I read that the U.S. catering market is about $70 billion. That's a lot of money and a great way to earn revenue at your restaurant. Catering is great. Catering has great margins, its a great use of fixed costs, can expose you to new guests and can add to your bottom line.
We love catering. We want more catering orders!
If it was only that easy.
If you could just wave a magic wand and have more catering orders, that would be great.
While there is no magic button, there are some simple and quick moves that your marketing team could put easily into play that will definitely set you up to get more catering orders.
1. CONTENT
Instagram, and social media in general, is a great tool for retention. They call them followers, but we call them guests. Be sure you are sharing content about catering on a regular basis (every other week) on your social media.
Check out what Mehdi at Crazy Pita does ...
➡️ Boss move Creating a catering video and pin it to your profile.
2. LINK IN BIO
You're promoting catering on social channels, right? If not, go back and read No. 1.
Instagram now allows for multiple links in your bio, add a link direct to the catering page on your website. Include CTAs in your catering content that encourage people to click the catering link in your bio.
Hill Country Hospitality gets it.
➡️ Boss move Get a link in bio tool so you can customize the placement and look of the catering button.
I like https://milkshake.app/
3. DEDICATED WEBPAGE
Speaking of a dedicated catering page on your website, make sure you have one. Best bet is to make sure the url is yourrestauranturl.com/catering. Include the catering menu, photos and make it as easy as possible for people to place an order.
Check out Salad House - we have a page with both direct and ezCater options.
➡️ Boss move Make it easy to place the order right there on your website without having to contact someone. While they are waiting for you to reply, they are looking at other options. 😎
4. SEND AN EMAIL
There is one marketing move that will increase lifetime value AND order frequency, making ALL of your marketing efforts easier. Its email.
Assuming you are sending 1 newsletter per week, make sure that at least one of 4 either spotlights catering (we call this a HERO) or is included as a module in the email.
Also, be sure there is a link to catering in your footer.
Check out how Righteous Que does it...with a contest!
➡️ Boss move Add a catering banner to every other email. If you put it in every email, people will stop seeing it.
5. LISTINGS
Search, in particular Google, is the #1 way in which hungry diners discover new restaurants. Optimizing for search should be an every day priority.
Be sure that links to your catering, photos of your catering and your catering menu options are included in your Yelp, Facebook, Siri, Apple Maps, Bing, Yahoo, Alexa, Foursquare and ESPECIALLY Google.
I use Marqii to do as do most restaurants who are successful in listings management! The key moves
- Add your catering menu to your listings
- Mention catering in you business description
- Add it to "services" in the "additional attributes section"
- Select "catering" in the "Google Business Profile Attributes" section
➡️ Boss move Take that catering content you created for social media and share as Google Post on your Google Business Profile.
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There you go ... 5 easy marketing tactics that wil set you up for more catering orders. Want more?
THE RESTAURANT CATERING WORKSHOP
This is the sign you were looking for. If you are looking to really, really, really increase catering orders, increase the profitability of catering orders and make catering efforts easier, you might want to check out the Restaurant Catering Workshop.
This is a 2-day in-person event where some of the top thought leaders in catering are coming together to teach you every trick in the book and answer all of your questions about how to increase your catering business.
October 15-16, 2024 - Denver, CO
I'll be there (trying to learn as much as I can too) as well speaking on both a panel and leading a roundtable discussion.
My sessions:
Driving and Managing Catering Sales: Building A Business Foundation that Scales
- October 16, 2024
- 9:00 AM-9:50 AM MT
In this session, using the framework of the 5 Stages, 12 investments & 109 key characteristics, we will discuss how restaurants can develop a strategic program focused on sales growth that allows them to own the customer journey and their data while identifying the metrics and behaviors required to measure success.
The session will explore how to drive and manage first- and third-party catering (B2B) sales and offer an outline for investments needed to support that revenue. Attendees will leave with an actionable framework and ROI plan to implement into their organizations.
“Ask the Experts” Roundtable
- October 16, 2024
- 3:00 PM-4:00 PM MT
We'll wrap up the workshop with an "Ask the Experts" roundtable, where speakers will join the audience at their tables to answer all of your questions.
DISCOVER MORE ABOUT THE EVENT >>>
Some of the featured speakers:
⭐️ Kelly Grogan, CRUMBS
⭐️ 🌮Allen Beck 🌯 , Costa Vida
⭐️ Erle Dardick , The Off Premises Growth Academy
⭐️ 🍽️Zack Oates🍕 , Ovation
⭐️ Samuel Stanovich 🐔 , Big Chicken
Will I see you there???
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Do you need help with any of this? Send me an email rev@brandedstrategic.net
- Rev Ciancio
WHAT DOES REV DO?
*I help restaurants to build guest marketing programs.
*I help hospitality tech companies with lead generation and content marketing.