Hey Catering Business owners! My name is John Cohen – Founder of Total Party Planner also known as TPP
Today I want to share some 3 tips to help grow your catering company. It’s grow time! Are you ready to grow?
I grew up in catering all my young life and later watched hundreds, if not thousands, of caterers grow their company revenues by multiples of 3x, 5x and even 10x in some cases. So, let’s review some tips I’ve seen work.
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Here we go 3 tips to grow your catering business!
- Find a niche and you’ll be able to increase prices. Start with your catering brand messaging! How are you communicating to the world who you are? Be very specific on what you are great at. This is where you can break away from the price wars and competition that we know is a big part of starting and building your company. Let’s say you and your competitor all say: we cater everything to everyone… you are going to compete on price… every time. But what if you said. We specialize in responsibly sourced organic foods for private themed gatherings at a minimum of 50 food loving people who demand no less than a 5-star experience. Sounds kind of niche? There’s an old saying, the riches are in the niches. This is true.
- Once you have that messaging fine-tuned, is there something you can give on your website in return for a shopper’s contact information. This allows you to stay in touch if they don’t request information right away. We call it a lead magnet. Not everybody that is shopping today is ready to talk to somebody, right? Maybe it’s a favorite recipe or wedding template checklist. Anything that speaks to the niche message. They give you the email and you give them the promised resource… then stay in touch.
- Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb… that’s where the fruit is! It’s OK to take chances. How many times have you looked at an opportunity in the past and said, that would have been great! I recently talked to a client of our catering software app who just added another successful restaurant to their business. And this is during COVID. Even if every opportunity does not pan out, the learning lessons are invaluable.
Growing up in catering, my parents did 100% social catering – but specifically they were known to be present at every event. We didn’t have websites to market with, but I could see them spinning that as something that included something like: A dining experience with the owners who personally put the final touches on every plate. Compare that to their competitors who simply just offered affordable catering.
So where do you begin? Where are you making the most sales now? Double down on that! Bruce Lee said:
“I fear not the man who practices a thousand kicks but the man who practiced 1 kick a thousand times”.
WOW! Let that really sink in. You could also look at other catering companies that you want to emulate for inspiration. Find one that speaks to you and make it yours, make it better. Speak to your niche.
Don’t forget to click here for continuous catering tips and tricks.
Thanks for reading, have a great day!
