Looking for opportunities to help grow your restaurant or food chain? Consider tapping into the 21 billion dollar catering market. Catering is becoming a restaurant necessity primarily due to the number of professionals that treat their clientele daily to luncheons. These consistent clients don't have the time, nor the desire to pick up, drive, and set up their luncheon orders, that's why 99 times out of 100 they'll have it delivered.
DeliverThat works directly with restaurants, such as Old Carolina Barbecue Company, Boston Market, & Chick-fil-A, to help streamline their catering processes and procedures. Restaurants that utilize DeliverThat and their professional network of drivers will cut wage related expenses, enhance productivity, & reach new clientele. This all in turn increases the bottom line and allows restaurants to focus on what's most important, their food.
Below are a few tips on how to create the best catering business out there.
Find the Right System
Not all catering companies are the same. Restaurants often use their own employees to cater and many restaurants use an outside company to cater for them. It all comes down to what will work best for you. DeliverThat is a third party system that has helped many restaurants expand into new markets. DeliverThat takes away the complications of transporting food from place to place. Our drivers simply show up at your restaurant at the specific time of an order for pick up and assemble the order once they get to their on-site destination. All the restaurant has to do is assemble the food to be picked up and then the driver is on their way. This service allows the restaurant to keep their employees in the store and cooking the food instead of dealing with the timely food transportation process.
Experience
One of the most important aspects of the catering business is experience. It is crucial to have someone on your team that knows what they are doing when times get busy. Here are a few tips for catering with experience.
1) Keep the menu simple.
A complicated menu is not going to help someone when ordering food. To make it quick and easy on the customers make special menu packages for larger and smaller gatherings.
2) Have someone in charge of deliveries.
When all the orders start coming in, it is important to have someone that takes charge. This way the orders can get distributed out to drivers and ready to be picked up at specific times without confusion or mixed signals.
3) Double check the order before sending the food out on delivery.
Messing up an order is going to happen. A good way to minimize the mistakes is by checking over the food to match the receipt. Double checking an order takes an extra minute or two, but it is worth it so you avoid making another trip back to the restaurant.
Customer Service
How you present your company is one of the most important factors to your catering business. You may do everything right behind the scenes, but the delivery is what your customers will be seeing and judging your company on. It is important to emphasize customer service to each driver taking on a delivery. They are the ones that represent the company outside of the restaurants, so they need to do it in the proper manner. Remember, the customer is always right. If the customer has a positive experience they will use your services again and tell others about it, thus growing your company.
Marketing
Getting your name out there is important. Marketing is a vital tool to help your company grow and reach new customers. Look over these marketing strategies in order to reach more potential customers.
1) Start a rewards program.
Give your customers an incentive to order more with your catering service. DeliverThat, for example, offers $25 Visa Gift Card for every $500 of food ordered.
2) Stay in contact with past customers.
Giving your past customers a quick call shows your appreciation for their business. This is a time to receive feedback on the order and check their interest on future orders. Giving a call to past customers shows you are a down to earth business that truly cares about your clients and their experience.
3) Create social media pages.
Start social media pages for your company. This is an easy tool for people to learn about your restaurant and business. Having a social media page is also a fast and easy way to stay connected with customers. Social media allows you to reach out to a larger audience.
There are many factors that go into having a successful catering business. Finding the right system, having experience on the team, strong customer service, and a solid marketing plan are just a few areas that will help your catering business. To learn more about growing your catering business, visit our website. Become a Catering partner with DeliverThat. Click here to learn more information.
