facebook pixal
Financing

Catering to sales reps and admins

catered food buffet

As more LSRs look for ways to grow sales outside the store, the competition for catering occasions is increasing. Business catering is even more challenging as company reputations or culture come into play. For its Catering Insights Program, Technomic interviewed sales reps and office administrators to dish on what they need from caterers for business events.

Ease of ordering online or by text is important because sales reps and admins are often ordering under a time crunch or waiting for a final head count. Requiring a 24-hour lead time will hurt business.

Many professionals see the meeting eats they provide as an extension of their brand, so punctuality, accuracy and presentation are vital. Order customization with labels helps to accommodate a wide range of special diets, and it makes clients and VIPs feel special. Delivery service is a must, and they consider setup to be helpful, assuming the staffer is polite and appropriately dressed.

Restaurants that include add-ons like beverages, sides and desserts stand out, and offering these items in bulk items helps save money. A quarterly or monthly invoice instead of pay-per-order for frequent customers might make administration easy enough that they won’t consider other caterers. 

Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.

Multimedia

Exclusive Content

Financing

The better-burger revolution that wasn't

The Bottom Line: Remember when the fast-casual burger business was going to take loads of share from traditional fast-food chains? It never quite got there.

Financing

Here come the restaurant IPOs

The Bottom Line: Cava Group’s filing of its initial public offering documents could be the first of a few industry IPOs this year. But restaurant M&A remains weak.

Marketing

A look inside the Papa Johns test kitchen

The kitchen is the centerpiece of the pizza chain’s new Atlanta headquarters, which makes sense. Innovation has been the centerpiece of the chain’s comeback.

Trending

More from our partners