How to Promote your Catering Business

As a caterer in today's market, you have a great opportunity to grow your business, gain new clients, and share your passion with people who may have never found you before. There are many different ways to grow. In this article, I will share how to promote your catering business and grow today!

Optimize your online catering presence

Everybody will be searching online for your business. And even if they aren't searching for yours specifically, they will be searching for your cuisine, catering services, or group orders in your city. If you are not set up properly online, you lose the chance to be found and will not service that customer.

Some tips to make sure you are set up online include:

Make sure your Google Business Profile is properly set up
Test your website and make sure all info is accurate and you are able to be contacted
Update your info on social media, Yelp, TripAdvisor, or any other platform to have up to date information

Community engagement

Get involved with the local community. Make sure you are known with local businesses, the chamber of commerce, or any other organizations that have events and other programs going on locally. This can be a great, organic source of business for you.

Try to give out some samples to the groups and other marketing material like flyers or business cards. From here, they will be a word of mouth referral source and spread the word about your delicious food and hospitality!

Look local for you opportunities

It is better to start local and close rather than trying to branch out too far. What businesses are close by to you, even within a mile, that could order your food?

Examples may be:

Universities
Churches, temples, other religious meeting places
Medical, dental, or law offices
Business parks and buildings
Car dealerships

Analyze your area and local market, then go after these business with a sample and a smile! Maybe only 1 out of the 10 you visit will order from you, but that's 1 more customer that wouldn't have ordered from you before.

Join the 3rd party catering platforms

The 3rd party catering marketplaces are a great source of new orders for a catering business to receive. Why these marketplaces can help a caterer is because they take the sales process out of the orders. The orders come from clients who the platform sold to, so all you need to do is be listed on their platform and accept orders that come to you.

There are quite a few marketplaces out there and can vary based on their availability in different cities, but some of the more common ones are:

ezCater
Cater2Me
Hungry
CaterCow
Fooda
Foodja
Zerocater
WeBox
and many more

All these platforms take commission from their vendors and have different expectations, so please be aware of this before signing up. There are also ways to make more money on these platforms, for example, this guide from The Cater Code shows a process to convert customers to direct ordering.

Create a business development process focused on how to promote your catering business

Overall, there are quite a few ways on how to promote your catering business. Whether it is online, in person, or countless of other marketing avenues, it takes time to build your business and get increased orders. Take it step by step, try new things, follow your plan, and execute.

Cater on!