How Offering Catering Services Can Benefit Your Restaurant

Your restaurant is thriving, thanks to your carefully crafted menu, outstanding customer service, and overall atmosphere. But what if you could grow your customer base and increase your bottom line? One way to do that is by offering catering services.

The market size of the catering industry in the United States is $12.2 billion dollars per year, and the average profit margins are between 10-12 percent. Needless to say, it's a lucrative market that incentivizes restaurateurs to expand their offerings.

If your restaurant doesn't currently do catering, it might be something to consider. There are several advantages of catering that will make your restaurant stand out among the competition. Here are some of the benefits of offering catering services:

Additional Revenue

Catering can be a significant source of revenue for restaurants, with the potential to make up to 20% of total revenue.

Catering orders often have higher profit margins than in-house orders, especially when services are in higher demand on holidays and special occasions. Customers may be more inclined to splurge on higher-ticket items.

Menu Customization

With catering, restaurants can work with customers to create a customized menu that suits their preferences, such as accommodating dietary restrictions or a specific cuisine.

Catering can help improve customer satisfaction by providing a wider variety of food options.

Plan Ahead

Unlike preparing orders on-demand, catering allows restaurants to plan ahead and complete orders without the stress of preparing foods just after they are ordered.

When restaurant workers know in advance what foods will need to be prepared, they can work more efficiently, pay closer attention to detail, and better streamline operations.

Competitive Edge

Offering catering puts restaurants a step ahead of their competition.

According to Grubhub, the majority of employees who try food during a catered office event often return to the restaurant in the future.

Established Customer Base

One advantage that restaurants have over a standalone catering company is that they already have an established customer base.

Loyal customers are likely to choose the restaurant's catering service over an unknown company.

Work For Staff

Catering can provide a wider variety of work for restaurant staff. In addition to earning their standard pay, employees can make an additional income by working a catering event and/or preparing the food for the celebration.

This is not only financially beneficial but also helps employees gain hands-on experience and learn more about the restaurant and catering business.

Off Hours Profits

When a restaurant is closed, instead of missing out on profits, catering offers the opportunity to make money. Holidays are a prime time to take advantage of additional revenue through catering services that are usually in high demand during the holiday season.

Events like corporate lunches, weddings, and birthday celebrations also frequently use catering services.

Bulk Prices

Large catering orders allow restaurants to buy ingredients and supplies in bulk, which can help them get the best prices.

Things to Consider When Starting Catering Services

When considering whether or not to add catering to your offerings, here are some questions to ask yourself:

Will you offer full-service catering?

Full-service catering?includes everything from food preparation and setting up decorations, to cleaning up at the end of the event. Providing table linens, tables, chairs, and décor can be appealing to customers who don’t want to deal with multiple vendors or be responsible for set-up and takedown themselves.

You’ll need to determine the additional cost of providing full-service and whether to include those things in your catering package.

What kind of catering menu will you offer?

Even though catering services are an extension of your restaurant, you'll want to create a separate catering menu for customers. You don’t want to?deviate too far from your current menu so that your overall brand is consistent but your?catering menu should accommodate unique catering demands.

Opt for entrees, appetizers, and side dishes that are crowd-pleasers. You also want to make sure you offer gluten-free and vegetarian options for those who have dietary restrictions.

What catering serving styles will you offer?

Depending on the type of food you are offering, you'll need to determine which style would fit your menu and catering capabilities best. Catering serving styles include:

Serving Stations - Restaurant staff serve food at?designated stations.

Action Stations - Made-to-order food is cooked and prepared in?front of?guests.

Portion Controlled Buffet - Restaurant staff serve guests as?they walk through the buffet, which controls portions and helps with food safety.

Self-serve Buffet - Guests serve themselves.

Plated - Each guest receives an?individually plated meal.

Family style - Each table has large platters, and guests serve themselves from those platters.

How will you set prices for catering services?

When it comes to setting prices for your catering services, you don’t price the same way you would for your restaurant. Some considerations for catering pricing include the total costs for bar, labor, and food. You'll need to make adjustments to?represent a?lower-than-usual menu price.

An easy formula to use is to multiply the ?per person? menu price by?the guest count. Also, make sure to factor in service charges and/or?catering fees such as room rental, cleanup charge, transportation/delivery fee, and bartending/serving staff rates. In?addition to?fees, many catering services will add a standard?15% to?20% tip as?part of?the bill.

Equipment and Supplies Needed For Catering

For onsite catering events at your restaurant, you can use the kitchen you already have. However, you may need on-the-go cooking equipment and supplies for off-site catering events. Additionally, you should obtain a catering license if?you’re going to?cater off-premise.

For off-site catering, you'll need to be well stocked with supplies such as dinnerware, cups, napkins, cutlery, serving utensils, steam table pans & chafing racks, serving trays, food containers, hospitality carts and more.

If you're serving finger foods, it's good to use toothpicks for sanitary reasons. This allows guests to select their food without touching it until they are ready to eat it.

For food preparation, make sure you've got sanitation products like food service gloves, hairnets, aprons, and beard protectors.

Get Ready for Catering With AP&T

As a leading distributor of food service supplies, American Paper & Twine has a large clientele in the restaurant business. We are equipped with experts and essential supplies to help you start or grow your catering business.

Contact us for assistance in finding the best food c or shop with us anytime at ShopAPT.com.

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