The Master Guide to Catering Demand Generation: Tactics for New and Existing Customers

In the fiercely competitive landscape of the modern restaurant industry, reliance on standard foot traffic and third-party delivery apps is no longer a guarantee of sustainable growth. Margins are tight, competition is fierce, and the typical consumer is increasingly sensitive to price. However, there is a massive, often underutilised revenue stream waiting to be tapped: B2B catering.

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The Economic Imperative: Why Catering and Why Now?
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To understand the urgency of prioritizing catering, one must first look at the current economic climate. Inflation is a reality that every operator faces. It squeezes the regular consumer, making them hesitant to dine out frequently or spend lavishly on individual meals. The average diner is watching their wallet, and this creates a ceiling on growth for traditional restaurant models.

However, there is a specific demographic that remains largely insulated from this cost sensitivity: the business diner.

Business diners and corporate clients operate with a different set of motivations. They are not spending their own money. They are investing corporate budgets in food for work. This spending is driven by two critical corporate needs that do not vanish during economic downturns: building internal company culture and fostering external relationships with clients.

Consider the pharmaceutical representative. Their livelihood depends on securing face time with doctors and medical staff. One of the most effective ways to secure that time is by bringing lunch to the office. Similarly, office managers need to entice employees back to the office or maintain morale during long meetings. In these scenarios, food is a business tool, not just a meal. Consequently, catering represents a robust growth avenue that restaurants must focus on to offset stagnation in individual consumer spending.

Industry giants have already recognized this shift and are moving aggressively to capitalize on it. Chipotle, for example, recently announced a strategic pivot toward catering. Traditional sales were stagnating, yet catering accounted for approximately 1.5% of total sales with minimal marketing effort. If a brand of that scale sees the necessity of doubling down on catering, independent operators and smaller franchises must pay attention. The focus must shift to where the money is flowing: corporate budgets.
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The Four Pillars of Table Stakes

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Before an operator spends a single dollar on marketing or demand generation, they must ensure their operation can deliver on the basics. In the catering industry, these are known as table stakes. These are non-negotiable requirements for catering customers such as executive assistants, administrative professionals, sports coaches, and department managers.

If you fail in these areas, no amount of marketing will bring that customer back. There are four criteria that determine whether a business client will ever order from you again.

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1. Food Quality and Quantity

This is the foundation of the order. The food must taste good and travel well. Catering food may sit for thirty minutes or more before being served. Quantity is equally critical. Running out of food is one of the most damaging mistakes in catering because it publicly embarrasses the host.

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2. Punctual Delivery

Time is money in the corporate world. Deliveries cannot arrive too early or too late. The client’s professional reputation depends on timing. A late delivery to a board meeting or sales presentation reflects poorly on the person who placed the order.

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3. Consistent Communication

Because the stakes are high, clients need reassurance. Messages such as the driver has left or we have arrived provide peace of mind. That reassurance is often as valuable as the food itself.

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4. Food Presentation

Visual presentation reflects on the host. Messy or disorganized food undermines credibility. Professional presentation signals seriousness and competence.

These four areas are so critical that major third-party marketplaces use them as primary inputs for customer feedback scores.

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The Psychology of Incentives

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Once the basics are mastered, the next question is how to encourage trial and repeat orders. The answer lies in incentives.

Research shows that 69% of customers are more likely to try a new brand when an incentive is offered. However, not all incentives work equally well in catering.

Catering customers, particularly admins, reps, and coordinators, care about personal value. They are spending company money. Discounts help the company, but personal rewards help the individual doing the work.

One customer shared that reward points earned from a catering marketplace paid for their child’s graduation party. Those points transformed an administrative task into a personal benefit.

This is the key insight. Incentives must benefit the individual placing the order, not just the company paying the bill. A thirty dollar Amazon gift card often performs better than a 25% discount. The discount disappears into accounting. The gift card buys groceries or gifts.

Effective catering incentives combine loyalty rewards with acquisition offers. Systems that work for retail customers rarely translate to high-value catering buyers.

Demand generation solves the biggest challenge in restaurants: consistency.

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Passive strategies rely on hope. Hope the location works. Hope apps send traffic. Proactive strategies create pipelines. They ensure your brand stays top of mind when the need arises.

Owning your own demand generation engine also reduces dependence on marketplaces. Instead of paying commissions and losing customer data, direct demand generation builds long-term relationships and margin control.

Demand generation falls into three categories:
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1. Inbound Paid Search (Google Ads)

High-intent searches like catering near me or box lunches signal immediate need. Google controls most search traffic, making paid search highly effective when executed well.

Target keywords must match offerings precisely. Ads should include a compelling incentive, such as cash back rewards, to stand out.

Operators have reported strong returns, ranking above marketplaces and intercepting customers at the moment of intent.

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2. Social Media (LinkedIn and Facebook)

LinkedIn is the most powerful B2B catering platform. Content should focus on proof, not promotion.

Photos of large, organized orders build trust. They show operational capability. The fear of competitors copying accounts is outweighed by the credibility gained.

Clean visuals, labeled boxes, and organized setups signal reliability instantly.

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3. Outbound Outreach (LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Door to Door)

Outbound outreach requires initiative.

Door-to-door visits to offices, schools, and dealerships still work. Physical menus often sit in drawers until needed.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator allows precise targeting by role and geography. Simple, respectful outreach builds warm pipelines over time.

Five hours a week of outbound effort can generate consistent high-value leads.

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4: Database Reactivation

Existing customer data is often ignored.

Segment customers into high-value, lapsed, and first-time buyers. Each requires a different follow-up approach.

Once customers order three times, they tend to stay. CRM tools help track behavior and automate follow-ups.

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Navigating Third-Party Marketplaces

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No discussion on catering is complete without addressing the ‘frenemy’ in the room: third-party marketplaces like EZ Cater.

These platforms fall under the ‘inbound’ bucket, but with a significant caveat: they are expensive, and you do not own the customer relationship. When you rely on them, you are essentially doing ‘temporary order acquisition’ rather than ‘customer acquisition’.

However, they play a vital role in the ecosystem. The recommended strategy is a balanced approach playing both offense and defense.

Pay for Performance Marketplaces allow you to pay higher commissions (ranging from 2% to 20%) to boost your ranking in search results. This feature, often called ‘Preferred Partner Programs’, is useful for brand awareness, grand openings, or filling gaps during slow seasons. It can help you get your name out there when organic volume is low.
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The Conversion Play

The ultimate goal should be to convert these marketplace customers into direct customers. If you are paying a 20% commission on a marketplace order, you have a significant margin to play with. You can offer that customer a significant incentive (e.g., 7% cash back or 5x points) to order directly from you next time.

The math is compelling. By converting a customer from a marketplace to a direct channel, you can save an average of 18% per order, even after factoring in the cost of the rewards you offer them. You are effectively taking the money you would have paid the marketplace and splitting it between your profit margin and the customer’s pocket.
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Caution and Compliance

Operators must be careful and understand the terms of service of these platforms to avoid getting into trouble or being de-listed. However, smart operators use marketplaces to acquire the first order and use their own superior service and incentives to retain the second order directly.

The Great Debate: Acquisition vs. Retention

Where should a restaurant spend its limited resources? Is it better to hunt for new business (acquisition) or keep the clients you have (retention)?

Leading marketing officers in the tech and startup space have noted that ‘acquisition at all costs is over’. The cost to acquire a new customer has nearly doubled in the last two years. In today’s distracted world, spending heavily just to fill a ‘leaky bucket’ is an unsustainable strategy.
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The Profitability of Retention

The math heavily favours retention. A mere 5% increase in customer retention can increase a company’s profitability by at least 75%. This is a staggering statistic that highlights the value of loyalty.

This is where loyalty programs and software solutions come into play. They are designed to retain the high-value customers you have worked so hard to acquire. By offering features like cashback, Amazon gift cards, and tiered rewards, you lock in loyalty.

For example, an operator can set up a system where a specific, high-volume pharma rep gets 9% cashback to ensure the restaurant wins that business against competitors, while the general public gets 3%. This flexibility allows you to use rewards strategically to close deals and keep clients from drifting to competitors.

When you incentivise a customer with rewards, you are essentially ‘paying’ them to stay. If a client knows they have a $3,000 order coming up, they will choose the restaurant that offers them 7% back (which is significant personal value) rather than a competitor offering nothing. It creates a barrier to exit.
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Building the Plan of Action

Implementing all of these strategies can seem overwhelming. The key is to avoid analysis paralysis and start small. Here is a step-by-step plan to get started.
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Step 1: Leverage the Existing List

Start with the database you already have. It is time-consuming to organise and clean up data, but it is the highest ROI activity available. The trade-off is clear: marketplaces are ‘easy’ but offer low margins (often around 2% profit after all costs); direct sales are ‘hard’ work but offer high margins (around 18% profit improvements).
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Step 2: Pick One or Two Channels

Do not try to launch Google Ads, LinkedIn outreach, door-to-door marketing, and cold calling all at once. Pick one paid channel where intent is high (like Google Ads) and one outbound channel (like Sales Navigator or local flyers). Master these before moving to the next.
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Step 3: Be Consistent

Success takes time. It is common to be stuck at low catering sales figures (like 1%) for a long time. It takes consistent, day-in, day-out effort to grow that figure. In catering, momentum builds slowly. It might take three to six months to see significant movement. One operator grew their catering from 1% to 33% of total revenue, but it required persistent effort over a long period.
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Step 4: Use Reminders

If you use a points system or rewards program, you must remind customers to use them. When a customer redeems points for a real reward (like a gift card), the program becomes ‘real’ to them, and their loyalty is cemented. The redemption creates the emotional hook.
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The Path Forward: Building Sustainable Catering Demand
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The demand for catering is real, driven by a business sector that needs to invest in relationships and culture regardless of the broader economic climate. The tools to capture this demand Google Ads, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, social media proof, and your own customer data are readily available to every operator.

The choice for restaurant operators is stark: they can choose a passive strategy that relies on marketplaces and expensive acquisition models, or they can adopt a proactive strategy that builds a self-sustaining pipeline of loyal, high-value corporate clients.

As the saying goes, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Whether it is launching a Google Ad campaign, sending a batch of LinkedIn messages, or simply walking into a local office with a box of cookies, the key is to take action. Set a goal perhaps pushing the catering sales needle by 2% over the next 90 days and do whatever needs to be done to hit it. The consistency of your effort will determine the consistency of your catering orders.