Three weeks results
How a Pizza Franchise Got 14 Warm Catering Leads and 4 Catering Orders in Three Weeks
FlashCater ran catering outreach for a single pizza franchise location near a major university. In three weeks, 305 local businesses and groups heard about its catering, 26 wrote back, and 4 sent catering orders, the largest for 65 people.
- Business
- Pizza franchise, single location
- Location
- Mountain West city with a major university
- Goal
- More catering orders from local businesses
- Service
- Done-for-you catering outreach
Three weeks results
- 14
- warm leads in three weeks
- 4
- catering orders sent in
- 65
- people fed by the largest order
- 8.5%
- reply rate (3.4% industry avg)
About the client
The client is a single location of a pizza franchise, a few minutes from a major university campus. It’s run by an operator with several stores, and the team is busy keeping them all running. The store had a catering menu and loyal regulars, but nothing was telling the businesses and groups nearby that it catered.
The challenge
- 01
No time for outreach
The team was busy running several stores. Finding local businesses and staying in touch with them wasn’t something they had time to do on their own.
- 02
Catering came in by chance
Catering orders came from people who already knew the store. Nothing was bringing in new groups.
- 03
Pizza is everywhere
Every group in town already has a pizza place it calls. The store needed to be the one they thought of first.
What we did
- Found the local businesses and groups most likely to order catering from the store
- Ran outreach on the store’s behalf, so the team didn’t have to write a single cold email
- Reached out to past customers who already loved the food
- Adjusted the plan every week based on who was responding
- Sent every reply straight to the store’s team, ready to answer and quote
Results
In three weeks, FlashCater reached 305 local businesses and groups and got 26 replies, an 8.5% reply rate against a 3.4% industry average for cold outreach.
- 14 warm leads: 10 asked for details or to order, and 4 connected us to whoever orders
- 4 groups sent catering orders, the largest for 65 people
- An office asked for a catered meal to celebrate hitting a team goal
- An insurance agency asked about its annual staff pizza party
- 11 more businesses asked to be kept in mind for upcoming events
What businesses said
“We would love to order from you guys.”
“Here’s our order below, all 12 inch medium pizzas please.”
“I’ll forward to our events team.”
“We’d love to take you up on a catered meal to celebrate the accomplishment.”
“We have a staff pizza party every year towards the end of November.”
“We would love to meet you! We have a team meeting on Thursday.”
Replies from local businesses, names removed
Catering orders go straight to the store, so order totals aren’t included in these numbers.
Key takeaways
- 01
The demand was already there
26 local businesses and groups replied in three weeks. They weren’t ordering before because nobody had asked them.
- 02
Orders came fast
4 groups sent in catering orders within the first three weeks, the first one in week two.
- 03
Bigger orders than the counter sees
The largest order fed 65 people. That’s not an order that walks in the door.
FlashCater’s comment
“Within three weeks, groups were sending this store orders to feed 65 people at a time. Those orders were always out there. Someone just had to ask.”
Co-founder, FlashCater
Every number on this page is from three weeks 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