While many segments of the restaurant industry are sluggish, catering continues to grow.
Fueled by tech-enabled ordering and greater consumer willingness to look beyond sandwiches and deli plates, catering is now a $60 billion (and growing) industry, according to data from Restaurant Business’ sister company, Technomic.
What’s more, catering is growing 6% year over year—more than 50% faster than the rest of the restaurant industry’s growth rate.
But a whopping 41% of restaurant brands have made zero investment in catering, and just 44% of operators of the country’s 1,500 largest restaurants have posted a dedicated catering menu on their websites, Technomic found.
Here are some easy (and a few more complex) ways to jump-start your catering revenue, presented at an ezCater-sponsored conference in New Orleans last week.