How to grow your catering business

When it comes to boosting your business and edging sales upward, here's what catering vets suggest. 

Think about what diners might be buying at an outside store that a catering program could provide more conveniently—then turn it into a new revenue stream. At University of Michigan, Shrivastav successfully added a value-priced menu for residential students that meets a need for group snacks and treats outside the daily dining program. Packages might include ice cream or cookies for an Oscars watch party, study group or other get-together. 

“As you decide you’re going to take on more catering events, you have to [decide whether to] build your inventory,” says Anthony Ellis, director of dining at The Forest at Duke, a senior living community in Durham, N.C., that houses about 400 residents. Whether considering an omelet station or a chocolate fountain, think about whether there’s a consistent demand for that piece of equipment, if there’s room to store it and if it could potentially be used in daily service. “Right now, I work with an equipment rental place nearby so that I have equipment readily accessible,” Ellis says. “We don’t have the storage space for all of that equipment, and we just build [the rental fee] into the cost of the event.”

Set menu options are a good place to start, but as the catering program grows, a willingness to customize is beneficial for operators. “In senior living, when I arrived, I actually put together a catering guide to encourage residents that want special events and have different needs for celebratory reasons, as well as doing memorial services, birthday parties, anniversaries and things of that nature,” Ellis says. “What I’ve found is that even though we have a full-scope catering guide, almost everything is tailor-made even with the guide … to fit their specific needs and wants and family recipes.” That flexibility has allowed Ellis to successfully cater more intimate events, such as private dinners in residents’ homes. 

As you book different kinds of catering events, use them as professional development opportunities for staff. “Once a year, we auction off an eight-course dinner served at a nice venue, and it goes for thousands of dollars,” Gunsten says. “That’s not something you can get in a small town, and the [employees who work the dinner] see something totally new.”

If you’ve topped out on growth internally, offering catering service to the public is a logical next step. For your first forays, look at what natural partnerships might already be in play. What organizations do you already have a relationship with that might need catering services? For example, Ellis worked with a local senior center to cater a Mother’s Day brunch for senior citizens and their families.