Risk, Reward & Revenue: Restaurant Catering Workshop

Are you leaving money on the table? Catering is a real opportunity to enhance revenue and supplement your current restaurant offerings – but it’s more complicated than you may expect.

Do it right and your catering can be stylish and sophisticated. It can be done without your marketing appearing desperate. The addition of off-premise catering can absolutely complement your brand and take it to new financial heights.

In this deep dive workshop into the logistics of catered events, you will hear from both restaurant and high-end catering operations on best practices, how to prevent roadblocks, and how best to scale—or start—a catering operation inside your organization. Learn from those who have found tremendous success in an industry that serves multiple guests quickly and efficiently under severe time constraints, but leaves them with memories that will last a lifetime.

Intended Audience:
This workshop is open to foodservice operators only.

What Caterers Don't Want Restaurants to Know
This session takes an in-depth look at the complexities of catering that often go unnoticed by restaurants. While the goal of both sectors is to create extraordinary culinary experiences, the way they operate and manage these experiences differs significantly. Understanding these differences can open doors to more effective collaborations, higher profitability, and smoother operations when restaurants take on catered events or partner with caterers.

Explore the logistical, financial, and operational challenges caterers face that restaurants may not be fully aware of. By uncovering these challenges, restaurant professionals can make better decisions about venturing into catering or working with catering companies for large events. Gain valuable insights into how to adapt their restaurant-based strategies for catering success.

Presenter:
Meryl Snow, SnowStorm Solutions / Certified Catering Consultants

Beyond the Restaurant: Mastering Catering Staffing & Logistics
Staffing is difficult enough to maintain in a restaurant situation. In catering, it goes steps further. Understanding the complexity of planning, preparing, and executing staffing for events, both onsite and off—staff numbers, getting the right mix between temporary and permanent workers, adapting to seasonal norms, and also building lasting loyalty with your core team can be thorny.

Discover insights into the structural positions necessary for a catering department, the appropriate staffing metrics for different types of events, and the logistics behind various catering event styles. Learn training basics designed to sustain catering in your operations and gain scheduling tips and retention tools for your team members.

Presenters:
Anthony Lambatos, CEO, Footers Catering, Social Capital, MIBE
Jason Sutton, Director of Operations & Executive Chef, Footers Catering and Social Capital

Playing to Your Strengths
Restaurants that wander into the catering arena need to understand their strengths and play to them. In this session, we will concentrate on the backbone of an effective catering business and how restaurants can position for success. What are the different offerings within catering and what does it take to be successful? We will explore the various opportunities and how to leverage your strengths in terms of competition, service, and profitability. By understanding your strengths, restaurants can uniquely position themselves for the path of least resistance as it relates to adding value and minimizing burden on your overall operation. Items we will touch on in the session:

• Brand proposition and understanding your strengths
• Creative offerings that align with your restaurant offering
• Why a catering offering does or does not make sense
• How to navigate the restaurant and catering path gracefully
• Does size matter?

Presenter:
Karen Browne, CEO, One Off Hospitality

Strategic Investments for Your Brand’s Enterprise Catering Program
There are 12 strategic investments that operators need to make in their business to complement their catering B2B technology ecosystem. Attendees will receive a must-consider list of investments that will yield the full potential of scalable, predictable, and reliable catering and food-at-work revenue channel. These investments are independent of the technology you select to support your catering operations. However, attendees will walk away with a new appreciation for the type of software they will require to meet the standards and expectations put forward.

Presenter:
William Holleman, Off-Premises Growth Academy