How To Pick A Catering Business Name

• Choose a name that would be easy to spell so that customers can find you on the web or in the phone book.
• Check out the competition in your business area to make sure it does not sound like or resemble another catering business name.
• Do a search to make sure the name you picked is a registered trademark (click here to go to the United States trademark website for more information) (Click here) for trademark basics.
• Choose a name that will be easy to remember
• Choose a short name.
• Do a domain name search and pick a name that is not taken, allowing you to use it for your website also.

Additional Resources

• Changing a Business Name
• Trademarks: Legal, Financial, and Tax Points You Need to Know
• Protect your Business Name or Risk Losing It
• How to Legally Protect Your Business Name on a Local, State, National, and International Level

DBA - Doing business as, used by businesses that don't incorporate.

Ficticous business name - For the requirements for fictitious name filing in all 50 states and territories. (click here)

In several U.S. states, DBAs are officially referred to with other names. Oregon uses Assumed Business Names [1]; Washington calls DBAs trade names [2]; other states refer to trade styles or fictitious business names.

In many U.S. jurisdictions for consumer protection purposes, most jurisdictions require businesses operating with fictitious names to file a DBA statement. This also reduces the possibility of two local businesses operating under the same name. Note, though, that this is not a replacement for obtaining a trademark. A DBA filing carries no legal weight in instances where a trademark would be necessary.[citation needed]

DBA statements are often used in conjunction with a franchise. The franchisee will have a legal name under which it may sue and be sued, but will conduct business under the franchisor's brand name (which the public would recognize). A typical real-world example can be found in a well-known pricing mistake case, Donovan v. RRL Corp., 26 Cal. 4th 261 (2001), where the defendant, RRL Corporation, was a Lexus car dealership doing business as Lexus of Westminster.

Notably in California and also in other areas, filing a DBA statement also requires that a notice of the fictitious name be published in local newspapers for some set period of time to inform the public of the owner's intent to operate under an assumed name. The intention of the law is to protect the public from fraud, by compelling the business owner to record his/her name with the County Recorder, and making a further public record of it by publishing it in a newspaper. (source wikipedia)