One month results
How a Bagel Franchise Landed 23 Catering Leads and Won Back 7 Past Customers in One Month
FlashCater ran catering outreach for a single bagel franchise location. In one month it brought in 23 warm leads, a 70-person breakfast order and 7 past customers ordering again.
- Business
- Bagel franchise, single location
- Location
- Southeast city with a college
- Goal
- More catering orders from local businesses
- Service
- Done-for-you catering outreach
One month results
- 23
- warm leads in one month
- 7
- past customers ordered again
- 70
- people fed by the largest order
- 6.1%
- reply rate (3.4% industry avg)
About the client
The client is a single location of a growing bagel franchise in a Southeast city with a college. The store had a catering menu, but nobody on staff whose job was to go find catering customers.
The challenge
- 01
No time for outreach
The owner was running a busy store. Finding local businesses and staying in touch with them wasn’t going to happen between shifts.
- 02
Past customers going quiet
The order history showed regulars who used to order every few days and had stopped. Nothing was bringing them back.
- 03
No catering pipeline
Catering orders came in when someone happened to ask. There was no steady flow of new groups to cater for.
What we did
- Found the local businesses most likely to order catering from the store
- Ran outreach on the store’s behalf, so the owner didn’t write a single email
- Re-engaged past catering customers who had stopped ordering
- Sent every warm lead straight to the owner, ready to quote
Results
In one month, FlashCater reached 610 local businesses and got 37 replies, a 6.1% reply rate against a 3.4% industry average for cold outreach.
- 23 warm leads: businesses that asked for pricing or a menu, or connected us to the person who orders
- A 70-person teacher breakfast, the largest order so far
- 7 past customers ordered again within a week of hearing from us
- 4 of those were regulars who hadn’t ordered in over a month
- 11 more businesses asked to be kept in mind for upcoming events
What businesses said
“We have about 80 staff... can you send me some pricing?”
“I have a monthly staff meeting and would love to stop using Panera.”
“We have about 20 people at this location... a nice treat to plan this as a thank you breakfast.”
“Definitely interested... breakfast on 11/13.”
“We would love to have this for morning meetings!”
“Let’s get some dates rolling.”
Replies from local businesses, names removed
Key takeaways
- 01
The demand was already there
23 local businesses asked about catering in a single month. They weren’t ordering before because nobody had asked them.
- 02
Past customers are the fastest win
Seven came back within a week. Customers who already know the food don’t need convincing, just a reason to order again.
- 03
Results came in month one
The 70-person breakfast and all seven returning customers came in during the first month.
FlashCater’s comment
“What surprised me most was the past customers. Seven of them ordered again within a week of hearing from us. Most restaurants have a list like that sitting in their ordering system and never use it.”
Co-founder, FlashCater
Every number on this page is from one month of outreach. Names are removed to protect our clients and the businesses that replied. Replies exclude auto-replies and count each business once. The 3.4% industry average comes from a 2026 benchmark of billions of cold emails.
Want results like this for your restaurant?
Start with a free catering audit. We’ll show you:
- Which local businesses are worth reaching out to first
- Where catering orders are slipping away today
- Whether outreach, ordering or follow-up should come first