Contributing writer Jim Rand is a seasoned hospitality professional with decades of experience scaling catering operations for major brands. In this four-part series, he shares key insights to help restaurant operators tap into the catering channel for growth.
On the second leg of the Catering Journey, I shared a framework for building a successful catering program. I want to start the next leg of the journey by reminding you of that framework, and the importance of building an integrated and holistic strategy to facilitate profitable and sustainable growth.
Catering growth strategic framework
Think of the framework as a roadmap for your own catering journey. The Brand Vision determines where you are headed. Building Capabilities, the topic of this article, is the vehicle for transporting you to your destination, and Execution is the sum of the standards, systems and processes that keep you on track and deliver you to your expected outcomes.
Catering cycle of success
Before we jump into building Capabilities, I want to introduce you to an additional framework that we use, called the Cycle of Success.
The Cycle of Success is an execution model that facilitates growth, scale, and replicability. The Cycle of Success links your vision and offering with the capabilities and execution processes necessary for a successful catering outcome.
A successful catering outcome, and profitable sales growth, can only be achieved by making investments in the capabilities that enable the five critical processes at the core of creating client relationships that are built on trust:
- Ease of Ordering
- Order Prepared/Delivered On-Time
- Order Accuracy
- Delivered Quality
- Follow-Up (aka Customer Care).
And those capabilities, as noted above in the Catering Growth Strategic Framework are Human, Physical Plant, and Technological.
Human capabilities
No matter the size of your organization, it is imperative that you create a structure that supports catering growth. The key components are leadership, sales, and operations.
Leadership
On more than one occasion, when I ask the question ‘Who is responsible for catering in your company?’ The answer I get is, ‘everyone’.
I certainly appreciate the sentiment, however, when everyone is responsible, no one typically takes the necessary ownership to get consistent results. It is difficult to hold ‘everyone’ accountable for the desired outcomes.
Jim Rand, Founder, CEO Rand Parker Group
In large organizations, there needs to be a C-level executive sponsor championing the catering cause and supporting it with the necessary resources. There also needs to be a functional catering leader, at the VP or Director Level, who can ‘General Manage’ the business on a day-to-day basis.
In smaller organizations, the catering function may be led by an individual who has other functional responsibilities; however, they need to be a catering subject matter expert as well.
Sales
Catering requires selling. Not just marketing. And certainly not just a website with a menu.
As I have mentioned repeatedly, catering is a RELATIONSHIP business. Relationships require a human touch, and having dedicated salespeople create that link between your brand and the client that will lead to long-term repeat business.
For larger brands, we typically recommend at least one professional/dedicated sales manager for every 12-15 locations. Professional sales managers understand how to find leads, make connections, get past the gatekeepers, build rapport, ask for the order, and close the deal. They are pleasantly persistent and while they may get ‘no’ for an answer, they never accept it!
Operations
Whether you operate a single catering kitchen, a few restaurants, or a small, medium, or large enterprise, you need SMEs – Subject Matter Experts, who know how to execute a catering order consistently, to standard.
In the next article of The Catering Journey, we will dive deeply into operating systems and processes. Catering is not rocket science, but it does require organization, orchestration, and customer service and having a trained, passionate, and dedicated catering lead/coordinator/manager in each of your restaurants is pivotal for success
Physical plant capabilities
The physical plant necessary to support catering operations is dependent upon two primary factors – menu design, and volume of orders.
Menu determines the type of equipment necessary for production, and the volume of catering dictates the footprint and capacity necessary to meet demand.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution; each operator needs to assess their facility(ies) and determine what is needed to produce quality offerings, on-time, that meet the guests’ expectations.
When I was a Panera franchisee in Minneapolis, our downtown location, which was already a very high-volume breakfast and lunch cafe, was under significant pressure from the multiple catering orders we received daily. We had already added equipment to our sandwich make-line, increased our bread and food prep, and yet were still struggling to keep up. Ultimately, we found 1000 square feet of space nearby and converted it into a ‘catering hub’ that allowed us to have a dedicated catering production team, with their equipment. After several years, and sustained growth, we relocated that hub again, more than doubled its size, and increased the volume by over 100 percent in a few years.
While it is always great to look for more sales through dedicated sales teams, marketing, or third-party partnerships, make sure you know how you are going to handle the volume as it grows!
Technological capabilities
Believe it or not, back in the early days of catering (the early 2000s), almost every order was taken over the phone, or by fax(!), or occasionally by email (not a common tool just yet). Online ordering was not a thing, and people occasionally used their Blackberry to text in an order.
That all changed from 2007-2012, although it still took multiple years for competitive alternatives to appear that would make the technology effective and affordable. A big shout out to pioneers Erle Dardick and Mo Asgari of MonkeyMedia, and to the Panera Bread IT team for taking on the challenge to revolutionize how catering was sold, ordered, produced, dispatched and tracked.
Technology sits at the center of the Cycle of Success. It is the glue, the connector, the conduit that facilitates ease of use for the guest and your team to seamlessly execute catering orders on a daily basis.
My advice on technology is to investigate and understand your options relative to your current tech stack, menu offering and production capabilities. There are many players in the space, including the cloud POS platforms. Use the Cycle of Success and the information I will share with you on execution in the next article of the Catering Journey, to find a holistic Catering Management Platform to meet your needs.
