Look who’s catering!

Suddenly, virtually every QSR operator is trying to enter the catering business.
Erle answers the million dollar question:
“What’s happening?”

Especially in these times, I find it useful to characterize a business as a shark. Meaning, if your business isn’t moving forward, there’s something dangerously wrong. “A static shark is a dead shark.”

We’re down here in Los Angeles, meeting with a large restaurant chain. So. Why are KFC, McDonalds, and virtually every major US food chain suddenly considering or expanding catering? Big chains deal with large numbers, and they have very smart people involved. The traditional model of growing a retail food business is to duplicate the retail experience by opening a facility in another market. While this can certainly be a good strategy, there is a risk in this, especially when markets shrink. But inaction is not an option. QSRs are now looking at hidden growth opportunities within the existing four walls.

The vision we’ve had for years at Monkey is quickly coming true, and it’s being driven by the downturn: the opportunity from QSRs to spin off a catering business from their existing food businesses is happening in chains all over the country because it’s a fairly straightforward and winnable deployment. By focusing on the catering opportunity, not only are operators able to offer additional services to their existing clients, they are using their existing infrastructure to gain new clients as well. Business to business, or casual event catering is where new revenue can come from. Exciting times.