An office manager has 50 coworkers waiting for lunch, a client in the conference room, and a text from 10 minutes ago saying the driver was five minutes away. Somewhere between refreshing his phone and checking the lobby again, he decides this is the last time he orders from that caterer.
Stories like this surfaced again and again at The Restaurant Catering Workshop in October, where restaurant leaders discussed hot topics such as owning the guest relationship and keeping catering profitable as fees climb. Here’s what I heard, and what brands can do about it now.
Marketplaces make the introduction. Brands build the relationship.
With the recent news that Uber will purchase ezCater, marketplaces are top of mind for restaurant brands. Marketplaces are critical acquisition channels for catering, and paired with a brand’s own ordering, marketplaces become part of a bigger catering strategy that brings in new guests and keeps them coming back.
Many brands already run direct and marketplace catering side by side, with each channel playing a different role. Several panels, including Olo’s “Get Unstuck” session, focused on one question: how do you build a lasting relationship with a guest that a marketplace introduced?
What to do now: Treat every marketplace order as an introduction. Branded packaging, a clear path to your own catering site, and a strong first experience give guests a reason to come to you directly for their next order.
Data drives reorders. People close them.
Omnirev’s session made a good point that brands don’t need an enterprise-grade CRM to grow repeat business. In their view, a “minimum viable CRM” that supports segmentation, reorder triggers, automated follow-ups, and lead scoring can go a long way with the right strategy.
Getting this right matters because catering revenue is concentrated. Across business catering on Olo, the top 10% of accounts drive nearly half of business catering revenue, at more than twice the average order value of everyone else.
Marketing automation makes this manageable. A guest who orders lunch for a monthly board meeting can get an automated reminder before the next one, so no one on your team has to keep track. If that account goes quiet, your team needs a way to find out why.
Across business catering on Olo, the top 10% of accounts drive nearly half of business catering revenue, at more than twice the average order value of everyone else.
The CRUMBS session offered a helpful reminder: AI won’t replace conversations, and the human element still plays a big role in reorders. Several speakers also saw room for catering teams to lean on AI more for building prospect lists and automating outreach.
What to do now: Identify your top accounts and set reorder triggers for them first. Then hand list-building and first-touch outreach to AI tools so your catering team spends its time on the calls and relationships that close repeat business.
On a big order, silence = anxiety
Live tracking was another strong theme of the event. In the example of catering a business lunch, the office manager wants to know exactly when to expect delivery—ideally via live tracking to know where the driver is.
Many brands want to own their own catering setup, either themselves or through a specialty partner. A driver who drops a bag at the door is fine for a burrito. A catering order that needs to be set up for a room full of guests is a different job. It's more involved (arranging trays, setting out utensils, etc.), and the spread on that table may be for a room full of potential first-time guests, so it needs to be right.
What to do now: Send proactive updates at the moments that matter most, from order confirmation to driver arrival. Write one SOP that covers both delivery and setup and applies no matter who’s driving, whether that’s your own team or a specialty partner.
Margin moves to the top of the agenda
With costs rising across the board, brands at the event were watching margins closely, and every dollar on a catering order mattered.
Again, first-party ordering makes a big difference here. Paying a fee for a new guest once can be worth it. Paying it on the tenth order from an office you already feed every month is harder to justify.
What to do now: Look at which guests order from you again and again, and give them a reason to order directly, like easy reordering or invoicing. Moving those regulars to your own channel is one of the fastest ways to cut fees without sacrificing orders.
Five predictions for what’s next
CRUMBS closed the opening keynote with five predictions that got me thinking. Here’s how each one lines up with what we’re seeing across the industry.
1. Another catering marketplace will emerge.
Catering is growing fast, and the marketplace landscape is already shifting as larger companies consolidate. It seems likely that more players will enter the market.
2. More brands will add catering decision-makers to the leadership team, including roles like Chief Catering Officer and Catering Concierge.
Many of the speakers at this year’s Workshop held catering-specific titles, from directors of catering sales to senior directors of off-premise and catering. As business catering grows, brands are treating it as its own business line with its own leaders.
3. AI won’t replace conversations, because the human element drives the relationship.
AI is taking on prospecting and follow-ups, which frees up catering teams for the conversations that keep top accounts ordering. With a small share of accounts driving nearly half of business catering revenue, those relationships matter.
4. Branded packaging will become mandatory.
A catering order is often the first time a room full of people sees a brand up close, and generic foil trays no longer cut it. Branded packaging ensures every guest at the table knows where lunch came from, including those who might place the next order.
5. Brands will realize the value of powerhouse catering platforms, with a unified dashboard that tracks metrics they need to grow.
Most brands run catering across several channels, leaving their data scattered and making it hard to see what’s actually driving growth. Brands that can see the full picture in one place can decide faster where to invest.
The common thread
Catering keeps growing, and more brands want a piece of it. Marketplaces can bring a guest to the table, and what happens after that first order is up to the brand. The ones that get the experience right will build a strong catering program with recurring revenue.
