Expanding Your Business?

Capitalize on what you do best

While it’s theoretically possible to have a successful catering business by doing the same level of catering, whether on-premise or off-premise, year after year, that’s
just not what caterers tend to do.

In search of ways to increase business, to protect themselves from fluctuations in the marketplace, to better use their kitchens and staff—or just to be energized by a new challenge, caterers have found a wide variety of ways to do new things and grow their business.

Caterers around the country have found novel ways to diversify, but those who are most successful build on the things they’re known for—food and service.

When catersource sent out a call for examples of what caterers were doing, we got an electronic mailbox full of responses. Some caterers told us they did relatively traditional growth; if they were off-premise, they bought or built their own banquet facility; if they were on-premise, they started doing off-premise events. Some found novel ways to retail their food or services. And some found unique niches that they could fill.

BUILDING ON THE FOOD

Cindy’s Catering, Martinez, Georgia
Cindy Crawford says that people would go to a banquet she catered and then ask if they could buy the kind of food she was serving. So she’s created a retail operation to sell casseroles, salads and a few other favorite items.

“There’s really a demand for it in
this market,” Crawford says. “People don’t have time to cook at home like they used to.”

Crawford says her kitchen staff is doing 150-250 corporate luncheons a day, so “while we’re doing that, we just do a few extra for the display case. It doesn’t require extra expense on our part because it’s things we make anyway. ” Customers can call or email orders, or they can simply stop in on their way home. The retail store is in a strip mall on the main thoroughfare in Martinez.

The casseroles can be purchased frozen, refrigerated or hot and ready to eat. Favorites include chicken and wild rice, lasagna, squash and cheese, oven-roasted vegetables and salads. The chicken salad is a particular favorite. “We can’t make enough of it,” says Crawford. Prices range from $5 for small side items that feed two or three people to $18-$20 for entrees that serve five or six. Cindy’s Catering specializes in from-scratch food made with no preservatives and Crawford says her customers want to know that they can pick up good quality food and serve it at home.

Crawford says the prepared food retail operation is profitable but “it’s not a huge moneymaker; it’s a service we were interested in providing for people.” So far the business has grown without much marketing; she plans a real marketing effort next year.

David’s World Famous/Catering by David, Boston
Kind of joking around, David Poritzky’s mother would tell him he ought to get into a dot.com business. Then one day, “I had an employee come in at 8 one morning and she wanted to bring some chicken soup to work with her because she was sick,” Poritzky says. “I started looking for chicken soup online and there wasn’t one.”

And so was born grandmaschickensoup.com, an online business that’s just taking off. Customers can order a half-gallon of soup in various packages that cost from $29.50 for Just Soup (with noodles and/or matzo balls) to $57.50 for a gift combination that includes a soup mug, spoon, gourmet pasta, crackers, a cooking, a carrot pen and a mini-book—Chicken Soup for the Soul, of course.

Poritzky started the online business this summer, when he knew it would be slow, so that he could work out the kinks before the “soup season” kicks in. He says the soup business should fit nicely into his catering operation. “We make chicken soup all the time anyway,” he says. “It’s produced in my catering kitchen, by my catering staff. So there’s very little overhead.” He’s added a full-time marketing person for the chicken soup business, but that’s the only significant additional expense.

Bandoleone, Inc., Fremont, Calif.
Danielle Philippa says Bandoleone, which traditionally serves Spanish, Portuguese and Caribbean cuisine, has begun to package its sauces, both savory and sweet, for retail sales. Among them are Tequila Caramel Sauce, Mole Rojo, Peanut Mojo and Tomatillo Salsa.

ADDING SERVICES

Indiana Market & Catering, New York
There are some things Indiana Market & Catering won’t do, David Turk says. “We were asked to walk somebody’s dog a few weeks ago.

We had to tell them that’s something we’re just not prepared to do.”
But the catering company has grown, Turk says, because it has been willing to take on requests, learn how to satisfy them, then make them part of the company’s repertoire of services.

“It was totally a function of who we are as a company and who I am as a person,” he says. “To a fault, we’d say yes to a lot of things because of the relationship with the client. When a client says, ‘I don’t really want a floral arrangement, but I would like a Gerber daisy in the middle,’ we can do that. Then they change their mind and want three, with a bow. Well, we can do that, too. And then we’re doing floral arrangements. There are some things that just evolved.”

Turk says he thinks of the catering company as being a concierge business. Although event planning is part of it, Indiana Market & Catering does more coordinating than an event planner would, he says. “We’ll do everything from the invitations to almost secretarial services.”

It works with clients, Turk says, who like to know they have one place they can go for services.

Domenic & Anthony Custom Catering … Lasting Impressions, Boston
Meg Maher, director of sales, says Catering by Domenic & Anthony became Domenic & Anthony Custom Catering … Lasting Impressions, revamped its logo, created a new website and began event planning.

Services include buffet and décor design, booking entertainment, tents, favors, invitations and more. “Some comments we have received are to the effect that it is really nice to deal with a company that can put everything together, from ‘soup to nuts.’” Domenic & Anthony has referral agreements with florists, photographers, event vendors and even caricaturists. “I feel that by diversifying a bit, we have been able to make more clients feel that they had a stress-free experience,” says Maher.

Classé Catering, Albany, N.Y.
Brian Palazzolo says Classé Catering has expanded its revenue streams by opening several new divisions, including the Design Centre that offers floral design, specialty rentals, space treatments and themed décor. “It’s a natural extension of our business and the department has increased our profitability and reduced our losses associated with damaged linens, fabrics and décor,” he says.

Classé also has developed One-of-a-Kind, a full-service wedding consulting service with retainer-style consulting fees. The new division is independent of the company’s catering, but builds on expertise that staff members have developed while catering weddings. One-of-a-Kind serves as a purchasing agent for wedding services, Palazzolo says.

“There is a retail piece to this that also allows us to earn a profit selling novelties and accessories, such as toasting glasses, favors, cake servers, guest books and upscale wedding sets,” he says. “We have found this to be a natural extension of our business.”

Exclamations Catering, Greensboro, N.C.
The new service for Exclamations Catering actually was becoming a catering company, says Anna Galloway-Currie. Her husband has had Piedmont Triad Productions, an event-planning company, for years and Galloway-Currie has worked in the catering business for a couple of decades for different companies.

“My dream was to have a catering company that our event company could utilize,” she says. She and her husband opened Exclamations initially to do catering for Piedmont Triad’s events. “We were using other caterers, but they just weren’t doing what we wanted,” she says.

Now the catering company and the event-planning company are linked, but independent. Piedmont Triad may use other caterers and Exclamations Catering does catering for clients who don’t use Piedmont Triad. But the strength is in the combination, Galloway-Currie says.

“What sets our catering company apart is our presentation,” she says. “We have the resources of an event company that has a 7,000-square-foot warehouse full of props. I don’t just take something out and set it on a table; we have a nice, high-end look.”

Since the catering company opened two years ago, Galloway-Currie says, business has increased for the event company. “The two play off each other,” she says.

EXPANDING YOUR RANGE

Picnic Basket/Cravings Catering Company, Colorado Springs, Col.
Michelle Talarico says that Picnic Basket Catering Company was doing well, “but about four years ago we got some valuable feedback that it was a bit limiting.” Although the company’s regular customers knew that it was capable of going upscale, others didn’t. so the company started a division called Cravings Special Events.

“It’s really taken us to a different level,” Talarico says. “Picnic Basket is corporate and it’s all about great food. Cravings is when you need a kid-gloves approach to your event.”

The result: “Our wedding business has increased about 200 percent.”

But they didn’t stop there, Talarico says. Combining upscale with the picnics they already did so well, they created Buffalo Gals Grilling Company, a new barbeque division that does creative picnics. “It’s a completely catered meal that is pretty much a production,” she says. “An oak pit grill, centerpieces made of wildflowers and buffalo grasses. Kind of a Ralph Lauren look as opposed to country.”

Another instant success. “In a year when we hear that a lot of people are hurting, it really has helped us grow by leaps and bounds,” Talarico says. “We’ve probably had 30 to 35 percent growth over last year.”

Carriage Trade Catering, Landisburg, Penn.
Cathy Keister’s catering company does mostly upscale catering, with a lot of corporate business. But when the local Doubleday Country Inn & Farm lost its regular caterer and asked her to come in and do its picnics, she decided to take a swing at it. (Appropriate, since one of the major activities of Doubleday Country Inn & Farms is to have former major league baseball players and guests take part in games on its turn-of-the-century fields.)

“It was almost like going camping,” says Keister. “I went from having all the necessities of life to having just a grill. And I found it to be among the most enjoyable events I did all year. Major league ballplayers were just so grateful to have a cheeseburger.”

The baseball camps run from Memorial Day through Labor Day, and Keister is ready to go back next year. Her staff was working with already established menus when they took over this year; next summer they can create their own.

Keister made a profit and says the picnics also helped with her regular business. “I picked up some weddings and other corporate business because I met people there that I didn’t normally do business with,” she says. “It’s been a win-win situation for us.”

FINDING A NICHE

DeAngelo’s Catering and Events, Portland, Ore.
Steve DeAngelo claims his company just fell into doing large-scale product promotions, but it’s become a nice little income producer.

For a number of manufacturers, DeAngelo says, Portland is an attractive place to promote new products and see how they are accepted. But if they want to get food to the public, they need to be licensed—or to use a licensed company. And that’s where DeAngelo’s comes in.

“Lawry’s Seasonings has a guest chef who travels around to fairs and festivals and works on a demonstration stage,” DeAngelo says. “Because they’re not health-department licensed, they can give the food away, so they contract with us.”

When Blue Bonnet wanting to put 7,500 blueberry muffins—spread with Blue Bonnet margarine—on Portland streets during rush hour, they called DeAngelo’s. Dannon Yogurt wanted refrigerated storage for a new product it was sampling to consumers. “We’re the only refrigeration on the beach,” DeAngelo says, “so we hand-packed and unpacked those pallets.”

For the Blue Bonnet project, DeAngelo says, “They paid us $4,500. Our food costs and staff probably came to $400. Do the mat on that.”

The “deep pockets” of big corporations is a nice plus, he says. “When they’re in a get-it-done mode, they aren’t as price-sensitive as some of our other customers might be.”

While product sampling isn’t a normal part of catering, or predictable, it’s a nice little sideline. “If you get involved on the ground floor, it can be rewarding financially,” DeAngelo says. “And it’s more fun than putting on a tux and going to a wedding.”

A Friend of the Family Catering, Chico, Calif.
The catering company had a public event in which it invited chefs from area restaurants, catering companies and local institutions to compete in an Iron Chef-type competition, according to Allyson Bedene. “We supplied the food purchased at the farmer’s market that morning. We supplied the grills and fuel as well as pantry-type items such as oils, butter, tri-tip and chicken breasts.”

They had eleven chefs competing at seven stations on T.J. Farms Estate, an event facility in the area. It was a fine-dining event, Bedene says, with linens, glassware and flatware and jazz musicians playing throughout the evening. Tickets and beverage prices were kept low, to encourage attendance at the event.

Bedene says the event got a great deal of notice in local newspapers and on television, providing great advertising for the catering company. “I feel that as a caterer, hands-on or food-in-mouth advertising really lets people know what you are about,” she says. “Including other businesses and being associated with good food only strengthened our image.”

CREATING SOMETHING NEW

Occasions by Jennie, Olympia, Wash.
Jennie Hannah was looking for a way to keep her catering kitchen occupied during the off-season. Instead of bringing food to customers, she brought the customers in with Dinner’s Done, a make-it-yourself—but with help—family meal program.

Customers sign up online to spend an evening at the Dinner’s Done kitchen, which is separate from the catering kitchen, and put together 12 entrees (each serves four to six) for $184. The ingredients for their meals are prepped, the recipe is in front of them, the seasonings are nearby so they can make it to their family’s tastes. As they finish one entrée, they put it in a cooler and then move to another station.

The menu includes such things as Apricot Stuffed Pork Chops, Chicken and Vegetable Rice Bake, Ham and Swiss Pastry Bake and Ross River Salmon.
Hannah says about 300 people a month are coming to Dinner’s Done. “I would say that it’s a moneymaker, but it’s still in it’s first year, so we’re putting a lot into the development of recipes and the prep,” she says. The company has the capacity to expand the Dinner’s Done business, though, and she expects to.

Dinner’s Done brings in other business, too, Hannah says. “We advertise with any catering business we do. People who do Dinner’s Done have called with weddings or large parties.”

Butcher Boy Catering, Sparks, Nev.
Clint Jolly, executive chef, is doing in-home cooking classes for groups of nine-10 guests. He designed the courses in blocks of three, which are meant to be delivered once each month for three months. Almost immediately on coming up with the idea, he booked four groups for three months of classes each. “The sales aren’t huge for the classes, about $500 each,” he says. “But it should turn out to be a good source for referrals and leads.”

MAKING IT BIGGER

Greco’s Gourmet Catering, Pittsburgh
Greco’s, a city caterer, bought three acres of commercial land to build a 4,000-square-foot banquet facility that will be “rustic upscale,” says Jason Capps. “Exposed beams, open truss, a lodge kind of feel,” he says. “Something you’d probably see in Vail or at a ski resort.” And then there will be the outdoor stone courtyard, “like you would see in Napa Valley.”

Capps has approached this new venture carefully, and he’s staging his move into new facilities. Currently, Greco’s does only off-premise catering. But Capps says business has been growing by about 20 percent each year and a new facility is warranted.

“People call and ask if we recommend a particular location and we don’t have many answers,” he says. “We have public parks and local fire halls, but neither fits our style of catering.”

In Phase I of the move, Capp says, the company’s offices will move into a building on the new property that has been converted to office space. Greco’s will continue catering off-premise—even at its own site—until the new 1,600-square-foot kitchen is built.

To keep the new facility in use, Greco’s will need new business, but Capps is confident. “We were able to interview two facilities that have basically completely booked through 2004 and well into 2005,” he says. “If they can do it, and the country clubs can stay busy, we know we can be competitive.”

A caution about diversifying
Andrew Zimbel of The Amazing Food Service, Inc., in Toronto knows why caterers want to do new things. He’s been there himself.

“Most caterers are entrepreneurs,” he says. “You get excited about ideas. You get thrilled. It takes over your focus.”

Zimbel has diversified a numberof times, he says. Over the years, he’s done things like run the CBC cafeteria—“which was three times the volume of my catering company.” He’s taken over the catering for a yacht club. He’s had a café. And he’s had fun doing all those new ventures—on top of his catering company, But he looks back on it now and wonders if diversifying is always a good idea.

“If you’re going off-premise with a new venture, you tend to lose focus on your current business,” he says. “If I had put the same amount of money and time into my current business, instead of going into something new, how much better off would I have been? The answer, for most venues, is: much better off.”

For example, he says, recently he was looking at taking over a café. “All of a sudden, you say, ‘Oh yeah,if I did another $300,000-$400,000 per year, it would be great,’” he says. “But you look at it and realize you have to have people on site, you have to pay rent. I realized I would probably do just as well by adding another $150,000 in sales to my catering company.”

Zimbel urges entrepreneurial caterers who are excited by the possibilities of a new venture tobe careful. “Ask yourself how much more money you’ll have to make at the new venue than at your current venue,” he says. “My message would be focus, focus, focus. You have to do the math. Don’t sell yourself on something because it’s so easy and so much fun. There are a lot of great ideas—and then reality hits.”

by Linda Picone
Editor
Catersource magazine
November/December 2004