An office manager needs lunch for 40 people at a training day next Thursday. They search for local caterers and restaurants, find yours and send an enquiry. They also send the same enquiry to three others. The first to reply with a clear menu, price and confirmation of the date gets the order.
Restaurant catering enquiries are a valuable sideline for many restaurants. A single office lunch or event order can be worth more than a busy evening service, with food prepared during quieter hours.
What catering customers ask
- What catering menus do you offer?
- What is the price per head?
- Is there a minimum order?
- Do you deliver, or is it collection only?
- Can you cater for dietary requirements?
- How much notice do you need?
- Do you provide plates, cutlery or staff?
Why speed matters
Catering customers are often organising an event on a deadline. They need confirmation quickly and usually compare several providers. Slow replies lose orders, just as they lose private dining bookings.
Publishing your catering offer
A catering page should include:
- Menus with prices per head.
- Minimum order sizes.
- Lead times.
- Delivery area and charges, or collection details.
- Dietary options.
- What is included: packaging, plates, staff.
Dietary information matters just as much for catering as for dining in, covered in the allergy question your staff answer every service.
Capturing catering requirements
Customer: Can you cater lunch for 40 people next Thursday? Assistant: Yes, the sandwich and salad lunch menu starts at $12 per head for groups over 20, with delivery available within five miles. Could you share the delivery address, time, any dietary requirements and your contact details? The team will confirm your quote today.
SpideyChat for restaurants captures these requirements at any hour for a manager to confirm.
Following up after the event
After a catering order, a short follow-up asking how it went and offering a discount on the next order turns one-off customers into regulars. Office managers who find a reliable caterer tend to reuse them, and a quick thank-you message is often enough to make you the first name they think of next time.
Regular orders
Some businesses order catering weekly or monthly. Recognising them and offering a simple repeat order process, with consistent pricing, secures a steady stream of revenue during quieter hours. A named contact for regular catering customers makes reordering effortless for them and builds a relationship that competitors find hard to break.
Takeaway questions
Takeaway customers ask simpler questions: what is on the menu, what time can I collect, do you deliver to my area? These can be answered instantly. Delivery area questions work the same way as stock or availability questions in retail, a pattern explored in is it in stock? The question retail websites fumble.
Business customers need their own route
Catering for offices behaves like business-to-business sales, similar to how software companies handle partner enquiries separately, as described in partner and reseller enquiries from your website. Route catering enquiries to whoever manages them. Practical questions such as opening hours and collection details are covered in opening hours and parking questions every restaurant gets.
To see how catering enquiries would be answered, try an assistant on your restaurant website, or read about how requests are captured.