How to Get Catering Clients: 18 Ways to Win and Keep Orders
To get catering clients, target groups that order food often, like offices, clinics, schools, and event venues, and pitch the person who places the order. Win the first order with a sample box and a clear quote, then keep the client with quick follow-ups and easy reordering.
Here are 18 ways to do it, in five stages: finding leads, winning the first order, easy ordering, getting found online, and repeat orders.
Who books catering? 5 client types to target
Pick your clients first. Offices bring repeat weekday orders; weddings and parties bring larger one-time orders. Include your choice in your catering business plan.
Client type | Who places the order | How often they order | Where to find them |
|---|---|---|---|
Corporate offices | Office manager, executive assistant, HR | Weekly or monthly team lunches | Nearby office buildings, LinkedIn |
Medical and dental practices | Practice manager, visiting sales reps | Recurring lunch meetings | Clinics near your kitchen |
Schools and universities | Department admins, event coordinators | Meetings and events each semester | Campus event calendars |
Event venues | Venue sales or events manager | Refer clients all year | Venues without an in-house kitchen |
Weddings and private parties | Couples, families, wedding planners | Once, but with a large order | Planners, bridal shows |
Find the right catering leads
1. Build a list of offices that order every week
Start with businesses that feed groups often: list 30 to 50 offices, clinics, and coworking spaces in your delivery area, ranked by team size.
Set Google Alerts for "new office [your city]" and "new event venue [your city]" to spot new leads.
2. Find the person who places the order
The CEO rarely books lunch. Call the front desk or check LinkedIn to learn who orders food, usually an office manager, executive assistant, or HR coordinator. Note their name, headcount, and dietary needs for every follow-up.
3. Join local business and event groups
Chambers of commerce and local Facebook and LinkedIn groups for event planners connect you with people who book food. Answer questions instead of posting ads.
Win the first catering order
4. Drop off a sample box
Let your food make the pitch: bring a small box of best-sellers to the office manager with a one-page catering menu and your ordering link. Invite venue teams and larger accounts to a short tasting.
5. Send a short, specific outreach email
Keep cold emails under 100 words, mention the reader's team, offer one next step, and follow up once a week later.
6. Partner with venues and event planners
Venues without an in-house kitchen keep a preferred vendor list of caterers they recommend to every client who books, and planners need a reliable caterer for every event.
Ask how they choose vendors, offer their team a tasting, and swap referrals with florists and photographers.
7. Reply to every inquiry within an hour
Buyers often contact several caterers at once. In a Harvard Business Review study of 1.25 million sales leads, firms that responded within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify the lead as those that waited an hour longer.
Set an auto-reply that says when your quote will arrive.
8. Send quotes with clear per-person packages
Show per-person prices, minimum headcount, lead time, delivery fee, and dietary labels on one page, and offer two or three packages instead of your full menu.
Price each package to protect your catering profit margin.
Make catering easy to order and reorder
9. Take catering orders online
Business clients often order between meetings. With online catering software, they pick a package and delivery time without phone tag, while UpMenu's pre-orders, catering calendar, and daily capacity limits keep orders within what your kitchen can handle.
A branded app speeds up reorders: Dedicate Healthy Kitchen, a meal and catering brand, got 34% of its direct online orders through its app in January–November 2024.
Our customers appreciate the seamless ordering experience, and we value the operational efficiency and control UpMenu has brought to our multi-location management.
10. Offer drop-off delivery
Many business clients want food dropped off, not a full service team. Offer drop-off with a clear fee and delivery window, and use third-party couriers when your drivers are booked.
11. Offer a recurring lunch program with monthly invoicing
Turn one good order into a schedule: offer a standing weekly or monthly office lunch with a rotating menu and a small discount for committing. After a few orders, switch to a monthly invoice instead of card payments.
Get found and trusted online
Buyers check you online before they reply. Three basics matter most; for more channels, see our catering marketing ideas.
12. Build a catering page that answers buyers' questions
Give catering its own page with packages, per-person prices, minimums, lead time, delivery area, and an order button. Put your city and "catering" in the page title (see restaurant SEO), and launch fast with catering website templates.
13. Complete your Google Business Profile and collect reviews
Add catering to your services, set a delivery area, and post photos of real setups. Google says customers are 2.7 times more likely to consider a business reputable when its profile is complete.
Ask each client for a review the day after the event: 97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses (BrightLocal, 2026).
14. Show real events on social media
Post photos and short videos of real events: the setup, the spread, your team at work. Use Instagram and Facebook for weddings and parties, LinkedIn for office clients, and tag the venue and planner.
Grow your catering business with repeat orders
15. Follow up the day after every order
Call the person who ordered the day after the event. Ask what guests liked and what to change, fix problems right away, and send a review link if they're happy.
16. Rebook annual events early
Holiday parties and annual meetings repeat every year. Log each event date and contact the client six to eight weeks before it comes around, before they start comparing caterers.
17. Win back clients who stopped ordering
First-time clients rarely come back on their own: an UpMenu analysis of 13 million orders found that nearly 60% of the average restaurant's customers ordered only once.
Each month, contact accounts that haven't ordered in 60 days with a reason to book, or let restaurant CRM automatically send win-back messages.
18. Reward loyal clients and referrals
Reward customers who book with a free platter after a set number of orders, or give credit for referring a colleague.
In an UpMenu study of 69 restaurants, the customer base grew 15% the year after launching a loyalty program, and automatic points save on bookkeeping.
A loyalty program doesn't make regulars order more often — it helps you win and keep more customers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Start with people who know your food: regulars, local businesses you buy from, and your network. Offer a few nearby offices a free sample box and photograph your first event for the next pitch. Still setting up? Read how to start a catering business.
Promote catering to your existing guests: on receipts, takeout bags, table tents, and your online ordering page. Regulars already trust your food.
A marketplace brings business clients without outreach, but it takes a commission on every order and may not share client contact details. Use it to get discovered, then move repeat clients to commission-free ordering on your own website.
About the author
Marketing Manager
Leads UpMenu's marketing and helps restaurants grow. Writes about restaurant marketing, branding, websites, menu design, and opening a restaurant — from pizzerias and food trucks to coffee shops and ghost kitchens. Digital marketer driven by data and AI — for 6+ years working with restaurants.