Erie Dardick from the Catering Institute and MonkeyMedia Software is aware of the complications that come with adding additional revenue channels to a business with complex operations. Dardick assures that as soon as executive alignment is in place, the road will be paved for growing catering sales. Listed below are five aspects Dardick suggests looking into in order to start growing catering sales.

1.  Understanding the strategy . The takeout, delivery and catering strategies are all interdependent. In order to succeed it is important to take the time to understand how they are related and what the strategy is. It is crucial to really have a good grasp on what goes into implementing these services before beginning to roll out the sales and ordering platform.

2.  Plan. After having made an appropriate plan that includes implementation timelines, teams and locations to leverage, menu items and marketing campaigns it is important to document it. These are all necessary components to launching an organized catering platform.

3.  Menu differentiation. Understanding that the market for catering services is different that of the restaurant is step one. Step two is to establish the types of menus that are appropriate for feeding large groups and then ensuring the packaging is correct to maintain the integrity of the product and have a secure delivery.

4. Sales. Having a reliable, predictable and scalable catering experience is key to succeeding. These three things must be achieved as they will impact the unit-level profits.

5.  Patience. Above all the process will require investment and time. Dardick states that executing catering profitably will continue to be a good use of idle capacity and will help maximize the return on the assets that you have already deployed and paid for in your existing infrastructure.

To read more about Erie Dardick’s advice on how to provide a successful catering service that will enable brands to increase customer loyalty and grow sales, click here