Food catering is booming. Restaurants that want to augment their sales are turning to their catering business to help sell to:
- Businesses
- Events
- Weddings
- Etc.
If a customer is celebrating a birthday milestone, you can offer an affordable catering option that will lure them into making an order.
But, one of the biggest points of friction for restaurant owners is that they're unsure of how to promote their catering business. We're going to share a few insights into ways that you can begin making more catering sales with the right mix of marketing.
9 Tips to Boost Your Catering Sales in 2025
1. Focus on Your Local Businesses
Catering marketing doesn't need to stop with just online avenues. If you're not already, you want to reach out to local business owners and let them know that you also offer catering. For example, you can:
- Send flyers to local businesses with your catering menu.
- Connect with local business owners and stakeholders who come into your restaurant and let them know that you offer catering.
If you want to entice local businesses even further, you can offer discounts for businesses in your city or a certain radius.
But, don't just focus on your local commercial entities.
You can also appeal to non-profit entities and government entities, such as your local school or something similar.
2. Consider Niche Marketing
You may or may not be able to leverage this tip, but if you offer niche food items, use them to your advantage.
What do we mean by this?
You may be able to promote that you offer:
- Vegan-friendly menus
- Vegetarian options
- Etc.
If you have any niche market that you can cater to directly, you can charge higher prices, enjoy increased brand loyalty and lower competition.
But, let's say that you don't have any of the niche cuisines above. What can you do? Consider offering catering to niche industries, such as specifically for weddings or corporate events. If you do your market research and there is a high demand in your area for weddings, you can partner with venues or position yourself as the best wedding catering service in the area.
3. Increase Sales Through Loyalty
If you want to improve sales, find ways to increase repeat customers. Loyalty programs are a great opportunity to boost sales from people who you've already served in the past. Of course, your best avenues for this are:
- Businesses
- Non-profits
Why?
Businesses may require catering every month or a few times a year; normal consumers are less likely to order catering regularly.
Setting up a loyalty program is a lot easier today than in the past with plenty of options available, such as:
- Punchh
- Square Loyalty
- Incentivio
Of course, you can also run your own in-house loyalty program if you would rather not rely on third-party solutions.
4. Hold Quarterly Tasting Events
What do people want? They want to taste your food. If you have the budget available, why not offer a quarterly tasting option for potential customers who may want to order catering from you?
You'll need to work out the logistics to be sure that customers do not take advantage of the event, but you can also charge a cover charge for entering.
5. Add Mention of Catering to Your Menu
Does your current menu mention catering? You won't need an entire catering menu on your regular menu, but a brief mention of catering at the bottom will let people know that if they want, you can cater their next big event.
A few wording options that will work perfectly are:
- Inquire about our catering options.
- Planning your next big event? Ask about our catering specials.
You'll be surprised by how many people will order catering from you simply because now they know that it's available to them.
6. Focus on Your Proposals
You can have 100s of leads, but if you don't refine your proposal, closing sales will be impossible.
How can you improve your proposals?
- Work with a sales specialist who can improve your team's face-to-face proposals.
- Create digital proposals that walk potential customers through the experience.
- Explain the entire experience to the potential customer and make it all about them.
Focusing on your proposals will increase conversions, turning more leads into paying customers and sales.
7. Connect with Event Planners
Who can you connect with professionally and offer referrals to and even commission for sales? Event planners. If you haven't already, you'll want to:
- Research event planners in your area
- Discuss partnering with the planner
If you have exceptional food and don't mind offering a referral fee to the planner for every new customer they recommend or a discount for their repeat business, you'll find these professionals are often very receptive to your offer.
8. Attend Local Events
Local events are a goldmine for catering businesses because it allows everyone to taste your food. You can have a stall at events that offer your food and provide steep discounts to taste certain dishes that are on your catering menu.
Why?
If you have great food, it will speak for itself and people who have a chance to taste it will certainly remember your business if they need catering in the future. You can also use this time to network with other companies in the area who may need your services.
9. Targeted Social Media Catering Ads
Are you using social media marketing to promote your catering options? If not, it's one of the best ways to reach your target audience. Dedicate some of your marketing budget to ads on:
You can even add TikTok or other platforms. Advanced targeting will help you narrow down your marketing to just people in your target demographic.
And, then you can refine your targeting further to reach people who may be searching for good catering in your area and not know that you offer it.
Catering is a great way for restaurants to augment sales, and in certain cities, demand may be high enough that catering is your main revenue driver. If you use the tips above, you'll be able to capture more customers and begin making your catering more profitable in the process.