5 Creative Ideas for Your Catering Business

Catering companies continue to feel the impact of COVID-19. With all social gatherings at a standstill, companies have changed overnight and now look for creative ways to adapt. Here are a few ideas on new services and items that could help you pivot during these unprecedented times.

1. Fresh Curbside Pickup and Delivery

You can easily pivot and offer curbside pickup or delivery options to generate business and get some of your employees back to work. Your event planners and servers can continue to serve your customers in a slightly different way – they can become logistic managers and delivery drivers. To do this make sure best practices are in place for curbside pickup and contactless delivery. This includes making sure the staff is up to speed on safety practices and knows how to accept these types of orders. Creating a special menu can help keep your pickup and delivery services moving efficiently.

2. Send a Meal to Friends and Family

As stay-at-home orders are still in place in some areas, help family and friends stay connected by offering a one-of-a-kind, 3-course meal that someone can order for friends and family as a gift. You can create 3-4 different multi-course menu selections featuring a signature dish or fan favorite. Offer one meal to be sent to the recipient and one to the giver so your customer can share the meal virtually with their friends or family. Make sure your delivery area and pick-up guidelines are visibly stated so the expectations are set when a customer goes to order.
  

3. Catering menu for small gatherings and family parties

Since social gatherings have become significantly smaller – mostly limited to family only living in the home – offering a catering menu for small gatherings or a family party is a great solution. The menu can be customizable to the event: birthday party, graduation, picnics, and more. You can also create limited-time menus for holidays such as Memorial Day, 4^th of July, and National Food Days like National Hamburger Day (May 28 ), National Donut Day (June 5), National Fudge Day (June 16), National Fried Chicken Day (July 6), National Mac and Cheese Day (July 14), and more!

4. Themed Gift Baskets

Themed Gift Baskets can be a great add-on to your business. With the ability to create them using prepackaged items like caramel corn, popcorn, cotton candy, nachos and cheese, pretzels, gourmet popcorn, snow cone syrups, premade cookies, fudge, desserts, and more, these items will fly off the shelves. Here are a few fun gift basket ideas:

• Movie Night Gift Basket
• Carnival At Home Basket
• Memorial Day or 4^th of July Basket - get started with these Patriotic Food Ideas
• Preferred Wine and Popcorn Pairing Basket – download the guide
• Preferred Microbrew and Popcorn Pairing Basket – download the guide
• Beach Fun Basket

5. DIY Kits and Family Meals

Create fun, family-sized meal kits to go! You can prep all the ingredients and provide instructions on how to prepare a delicious meal for families to cook at home.

After you have established your new offerings, make sure to get the word out. Update your website, social media channels, and call friends and family. And as you are promoting your new items, don’t forget to clearly outline and stress the safety practices you have in place. Show your customers your team is ready and committed to serving them in the best and safest way possible.