You've thought about hiring someone to sell catering. Then you did the math: $60,000 or more a year, a few months before they know the offices around you, and a salary you pay whether the orders show up or not. So the job stays with you, it gets done in the gaps between service, and that means it doesn't get done.
FlashCater is outsourced sales and marketing for your food business. We do the prospecting, outreach, in-store promotion and follow-up a catering sales hire would do, with pricing discussed on a call. No commission, no contract, and outreach is live within two weeks.
Hiring a catering sales manager vs FlashCater
| In-house catering sales hire | FlashCater | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | $60,000 to $80,000 a year, plus benefits and payroll tax | Discuss pricing on a call |
| Commission | Often a cut of catering sales on top of salary | None |
| Time to start | Weeks to recruit, months to learn your market | Outreach live in two weeks |
| Commitment | Employment contract, severance if it doesn't work | Month to month, cancel anytime. |
| Design and printed materials | Separate vendors | Included |
| Ordering and CRM | Not included | Included, or we integrate with Toast, Square or your site |
| Coverage when they're out | None | Continuous |
| When it makes sense | Catering is already a large share of revenue and needs a full-time owner | Catering is a few orders a month and you want it to become a channel |
A hire is the right call once catering is big enough to need a full-time person managing it. Until then, discuss the scope of outsourced support before committing to a hire.
Channel comparison
What changes when catering orders are direct
What is included
| What we do | What it replaces |
|---|---|
| Prospect list | The sales hire's first month: 100+ businesses in your delivery radius, scored by size, distance and reason to order |
| Outreach | Their daily work: email, phone and drop-off materials to the buyers at those businesses, 150+ touches a month, from a named person on your behalf |
| Lead handling | The phone that goes unanswered during lunch: every inquiry answered the same day and passed to you with the details |
| In-store materials | The designer and the print shop: counter cards, table tents and bag inserts shipped to you |
| Catering packages | The menu consultant: office-friendly packages and per-person pricing built from your regular menu, if you need them |
| Ordering page | The web developer: a branded catering ordering page, or integration with Toast, Square or your existing site |
| Follow-up | The part a hire skips when service gets busy: post-order check-ins, reorder reminders and win-back emails on a schedule |
| CRM and reporting | The spreadsheet nobody updates: every prospect, lead and order tracked, with a monthly report |
Not included: delivery and the food.
What we need from you
- Approve the packages, per-person pricing, minimums, lead time and delivery radius we draft. One call.
- Send your menu, a few photos of real group orders, and your logo.
- Name one person who receives order details and gets them to the kitchen.
- Reply the same day when a buyer wants to talk to the restaurant. We handle the first response; the close comes from you.
- Tell us how each order went, so the follow-up is accurate.
If your team can't do those five things, outsourcing won't work either, and we'll say so on the first call.
The first 30 days
Week 1. We map the businesses near you, build and score the list, draft the offer if needed, set up ordering, and write the outreach emails, call script and printed menu.
Weeks 2 to 3. Outreach starts and in-store materials ship. First replies and sampler requests.
Weeks 3 to 4. We keep working the list and following up. First new orders usually land here. You get your first monthly report: contacted, replied, ordered, pipeline.
30-day plan
A simple first month for catering growth
Week 1
Fix the offer
Clarify packages, minimums, lead time, and direct ordering.
Week 2
Build the list
Map offices, medical groups, schools, and local business buyers.
Week 3
Launch demand
Start outreach, in-store promotion, and first-order offers.
Week 4
Follow up
Respond to leads, reactivate past buyers, and report early signals.
Most restaurants see first orders within two to four weeks. A steady pipeline of repeat office accounts takes two to three months. We build for the repeat: an office ordering a $400 lunch twice a month is worth close to $10,000 a year.
Who this is for
Restaurants that already do some catering, or want to, and don't have anyone with five spare hours a week to grow it. Fast-casual, BBQ, Mediterranean, delis, sandwich shops and Mexican restaurants are strong fits because their food travels well and offices order it repeatedly.
It isn't for restaurants that can't fulfill a 30-person order on a day's notice yet. Fix operations first. Our catering operations guide covers it.
Pricing and terms
Discuss service pricing on a call. No commission, no setup fee, month to month, cancel anytime. Multi-location pricing on a call.
The full service is on the increase catering sales page. If the account-building side is what you care about most, see corporate catering sales.
See what we would do for your restaurant first.
The free audit maps the businesses near you, your local competition and where catering demand is leaking. No obligation.
Get my catering auditCommon questions
What is outsourced sales for a food business?
A company outside your restaurant does the prospecting, outreach and follow-up that a sales hire would do. For catering, that means building a list of nearby offices, contacting the buyers, winning first orders and following up for reorders. FlashCater does this for restaurants with no commission.
How much does outsourced food sales and marketing cost?
FlashCater pricing is discussed on a call, with no commission, no setup fee and no contract. A catering sales manager costs $60,000 to $80,000 a year plus benefits, and most agencies start around $2,000 a month.
Is outsourcing catering sales better than hiring?
For most independent restaurants, yes. A hire needs weeks to recruit, months to ramp, and a salary whether or not orders come in. Outsourced sales starts in two weeks, costs a fraction, and can be cancelled month to month. Hire once catering volume justifies a full-time person.
How quickly does outsourced catering sales produce orders?
Most restaurants see their first new catering orders within two to four weeks of outreach starting. A steady pipeline of repeat office accounts typically takes two to three months.
Do we lose control of our customers if we outsource sales?
No. Every prospect, lead and account lives in a CRM you can see, orders come through your own ordering page or POS, and we never take a cut. Unlike a marketplace, the customer relationship is yours.
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