A restaurant doing $30,000 in a good week across 700+ individual transactions is using its full kitchen, full staff, and full operating day to get there. A single catering order can generate $3,000 in revenue, prepped in the morning when labor is already there but underutilized, with a food cost around 25% because the kitchen is making its highest-margin items in bulk. The setup takes a team about 90 minutes. That is a different economic equation than dine-in, and most independent restaurants have never tapped it.
Why is catering considered high-margin revenue?
Catering is high-margin because it uses bulk prep, off-peak labor, and no front-of-house staffing, so the same kitchen that struggles to hit targets during dinner rush can add significant revenue in the morning without adding seats or servers.
Five things make catering different from dine-in revenue:
- Bulk preparation: making 40 of the same item instead of 40 different items drops prep time per unit, waste, and kitchen complexity.
- Off-peak production: most catering orders are prepped between 9 and 11 AM, when kitchens are staffed but slow.
- No front-of-house cost: no servers, bussers, or hosts. The food goes out the door in trays.
- Higher average order value: a dine-in check runs $25-45 per person, while a catering order runs $15-25 per person but serves 20-100 people, so one order can equal an entire lunch rush.
- Recurring revenue: corporate clients tend to cater weekly or monthly rather than once, and one relationship can generate $50,000+ a year.
Catering can add $5,000 to $20,000 per week in revenue that does not require additional seats, additional servers, or additional peak-hour capacity. The corporate catering market in the US is estimated at $60+ billion, and most of that volume defaults to chains simply because chains have a catering system in place. A restaurant with better food and a local relationship can take that business. It needs a system of its own, not a bigger kitchen.
Who should a restaurant target first for catering?
The strongest early catering targets are corporate offices, law firms, medical offices, tech companies, event venues, and construction companies within a short drive, chosen for fit with the restaurant's cuisine, order size, and prep window.
Swipe sideways for all 4 columns →
| Segment | Why They Cater | Frequency | Average Order |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate offices | Meetings, training days, client lunches | Weekly-Monthly | $500-$2,000 |
| Law firms | Partner meetings, depositions, working lunches | Weekly | $400-$1,500 |
| Medical offices | Pharma rep lunches, staff appreciation | Monthly | $300-$800 |
| Tech companies | All-hands meetings, team lunches | Weekly-Biweekly | $800-$3,000 |
| Event venues | Weddings, corporate events | Variable | $1,000-$10,000+ |
| Construction companies | Job site lunches, safety meetings | Weekly | $300-$800 |
Before picking segments, a restaurant should define its own sweet spot: a minimum order of $300 with a target range of $500-$2,000, headcounts between 15 and 100 people, delivery within 10-15 minutes of the restaurant, and cuisine that holds up in large-format trays. A prep window that fits between 8 AM and 11 AM without disrupting lunch service matters as much as the menu itself.
How does a restaurant build its first catering prospect list?
A restaurant builds its first catering prospect list by spending 60-90 minutes identifying 10 local businesses or venues within a 10-15 minute drive and recording each one's name, address, estimated employee count, and likely decision-maker.
Three methods work well for finding those 10 names:
- Google Maps method: search terms like "offices near me," "corporate offices," "law firms," and "medical offices," and list businesses within 10-15 minutes, noting name, address, and phone number.
- LinkedIn method: search for office managers, executive assistants, and operations managers at local companies, since these are the people who actually place catering orders.
- Drive-by method: drive a 10-minute radius around the restaurant, note office buildings and business parks, and check tenant directories.
Once the list exists, each prospect should be qualified: how many employees does the business have, does it have a kitchen or break room, is it already ordering catering from somewhere, and who makes the food decision. Priority should go to the top 5 based on size, proximity, and cuisine fit.
Results are not typical and will vary with your business, your market, your team and how much of the work you actually do. Client figures on this site come from recorded interviews and are dated. Nothing here is a guarantee of revenue, profit or growth.
Who is the actual decision-maker for catering orders?
The decision-maker for most catering orders is not the CEO or owner but the office manager, executive assistant, or HR coordinator who actually places the food order, and outreach aimed at anyone else wastes time.
This is one of the most common mistakes restaurants make when starting a catering program: pitching the wrong title. A restaurant that identifies 10 prospects but talks to the CEO at each one will see little movement, because the CEO rarely touches the lunch order. Building a prospect tracker with a dedicated contact name and contact title field, alongside business name, address, distance from the restaurant, employee count, segment, current caterer if known, and status, keeps outreach pointed at the right person from the start.
Does catering require a separate kitchen or commissary?
No. Most restaurants can handle $3,000-$8,000 per week in catering volume using their existing kitchen during off-peak hours, without a separate commissary.
This matters because it removes the biggest excuse restaurants give themselves for not starting. Catering does not require new equipment, a new lease, or a new team. It requires using the hours between roughly 9 and 11 AM, when the kitchen is staffed but not yet busy with lunch, to prep orders that go out the door before service ramps up. The other common mistakes are targeting too broadly, which means treating every business as a prospect instead of focusing on the 3-4 segments that actually fit the restaurant's cuisine, delivery radius, and prep capacity.
What can one strong catering relationship be worth?
A single strong catering relationship can be worth far more than most restaurants assume, as shown by a Founders Board member who landed one corporate catering order worth $45,000.
“One order. The client was a large financial firm that needed weekly catering for their team. Their spending power was significant, they did not negotiate on price, and they needed to spend the budget.”
That case points to a broader idea worth considering: rather than chasing individual corporate clients one by one, a restaurant can look for intermediaries who already have relationships with hundreds of companies and earn a percentage for connecting restaurants to those accounts. On a $10,000 order, giving an intermediary 20% still leaves the restaurant $8,000 at strong catering margins, and one connection to the right intermediary can open more accounts than months of cold outreach. The discipline here is deciding in advance the maximum incentive a restaurant is willing to give, so the relationship stays profitable on both sides.
Restaurants that want to see how structural changes like this play out over time can look at how Bowls of Rice added locations and revenue, or how Pizza Pizzazz put KPIs on every line of its P&L before selling. For a related look at where new revenue tends to come from beyond the dining room, see restaurant marketing budget.
The starting point for catering is not a new menu or a new kitchen. It is a list of 10 names, a clear idea of who signs off on lunch orders, and a morning prep window that is already paid for.
