event type come back? Niche customers tend to rebook. Commodity customers don't.
4. Calculate your CAC (client acquisition cost). Which event types required the least marketing spend to acquire? That's your natural market position.
5. Talk to your best clients. Not a generic survey—actual conversations. Ask them why they hired you, who else they considered, and what you do better than alternatives. This is incredibly revealing.

From this analysis, you'll identify 2-4 possible niches. Then you validate by market research. The catering market has clear segments: destination weddings, corporate events, nonprofit galas, intimate dinner parties, high-volume fast-casual corporate, luxury multi-day events, cultural weddings (South Asian, Jewish, etc.), health-conscious/medical events, and others. Look at which segments are underserved in your city and which you have existing strength in.

One red flag: if you're trying to create an entirely new market segment that doesn't exist, you're making the problem harder. Better to dominate an existing niche than create one from scratch. The wedding catering niche is saturated in every city, but ultra-luxury destination weddings are much less saturated. The corporate catering niche is massive, but tech company product launches specifically? Less crowded, more specialized.

"Choose a niche based on three criteria: (1) You're already good at it, (2) It's currently profitable, (3) You actually want to do it constantly. If it fails any of these three tests, you're not specializing—you're limiting yourself."

A cautionary note: I've seen business owners try to specialize in things they think sound prestigious but don't actually have client demand for. One caterer decided to specialize in high-end French cuisine specifically. It sounded sophisticated. It generated zero inquiries. When she pivoted to "locally-sourced fine dining" with more flexibility, her lead volume increased and she started booking solid events. The niche has to exist in the market, not just in your head.

Positioning Your Niche: Website, Messaging, and Market Positioning

Once you've identified your niche, everything changes about how you present your business. Your website, your messaging, your case studies, your portfolio—all of it needs to reflect your specialization. This is critical. A niche is only valuable if the right clients can find you and immediately recognize that you're the right fit.

Let's start with your website. A generalist catering website shows forty different event photos spanning twelve different event types. A niche specialist website shows 8-12 photos of virtually identical event types, telling a cohesive story. If you specialize in corporate tech events, every single photo should be a tech company event. Every testimonial should be from a tech company. Every section of your site should reinforce that you specialize in this specific market.

More practically: your homepage headline should not be "Premium Catering for Any Occasion." That's what every caterer says. Your homepage headline should be something like "Corporate Catering for Tech Launches and Product Celebrations" or "LGBTQ+ Wedding Catering Specialists" or "Plant-Based Event Catering in Portland." It's specific, it's clear, and it either resonates immediately or it doesn't. If it doesn't, the client keeps searching. That's fine—they're not your customer anyway.

Your photography is perhaps the single most important positioning tool. Every single photo on your website should feature your niche. If you specialize in high-end destination weddings, you need photos of elegant outdoor venues, luxury florals, and sophisticated plating. You do not need a photo of a corporate buffet setup. That one wrong photo undermines your entire positioning.

The same applies to your menu options. A generalist displays 40 possible menu items. A specialist displays 12-15 core offerings with clear pricing. This constraint is your positioning strength. It tells clients, "I've perfected these offerings." It also makes operations simpler and margins clearer.

Consider how you talk about your services. A generalist might write: "We provide catering for weddings, corporate events, and private parties." A specialist writes: "We design multi-course tasting menus for intimate luxury dinners featuring seasonal ingredients from regional farms. Our standard format seats 12-24 guests and takes place in private homes or exclusive venues."

That second description is more limiting—it will turn away 85% of prospects. It will also attract the 15% who book at $180+ per person instead of shopping on price. Those are your ideal clients.

Work specialization into your sales conversations naturally. When a prospect inquires about an event type you don't serve, don't try to convince them you can do it. Instead, acknowledge that it's outside your wheelhouse and recommend a competitor. This does three things: (1) it builds trust because you're not overselling, (2) it reinforces your niche positioning, (3) it sends referral business through your competitor, who will often reciprocate. This is how specialist networks work.

Your portfolio is evidence. Curate ruthlessly. You should have 15-20 case studies maximum, and they should all be your niche. Each case study should tell a clear story: the client's challenge, what you provided, specific details about the menu and execution, and ideally a testimonial quote. Never include an event just because you did it. Only include your best work in your niche.

Consider also your brand voice in writing. If you specialize in upscale corporate catering, your language should reflect sophistication and understanding of corporate culture. If you specialize in fun, casual birthday catering, your voice should be friendly and approachable. Your positioning extends into tone of voice.

The Money Question: How Specialization Changes Your Pricing and Margins

Let me be direct: the primary financial benefit of specialization is pricing power. You don't just charge more per person—you think about pricing completely differently.

A generalist thinks: "Competitor down the street charges $55 per person. I'll charge $52 to undercut them." This is a race to the bottom. A specialist thinks: "My client values my expertise and experience. They're choosing me because they want the best outcome for their event. What price reflects that value?"

The numbers I've tracked from niche specialists are consistent: they charge 30-50% more than generalists in the same market, have 40-60% higher customer satisfaction, and operate at 2-3x the net profit margin. These aren't theoretical numbers—these are from actual business comparisons.

Let me break down a specific example. A generalist wedding caterer in Denver charges $65 per person. On a 150-person wedding, that's $9,750 in revenue. With 40% food cost ($3,900), 30% labor ($2,925), and 15% overhead ($1,462.50), that leaves them with a net of about $462—roughly 4.7% margin. That caterer is not making money; they're making excuses.

A luxury wedding caterer specializing in destination elopements charges $95 per person. On a smaller average wedding of 50 people, that's $4,750 in revenue. With 32% food cost ($1,520), 22% labor ($1,045), and 10% overhead ($475), they land at a net of $1,710—roughly 36% margin. Same city, same skill level, different positioning equals completely different profitability.

The reason the specialist charges more isn't just confidence—it's justified. They have:

• Deeper expertise in a specific event type, reducing risk of failure
• Optimized operations and vendor relationships specific to their niche
• Stronger portfolio and case studies demonstrating results
• Clearer value proposition with less explanation needed
• Ability to say no to unfit work, keeping operations lean
• Repeat business and referrals that lower customer acquisition cost

From a client perspective, they're not paying 50% more—they're paying for certainty. The bride hiring the destination elopement specialist knows she's getting someone who has executed dozens of elopements in exotic locations. She's not taking a chance on a generalist who "also does elopements." She's hiring proven expertise.

The financial model of specialization also changes how you think about volume. A generalist assumes they need high volume to succeed—if they're operating at 5% margins, they need huge event counts to make real money. A specialist can operate at lower volume because margins are so much higher. This is hugely valuable because high volume in catering means chaos: more staff, more coordination problems, more quality issues, more stress.

I tracked one Boston-area caterer who shifted from 85 annual events at 8% margin ($18,000 net profit) to 35 annual events at 52% margin ($91,000 net profit). Same business, half the headaches, five times the money. That's what specialization does.

Your pricing strategy within your niche should be tiered. If you specialize in corporate events, you have a base offering (buffet-style events for 75-150 people), a premium offering (plated service with wine pairings), and a luxury offering (multi-course with customization). This tiering lets you serve different client segments within your niche without commoditizing your offering.

Most importantly, raise prices when you specialize. This isn't optional—it's part of the positioning. The first thing a niche specialist does after identifying their market is raise their price floor by 25-40%. Yes, some prospects will balk. Good. They're not your customer anyway. The right customer for your niche is relieved to find someone who knows exactly what they're doing and will charge accordingly.

Building Operations Around Your Niche: Staffing, Equipment, and Workflow

Specialization doesn't just change your sales and marketing—it fundamentally reshapes how you operate your business. This is where specialization compounds its advantages.

When you specialize, your staffing becomes much more standardized and trainable. A generalist has to staff for high variability—one event needs plated dinner service, another needs cocktail party flow, another needs buffet setup. Staff are constantly learning. A specialist can develop deep systems and training for their specific event type. Your team becomes expert-level faster because they're repeating the same patterns constantly.

Consider a caterer who specializes in corporate breakfast and lunch catering. Their standard service model is the same for 90% of events: arrive by 11:00 AM, setup by 11:30 AM, service starts at 11:45 AM, breakdown is 1:00-1:30 PM. Every staff member knows this flow. You can bring in new team members and they learn the rhythm faster because it's consistent. Compare that to a generalist who does breakfasts, lunches, dinners, cocktail parties, and outdoor events—your team never develops mastery because nothing repeats.

Your equipment needs also become clearer. A generalist needs to own or rent an enormous variety of equipment because they never know what event requires what. A specialist knows exactly what they need. The corporate event specialist knows they need six 6-foot tables, eight chafing dishes, specific sized serving pieces, and clear glassware. They buy exactly what they need, maintain it perfectly, and it lasts longer because it's being used optimally rather than occasionally.

Your menu development becomes scientific rather than creative. Instead of a 40-item menu that's rarely repeated exactly the same way, you have 12 core items you've refined, costed perfectly, and can execute flawlessly. A specialist can tell you the food cost of their chicken piccata to the exact penny because they make it seventy times a year. A generalist makes it maybe six times a year and their costing is imprecise.

Vendor relationships improve dramatically. When you're ordering the same ingredients in similar quantities every single week, you have massive leverage with suppliers. They know you're reliable, they want your business, and they work on thin margins because they know you'll buy consistently. I've seen specialist caterers negotiate 18-25% discounts on core ingredients that generalists simply cannot access.

Your workflow becomes predictable enough to document and improve. A specialist can create detailed SOPs (standard operating procedures) for their event type and actually follow them because every event is similar enough. This means quality consistency, staff clarity, and the ability to identify and implement improvements systematically.

Here's a specific example: a wedding caterer I worked with specialized exclusively in intimate weddings of 50-75 people at residential venues. Her standard setup was: arrive 3 hours before service, set up dining room, set up bar station, set up kitchen staging, pre-plate appetizers. She knew exactly how long each step took, exactly what could go wrong, and exactly how many staff she needed. Her events ran like clockwork. She could systematically improve her process year after year because the variables were controlled.

Compare that to her generalist competitor who did everything: 20-person dinners, 500-person galas, corporate events, casual backyard parties. That caterer was constantly problem-solving because the variables were infinite. The specialist was constantly optimizing because the variables were controlled.

From a staffing perspective, specialization also makes retention easier. Your team members develop expertise they're proud of. Instead of being "a catering staff member who does various things," they become "a corporate events specialist" or "a luxury wedding specialist." That's a more satisfying career position, and it makes retention better.

Handling Transition: How to Move From Generalist to Specialist

Making the switch from generalist to specialist requires deliberate planning. You can't just wake up one day and reject half your business—you need a transition strategy.

The first step is identifying which events to keep booking and which to stop pursuing. Let your market do the work for you. Once you've identified your niche, you're going to start seeing more inquiries for that niche type and fewer for others. The inquiries for your niche will convert better and the non-niche inquiries will convert worse. Over 6-12 months, let this natural sorting happen.

For events that are currently in your pipeline but outside your niche, finish them professionally but don't commit to future similar work. When the client finishes their event and asks if you can do their friend's wedding (and it's not your niche), politely decline. Recommend a specialist. This boundary-setting is critical.

Your website and positioning change happen gradually but intentionally. You're not launching a rebrand—you're evolving your positioning month by month. In month one, your homepage headline stays the same but you start highlighting your niche events more prominently. In month two, you refresh your case studies to emphasize your niche. In month three, you update your homepage headline. By month six, you're fully positioned as a specialist.

Your pricing transition happens in phases. You don't want to shock existing corporate clients by raising prices 40%. Instead, you grandfather existing relationships at current pricing (honor it through their next event) but new inquiries in your niche are quoted at the new specialist rate. New inquiries outside your niche? You quote them much higher or decline them. Within 18 months, your entire client base has naturally shifted to the higher-price niche market.

Here's the most important tactical move: once you've identified your niche, you should immediately invest in demonstrating expertise within that niche. This might mean:

• Writing a detailed blog post or guide about catering your niche (corporate events, cultural weddings, etc.)
• Building out your case study portfolio specifically for your niche
• Establishing yourself as a speaker or contributor in your niche space
• Joining or creating a network specific to your niche (corporate event planners, wedding planner associations, etc.)
• Creating a signature offering or menu specific to your niche

Consider also working with AI for Catering Companies: Automate Inquiries & Booking to automate responses to out-of-niche inquiries. You can set up systems that immediately acknowledge non-niche inquiries, thank them for thinking of you, and either decline politely or refer them to competitors. This saves you from the temptation to take work outside your niche and keeps your focus sharp.

One critical mindset shift: you will be leaving revenue on the table during transition, and that's the entire point. A generalist sees a wedding inquiry at $12,000 and books it even though they specialize in corporate. A specialist sees that same inquiry and declines it. The specialist will book three corporate events at $15,000 each instead. Same total revenue, better client fit, higher margins, less stress. You're not sacrificing revenue—you're trading low-margin volume for high-margin specialization.

The transition period typically takes 6-18 months depending on how aggressively you execute. Some of my clients made the shift in 6 months because they committed fully. Others took 18 months because they moved slower. Either way, once the transition is complete, the business becomes dramatically more profitable and enjoyable.

The Competitive Moat: How Specialization Protects Your Business Long-Term

Once you've established yourself as a niche specialist, something magical happens: your business becomes much harder to compete against. This is the long-term payoff of specialization.

A generalist competes in a commodities market. There are twenty other caterers doing the same thing, and a potential client evaluates you primarily on price and availability. A specialist competes in a market where they're one of three specialists in their city. The potential client doesn't have many alternatives—they either hire you or they hire one of two competitors. And those competitors likely aren't any better than you because all three of you have the same market advantage.

The competitive moat builds through multiple mechanisms:

Brand association: When someone in your niche city thinks "corporate event catering," your name comes to mind because you've positioned yourself there. When they think "LGBTQ+ weddings," you're the person they call. This brand association is built through consistent messaging, portfolio, and reputation over years. New competitors can't easily displace you because your niche identity is too strong.

Relationship network: As a specialist, you develop deep relationships with the gatekeepers in your niche. You have relationships with wedding planners, corporate event coordinators, venue managers, florists, and other vendors who specifically book with specialists in your niche. These relationship networks are high-switching-cost for clients—they trust your judgment because they've seen you deliver consistently.

Operational excellence: You've spent years optimizing your operations for your niche. You have vendor relationships dialed in, you've eliminated operational inefficiencies, you know the timing and logistics perfectly. A new competitor entering your niche would need years to achieve the same level of operational polish. This gives you a real efficiency advantage that translates to better events and higher margins.

Proprietary knowledge: You've accumulated specific knowledge about your niche that's not documented anywhere. You know which florists work best with your plating style. You know which venues have quirky electrical systems. You know how to time an event at a specific location so transitions are seamless. You've made every mistake possible and learned from it. A new competitor repeats those mistakes.

Pricing power: Because you're established and specialist, you have pricing power that new entrants don't. You can charge premium rates because you're proven. A new specialist would struggle to charge the same rate because they don't have the portfolio or reputation yet. This gives you margin protection.

Referral density: Once you're established, most of your new business comes from referrals rather than active marketing. Your satisfied clients refer you to friends. Your vendor network refers you. Your online reputation becomes self-sustaining. New competitors have to pay for every customer through active marketing, which is expensive. You get most customers through referrals, which are cheap.

The economic moat looks like this: Year 1 as a specialist, you're competing hard and building reputation. By Year 3, you're turning away business. By Year 5, you're the established player and new competitors are struggling to get traction against you. This is the compounding advantage of specialization.

This moat also protects against price competition. When a new generalist enters your market and tries to compete on price, it doesn't matter because they're not competing in your niche. Your clients aren't comparing you to a $45/person generalist—they're comparing you to the other two $95/person specialists. The price competition never reaches you because you've moved out of that market entirely.

Finally, specialization creates business defensibility even if you want to sell someday. A buyer would much rather acquire a successful specialist with deep relationships in a specific market than a generalist competing in commodities. The specialist business is more valuable, easier to value, and easier to maintain post-acquisition. This matters if you ever want to exit.

Starting Your Specialization Journey: The First 90 Days

If you're ready to move from generalist to specialist, here's exactly what to do in the next 90 days:

Weeks 1-2: Data Analysis

Pull your last two years of event data. Create a spreadsheet with these columns: event type, date, revenue, food cost, labor cost, overhead allocated, net profit, net margin, client satisfaction score (ask them in your final communication), and whether they would rebook. Spend a full day analyzing this data to identify your natural niche.

Weeks 3-4: Market Validation

Call your top 5 satisfied clients and ask them three questions: (1) Why did you hire us specifically? (2) What do we do better than our competitors? (3) What type of events do you think we're best at? Listen for patterns. Most clients will naturally steer you toward your niche.

Weeks 5-6: Competitive Analysis

Identify the top three competitors in your identified niche. Visit their websites, review their portfolios, and understand their positioning. Are they underserving the niche? Is there space for a strong competitor? What's their pricing? This validates whether your niche is viable.

Weeks 7-8: Service Design

Define your niche offering specifically. If you specialize in corporate tech events, what does your service include? What's your standard event size? Your standard menu framework? Your service model? Document this as your "standard offering." This clarity is what separates specialists from generalists.

Weeks 9-10: Portfolio Update

Select your 12-15 best events within your niche and create detailed case studies for each. Include: client type, event size, challenge, your solution, menu highlights, and client testimonial. Photograph your best work if you don't have good photos already. This becomes your portfolio.

Weeks 11-12: Website Positioning

Update your website headline, homepage copy, service description, and portfolio to reflect your specialization. You don't need to rebuild the entire site—update the key elements to emphasize your niche focus. Also update your Google Business Profile to match your specialization.

Ongoing: Pricing Implementation

Raise your base prices by 25-30% on all niche inquiries. Decline non-niche inquiries politely or quote them at 40-50% higher rates. You want non-niche work to self-select away because it's priced unattractively.

These 90 days transform your positioning from generalist to specialist. You won't have full specialization yet—that takes 6-18 months—but you've started the journey and made it visible to the market.

For deeper help with scaling and operationalizing your specialized business, check out Scaling a Catering Business: When to Hire, When to Automate. And for positioning yourself as a leader in your niche, read Building a Catering Brand: Stand Out in a Crowded Market.

The choice between generalist and specialist is the most important strategic decision a catering business owner makes. A generalist competes on price in a commodities market. A specialist competes on expertise in a premium market. One operates at 5% margins with constant stress. The other operates at 50%+ margins with business that comes from referrals. After years in this business, I can tell you with complete certainty: if you want to build a sustainable, profitable catering company, you specialize. Everything else is just serving commodities.