How to Grow a Catering Business: 9 Ways to Get More Catering Orders

The most reliable way to grow a catering business is to win repeat workplace orders, make ordering easy, and widen the area you can deliver to on time. One-off events fill the calendar. Recurring office lunches and standing accounts are what make revenue predictable.

Most caterers already cook well enough to grow. What holds them back is capacity on busy days, a small delivery radius, and too little time to chase new accounts. The nine steps below are ordered roughly from the quickest wins to the longer projects.

Key takeaways

• Workplace catering is growing. In ezCater’s 2026 research, 91% of workplaces planned to spend the same or more on food this year.
• A drop-off menu lets you take more orders without adding event staff.
• Delivery reach sets your ceiling. If you can only deliver within a few miles, most of the market can’t order from you.
• Repeat accounts beat one-off events. Build ordering, invoicing, and follow-up around them.
• On-time delivery is the product. For a lunch meeting, late food is failed food.

1. Go After Workplace Catering

Offices are the steadiest source of catering orders, and the demand is rising. ezCater surveyed more than 2,300 people in late 2025, including 714 workplace catering orderers, and combined the results with its own order data. Among the findings (Perishable News, May 2026):

• 91% of workplaces planned to spend the same or more on food in 2026, up from 82% in 2024.
• One in five planned to increase food spending by more than 25%.
• 96% of workplaces tried a new restaurant in 2025.
• 62% of employees who first tried a restaurant at work later ordered from it personally, and 67% recommended it to family and friends.

Two things follow from that. Offices are open to trying a caterer they haven’t used, and each office order puts your food in front of a room full of potential customers.

To win this business, make it easy for the person placing the order, who is usually an office manager or executive assistant:

• Per-person pricing with clear minimums
• Individually packaged options alongside trays
• Dietary labels on every item
• Invoicing and house accounts so they aren’t using a personal card
• A reliable delivery window they can put in a calendar invite

2. Build a Drop-Off Catering Menu

Full-service events need staff, rentals, and hours on site. Drop-off catering needs a kitchen and a delivery. That makes it the easiest part of the business to scale.

A good drop-off menu is:

• Short. Offer the dishes you can produce in volume without quality slipping.
• Built to travel. Avoid anything that wilts, separates, or goes soggy in 45 minutes.
• Packaged for the table. Include serving utensils, plates, napkins, and labels, so the customer can open the lids and eat.
• Priced per person with a delivery fee the customer can see up front.

Hot food needs the right carriers and a plan for the trip. Our guide on how to keep food hot while transporting it covers the packing.

3. Widen Your Delivery Area

Your delivery radius decides how many customers can order from you at all. A caterer who delivers only within a few miles of the kitchen is invisible to most of the metro area.

In Nashville, the office demand is spread out: towers downtown, hospitals and universities around Midtown and Music Row, and corporate campuses in Cool Springs and Franklin. Few kitchens are close to all three.

Expanding the radius takes planning:

• Map travel times at lunch hour, not at 10 p.m. A 20-minute drive can double at 11:30 a.m.
• Set zones with different fees and minimums. A farther zone should carry a higher minimum order.
• Give farther zones earlier cutoffs so you can plan the route.
• Don’t promise what you can’t hit. One late lunch costs you the account.

If you’re not sure what to charge for the longer runs, our guide on how much to charge for delivery works through the cost per trip.

4. Fix Delivery Capacity on Your Busiest Days

Catering demand is lumpy. Tuesday through Thursday lunches stack up, and one large order can use your only van for two hours. Many caterers turn down orders they could cook because they can’t deliver them.

There are three ways to add capacity:

1. Stagger delivery windows so one vehicle can make two runs.
2. Hire and equip another driver, which pays off only if the volume is there most days.
3. Use a delivery service for overflow, so the cost appears only on days you need it.

The third option lets a kitchen say yes to a second big order on the same day. A catering delivery service can take one order across town while your own driver handles the other, or split one kitchen’s output across several stops, with tracking and proof of delivery for each one. You can estimate a catering delivery before you quote the customer.

5. Make Ordering Easy

Every extra step in ordering loses orders. Look at your process the way a first-time customer would.

• Put the catering menu and prices online. “Call for a quote” sends busy office managers to a competitor.
• Take orders online, with a clear cutoff time for next-day delivery.
• Answer inquiries within the hour during business hours. Speed wins catering jobs.
• Confirm in writing: items, headcount, delivery window, address, and the name of the person receiving the order.
• List on catering marketplaces if they bring you orders you wouldn’t otherwise get. ezCater reports that detailed, descriptive menus get twice as many bookings on its site, and that top-performing listings include photos, multiple dietary options, drinks and desserts, and both individual packaging and trays.

6. Turn First Orders Into Repeat Accounts

The easiest order to win is the next one from a customer you already have. Build habits that bring people back.

• Follow up the same afternoon. Ask how it went, and fix any problem immediately.
• Save every order so the customer can reorder “the same as last month” in one message.
• Offer standing orders for weekly team lunches and monthly meetings.
• Keep notes on each account: loading dock or front desk, the contact’s name, allergies, and how they like the room set.
• Send a short reminder before recurring events such as quarterly meetings and holiday parties.

Proof that the order arrived on time helps here too. A photo and timestamp at drop-off settles questions before they turn into disputes. See what proof of delivery is and how it works.

7. Get Found Locally

Catering searches are usually local: “catering Nashville,” “lunch catering near me,” “breakfast catering downtown.”

• Complete your Google Business Profile with catering listed as a service, current hours, photos of real orders, and your service area.
• Create a catering page on your website with the menu, minimums, delivery area, and an order form.
• Ask for reviews after successful orders, and mention the occasion. A review that says “fed 40 people for our office lunch, arrived early” does more than five stars alone.
• Photograph your food as delivered, in its trays and boxes. That’s what a catering customer is buying.

8. Build Referral Partnerships

Other businesses already talk to your future customers.

• Event venues keep preferred caterer lists. Ask how to get on them.
• Wedding and event planners need caterers who answer quickly and show up on time.
• Florists, bakeries, and rental companies serve the same events and can refer work in both directions.
• Office buildings and coworking spaces often recommend food vendors to tenants.

Reliability is what gets you recommended. Partners refer the caterer who won’t embarrass them.

9. Know Your Numbers Before You Scale

Growth that loses money on every order isn’t growth. Before you push for volume, check:

• Food cost and labor cost per order type
• Delivery cost per order, including the return trip
• Average order size and how it differs for offices and events
• Repeat rate: the share of customers who order again within 90 days
• On-time rate: the share of orders delivered inside the promised window

There’s evidence that catering lifts the whole business. Technomic data cited in ezCater’s 2025 report found that restaurants with catering programs grew revenue 5.1% from 2023 to 2024, compared with a 3.3% average for restaurants and bars (Fast Casual, May 2025). The same report put the average catering order at $420 for 25 people, so each account you keep is worth a lot over a year.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get more catering orders?

Target workplaces, publish a simple drop-off menu with prices, make online ordering easy, and follow up after every order to turn it into a repeat account.

How do I get corporate catering clients?

Reach the people who place the orders, usually office managers and executive assistants. Offer per-person pricing, individually packaged options, invoicing, and dependable delivery windows. Listing on catering marketplaces can help new offices find you.

What is drop-off catering?

Drop-off catering is food delivered ready to serve, with no staff staying on site. The caterer delivers trays or boxed meals, sets them out if agreed, and leaves.

How far should a caterer deliver?

As far as you can reach on time with the food at a safe temperature. Many caterers use zones, with higher minimums and earlier order cutoffs for the farther ones.

Should caterers charge for delivery?

Usually, yes. Delivery has a real cost in driver time and mileage. Charge by zone or distance, or build it into a higher minimum order.

Do I need my own delivery drivers to grow a catering business?

No. Many caterers handle regular orders themselves and use a delivery service for overflow, long-distance drops, and days with overlapping orders.

The Bottom Line

Catering grows when ordering is easy, the food travels well, and it shows up on time. Start with workplace accounts and a drop-off menu, then remove the limits on how far and how much you can deliver. If delivery capacity is what’s holding you back, see how catering delivery in Nashville works, or price a delivery route for your next large order.