Restaurants are always looking for new ways to offset the rising costs of operations.  However, one of the best ways, and many times overlooked, is to provide a catering option for your restaurant.  Catering can be a profitable venture if done correctly.  You have a confirmed head count and confirmed dollars spent, a sort of guaranteed business rather than waiting for customers to walk through the door.  The biggest benefit of guaranteed business is the ability to control costs and improve profit margins.

If you are not ready yet for a full catering program, another offshoot that has gained interest recently is a Boxed Lunch Program.  If you are in an area with a high business customer market, this may be a great option to boost your lunch sales.  However, besides just the business customer, the in home catering options have seen a huge growth with four in ten customers surveyed said they were planning on entertaining at home more often than in the past.  According to the market-research firm Technomic, the consumer catering market is valued at $3.3 billion – nearly double the value of the business-to-business market.  If you have not yet taken advantage of this, now is the time. 

On the flip side, there are also often additional costs associated with catering.  It is imperative to have the right staff in place, in order to coordinate and organize the food, setup, and clean up.  All of these steps need to be built into the cost of the event.  Often, operators forget about these costs and lose money because the two hours to set up and the hour to break down were overlooked. However, if done correctly, this type of catering option will help solidify your restaurant’s future and give a much needed boost to your bottom line.

 Many of Vine Solutions clients have catering programs, so if you are considering a program but have questions about the best way to set up your program, please don’t hesitate to contact us here.

Vine Solutions, Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and has offices in Corte Madera and Santa Monica, California.  Vine Solutions, Inc., provides accounting and financial advisory services to a variety of high volume independent restaurants and regional chains.  For more information, e-mail Vine  Solutions at info@vinesolutions.com, follow us on twitter at twitter.com/VineSolutions or read our blog at restaurantaccountingblog.com.