Why Cater?

If you operate a food business and you aren’t catering yet, you may be leaving a lot of money on the table. Erle Dardick on extending your operational reach and efficiency, through catering.

Catering Builds on Your Existing Business

For the last number of years, you have spent a considerable amount of time and energy building your retail clientèle. Most likely, you have been successful at delivering a consistent and predictable experience. Finally, you have nailed down the service, quality and experience equation. Hopefully, your retail customers are coming often and you are building equity in your brand as well as your products.

So where is your next growth opportunity? 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, I would like to bring your attention to a “hidden” growth opportunity within your existing four walls.

As the manager of your foodservice operation, you must always look for growth opportunities. The opportunity to spin off a catering business from your existing food business is fairly straightforward. By focusing on the catering opportunity, not only are you offering additional services to your existing clients, you will be gaining new clients that may not even consider coming into your store.

Use Your Existing Facility – It’s Efficient!

Would you agree that generating additional sales out of your current facility leads to a more efficient use of your current assets? The key word here is current. Following the “traditional” model of growth requires far more risk than simply letting your customers know that you are happy to bring your experience to them, as is the case with catering.

If you look at your food business as a manufacturing facility, it is likely that your plant is underutilized. Your current revenues are probably all geared around specific meal times. It is unlikely that you have an even revenue stream throughout the day. If you are like most restaurants you have gaps that you would like to fill in. Catering can help.