Catering & Delivery: a different business, a different promotion strategy
Catering & Delivery may have grown out your restaurant or restaurant chain.
But it is a completely differentiated business; you need to promote it as one.
The most fundamental promotion of your Catering & Delivery brand will inevitably arise from your patterns of response to customer demand. Providing on-time delivery, quality, value and a memorable experience are the foundation of your future success; with these in place, promotions can go a long way to strengthen your business.
You operate a quick serve or fast casual restaurant, or restaurant chain. Extending your brand into Catering & Delivery is more than a profitable and logical hedge against tough economic times: your Catering & Delivery business can develop into a long term asset. You want to promote it.
This business is similar to your restaurant offering in many ways, but is distinctly different in others. It is often wrongly thought of as an extension of your restaurant product. Your Catering & Delivery business may have grown out of your restaurant operation, but this is history. Don’t look at it as a “branch” from your restaurant “tree.” It is a completely separate business, with
- A different menu
- Different ordering protocols: ordering that is done remotely, and typically in advance
- Different billing/payment cycle
- Highly critical timing for off site, on time delivery
- A differentiated food preparation area; for restaurant chains, there may be external catering premises
- Different pricing
- Specialized catering ordering software: currently, POS systems do not, on their own, satisfy the nuances of Catering & Delivery ordering options.
- A different customer base
Catering & Delivery customers in the QSR/ Fast Casual market are mostly business people, at work; even if the food items are sandwiches or box lunches, something different is needed, unlike, say, casual pizza delivery: a sense of business occasion should be attached to business-to-business delivery .
In full knowledge of the differentiators that set it apart as a separate business, you can promote your Catering & Delivery service more effectively.
Below are five different promotional streams for your Catering & Delivery business:
4. Marketing to existing customers