Salsarita's
Overview
Catering has been an essential sales channel for Salsarita’s Fresh Mexican Grill from the beginning. In addition to operating 80 restaurant locations across 18 states, 20% of sales at the fast-casual, build-your-own Mexican concept come from catering. At some locations, that number is as high as 60%. To accelerate the growth of its catering business, Salsarita’s implemented Catering+. Since then, the brand has seen online catering sales, average order value, efficiency, and order accuracy go up.
lift in average order value for catering vs. mealtime orders
increase in catering same-store sales over 2023
increase in online catering sales YOY
BACKGROUND
Salsarita’s knows catering is key to making its restaurants profitable. The brand has found that large orders not only boost revenue but also help reduce food waste and ensure there is always something for employees to work on.
And so, the brand has invested heavily in creating and marketing its robust catering program—complete with bars, boxed lunches, and fiesta packs. But its white-glove guest experience sets it apart.
To provide better hospitality and eliminate extra work for in-store personnel, Salsarita’s has a catering concierge call center in its corporate office and leverages Switchboard to digitize phone orders.
The system worked well for a while, but Salsarita’s saw opportunities to accelerate catering growth. For example, the brand didn't have a system for managing tax-exempt status or house accounts. As a result, its concierge team would take each catering order and then pass it to the store to manually enter it in the point-of-sale system.
By teaming up with Olo and implementing Catering+, Salsarita’s has eliminated those pain points, boosted efficiency, improved order accuracy, and increased catering order volume and value brandwide.
Results with Olo
More restaurant revenue
The impact of catering on Salsarita’s restaurant sales is significant. The brand’s average catering ticket is ~$436, a 15x increase from its average mealtime ticket of $28. Brandwide, 20% of all sales, on average, come from catering—with 35% of catering orders being placed online. Since implementing Catering+, the brand has seen a 22% increase in catering same-store sales and a 10% increase in online catering sales YOY.
Less manual work and greater accuracy
Salsarita’s can now fulfill catering orders for tax-exempt organizations and set up house accounts for regulars—without having to manually enter each order into its in-store POS system. In digitizing nearly 100% of catering orders, the brand has reduced human error and increased order accuracy.
Using a simple file, Olo was able to import tax exemption information for 36 organizations in one day, enabling Salsarita’s to accept tax-exempt orders via Catering+ immediately. To date, Salsarita's has created 43 more tax-exempt accounts and has successfully fulfilled 30 tax-exempt orders.
Streamlined operations
Catering+ has provided Salsarita’s with a centralized database to streamline operations. It has eliminated duplicate catering accounts and the need for employees to spend time cross-referencing with the POS system. Additionally, with integrated loyalty, the brand can easily ensure catering VIPs are rewarded for their large orders.
In a lot of software scenarios, you're forced to look at a new vendor because you've outgrown your present one. We were fortunate to have Olo continue to develop and grow its catering product as we’ve developed and grown our catering program. Catering+ has made us more efficient, more accountable, and better at tracking orders from the moment they’re placed to the moment they’re delivered.
More customer success
What are you waiting for?
Transform your guest experience today.
