Article

Sales, staff needed to execute successful catering program

If you want to move the needle, teach everyone in your organization how to sell.

November 12, 2014 by Alicia Kelso — Editor, QSRWeb.com

The catering channel is growing across segments as restaurant brands fight tooth and nail for precious market share as well as additional revenue. Even QSRs – such as Taco Bell – are exploring the option.

There are some critical elements to keep in mind if you want to jump into the off-premise game. Among them: Building the right relationships, putting the right team in place, solidifying the operations component and selling the program.

"Everywhere I go now there are catering menus, which is exciting. But it has to make sense. There has to be a framework," said Erle Dardick, CEO of MonkeyMedia Software. "The alignment process is daunting. How do you direct your customer into the right channel at the right time so they spend money and get a positive experience?"

Getting started

Two concepts that have nailed this process are Giraffas USA and Sky's Gourmet Tacos. Giraffas is based out of Brazil but doesn't offer catering in that market. US CEO Joao Barbosa said the domestic system recently hired a catering director to navigate a more competitive marketplace and make sure it was executed properly.

"We created a roadmap and the first thing we launched was a loyalty program," he said. The company worked with MonkeyMedia for the launch and Barbosa said the program necessitated an entirely new mindset because it is essentially its own separate business.

Sky's Gourmet Tacos Founder Barbara Burrell said her concept had always casually catered but added an entire team when she decided to grow the program.

"I've got wonderful people but they have to be able to feed the customer and get catering orders ready. That was a challenge," she said. Sky's solution was to create a team, with a leader. The concept includese a food truck, which Burrell calls a "marketing tool within itself."

If catering orders overlap rush hour operations at the business, the truck is treated as a production unit.

"It can produce and pick up the overflow. It is marvelous," she said. "Our leadership has to be able to wear many hats to do (catering)."

Catering service model

Once the leadership is in place, operators need to choose their structure. Do they offer set up? Set up and service? Set up, service and cooking on site?

Catering, Dardick said, is broken into two channels – a drop off experience and upscale service. For drop off, he said "you get paid and you leave." For the latter, the service layer is added.

"(Service) is a huge opportunity. It is differentiation and we're starting to see more of it," he said. "The idea is to create control centers so we can give the guests a good experience."

Franchisors, Dardick adds, should make a strategic decision about what types of services can be provided to franchisees. If they don't provide these solutions, franchisees will do it on their own, which can create a disparate experience across the brand.

Marketing and sales

With a model and team in place, sales and marketing becomes the priority. Dardick said the restaurant industry has not done a good job with this component (especially compared to the retail industry) even though it is "critical."

He points to Panera as a standard bearer, with its professional sales organization.

"They have more than 100 people pounding the pavement every day selling Panera. They'll have 200 people in a few years. It's a new paradigm and you should all think of yourself as a professional sales organization," he said.

Burrell's sales technique started out as and continues to be very personalized. In the beginning of the program, she put together a packet and visited business areas to introduce herself to receptionists.

"I had great success with it because people were able to see me, talk to me, find out about my brand. That is very important," she said.

As Sky's program grew and became more sophisticated, she began sending her team out to people that have already done catering business with the brand, to continue building the relationship.

"This allowed us to grow and our food truck came about from it all in 2010. What an opportunity that has been – it's pink and green and unusual. People want to check it out," Burrell said. "And we support that truck with professional sellers. It is critical to the business."

"If you want to move the needle, teach everyone in your organization how to sell," Dardick added.

Operations

The final piece of the puzzle is operations. Contrary to popular belief, operations has to own the entire catering program.

"We go into too many places where marketing owns catering. That's the wrong decision," Dardick said. "Marketing needs to be engaged, but flawless execution is the most important. There are a lot of things that can happen that can ruin the experience and once that happens who knows if you'll ever get those customers back."

^{Photo provided by Wikipedia.} 

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