How to Get More Catering Clients for Your Restaurant

You've built a catering menu, set your pricing, and maybe even set up online ordering. Now you need customers. Here's how restaurants actually get catering clients — not theory, but tactics that work.

The corporate catering opportunity

Before diving into tactics, understand where the money is. Corporate catering accounts for the majority of drop-off catering revenue for most restaurants. Office lunches, team meetings, client events, and company celebrations happen every week at businesses near your restaurant.

According to the National Restaurant Association, corporate catering spending continues to grow as companies bring employees back to offices and use food as a retention and culture tool. A single corporate account can be worth $500-$2,000+ per month in repeat orders.

The key insight: corporate catering is a relationship business. You're not selling to random consumers — you're building accounts with office managers, executive assistants, and HR teams who order again and again.

Strategy 1: Local business outreach

This is the highest-ROI tactic and the one most restaurants skip because it feels uncomfortable. Go talk to the businesses near your restaurant.

The door-to-door approach

1. Make a list of every office, coworking space, medical practice, law firm, real estate agency, and corporate office within 3-5 miles
2. Prepare a catering sampler — a tray of your best items, enough for 8-10 people
3. Walk in during lunch hours and ask for the office manager or person who orders food
4. Lead with the food, not a pitch — "We're [Restaurant Name] down the street, and we just launched catering. We brought a free sampler for your team to try."
5. Leave a catering menu with your online ordering link and a first-order discount

This costs you maybe $30-$50 in food per visit. One converted corporate account pays that back on the first order.

Follow up

• Send a thank-you email the next day
• Follow up 1 week later asking if they'd like to place an order
• Add them to your catering email list for monthly specials

Strategy 2: Optimize your online presence

Most catering searches happen online. Make sure you show up.

Google Business Profile

• Add "catering" to your business categories
• Upload photos of your catering spreads (not just dine-in food)
• Mention catering in your business description
• Add your catering ordering link as a website link
• Respond to reviews that mention catering

Your website

• Add a dedicated catering page (or better, an online ordering page)
• Include "catering" in your page titles and meta descriptions
• Show photos of catering setups, not just individual dishes
• Make the "Order Catering" button prominent — not buried in a dropdown

Local SEO

• Target keywords like "[your city] catering" and "[your cuisine] catering [your city]"
• Get listed on local business directories
• Ask satisfied catering clients to leave Google reviews mentioning catering specifically

Strategy 3: Leverage your existing customers

Your current dine-in and takeout customers are your warmest leads for catering. They already know and trust your food.

In-restaurant promotion

• Table tents or menu inserts: "Need to feed a group? Ask about our catering!"
• Staff mentions — train servers to ask "Do you ever need catering for your office?" when regulars come in
• Receipt messaging — add your catering link to the bottom of receipts
• Signage — a simple poster or banner near the register

Email marketing

If you have a customer email list:

• Send a dedicated "We now offer catering" announcement
• Include catering in your monthly newsletter
• Offer an exclusive discount for existing customers' first catering order
• Share photos of recent catering orders to build social proof

Social media

• Post photos of catering setups (before delivery and at the client's location)
• Share customer testimonials from catering clients
• Run a "First catering order gets 10% off" promotion
• Tag corporate clients who are willing (great for B2B visibility)

Strategy 4: Partner with complementary businesses

Some businesses regularly need catering but don't want to manage the food sourcing. Partner with them.

Event planners — offer a referral fee or commission for every catering order they send you. They're already planning events and need reliable food partners.

Coworking spaces — offer to be their preferred catering vendor for member events, lunch-and-learns, and community gatherings.

Real estate agents — open houses, client appreciation events, and closing gifts all need catering. Offer a standing discount for their office.

Hotels without restaurants — business travelers need meeting catering, and hotels without in-house food service need to recommend someone.

Corporate wellness companies — healthy meal programs for offices are growing, and your restaurant might be a perfect fit.

Strategy 5: Offer a first-order incentive

Lower the barrier for first-time catering customers:

• 10-15% off first catering order — enough to motivate, not enough to destroy margin
• Free delivery on first order — removes the biggest hesitation
• Free dessert platter with first order over $200 — adds value without heavy discounting
• Complimentary sampler tray — let them try before committing to a large order

The goal isn't just one order — it's starting a relationship. According to industry data, a satisfied corporate catering customer reorders 4-6 times per year. Your first-order discount is an investment in a relationship worth thousands over time.

Strategy 6: Build a referral program

Your best catering customers can be your best salespeople.

• $25 credit for every referred customer who places their first order
• Free platter upgrade for customers who refer 3+ new accounts
• Quarterly appreciation — send a thank-you gift to your top referring accounts

Keep it simple. A complicated referral program with points and tiers won't get used. A straightforward "$25 off your next order for every referral" is easy to remember and easy to share.

Strategy 7: Use catering software with built-in growth tools

Manual follow-up works when you have 5 catering clients. It breaks down at 20+. The right catering software automates the growth engine:

• Automated re-order emails — "It's been 3 weeks since your last order. Ready to reorder?"
• Customer CRM — track who orders, how often, and what they prefer
• Order history — make reordering as easy as clicking "repeat last order"
• Email campaigns — promote seasonal specials, new menu items, or holiday catering

FlashCater builds all of this into the platform so you're not cobbling together separate tools for ordering, management, and marketing.

The 30-day launch plan

If you're starting from zero, here's a practical timeline:

Week 1: Set up your catering menu and online ordering. Update your Google Business Profile. Email your customer list.

Week 2: Visit 10-15 local businesses with sampler trays. Post on social media. Add catering signage in your restaurant.

Week 3: Follow up with every business you visited. Send a second email to your list. Reach out to 3-5 potential referral partners.

Week 4: Evaluate results. Which tactics generated orders? Double down on those. Set up automated re-order emails for customers who've ordered.

Most restaurants that follow this plan have 5-10 catering orders within the first month — and a pipeline of relationships that grow from there.