In this episode of Room for Seconds, catering expert Kelly Grogan, co-founder of Crumbs, shares her insights on creating and scaling successful catering programs for restaurants. From designing a crave-worthy menu to fostering relationships with high-value clients, Kelly dives into the strategies that drive incremental revenue and build brand recognition. She discusses common pitfalls, the importance of execution, and how technology and personal touches can differentiate your catering business. Whether you're just starting out or looking to enhance your catering offerings, Kelly’s expertise provides actionable tips to take your program to the next level.

Key Takeaways:

1. Keys to Catering Success - Catering requires more than just adapting a regular menu; it demands a strategic and organized approach. Kelly emphasizes the importance of a catering-specific menu that is profitable, easy to execute, and delivers high guest satisfaction. Other critical factors include efficient packaging, seamless delivery logistics, and maintaining food quality during transit. A single bad catering order can damage a restaurant’s reputation, making operational readiness essential.
2. Relationship-Building Drives Catering Sales - Building strong relationships with key decision-makers, such as office managers and community leaders, is essential for catering success. Kelly advocates for personalized outreach strategies, like complimentary tastings or hosting events, to create trust and drive repeat business. By focusing on hospitality and genuine connections, restaurants can convert tastings into significant catering orders.
3. Stay True to Your Brand - A successful catering program should align with a restaurant’s core identity to maintain brand consistency and recognition. Kelly stresses focusing on scalable and profitable items that travel well and are easy to reproduce. Deviating from these strengths risks diluting the brand and confusing customers.

Episode Links:

• Visit Crumbs Online
• Connect with Crumns on LinkedIn
• Connect with Kelly Grogan on LinkedIn

ABOUT KELLY GROGAN

Kelly is the founder of CRUMBS, a firm specializing in delivering high volume incremental revenue within the hospitality space. Her core areas of impact include Catering, Group Dining, Fundraising, Sales Training, Customer Service, Loyalty & Marketing. The solutions provided by CRUMBS are meant to deliver revenue to restaurants fast, provide a long lasting impact on consistently increasing sales & set brands apart in the space with unique strategies.

Kelly has spent the last 10+ years in the hospitality space focused on driving top line revenue for restaurants, entertainment centers, hotels & various franchise groups. Her passion for people & drive for success has led to her expert ability to positively impact any business.

ABOUT GREGG MAJEWSKI:

Gregg Majewski has a vast amount of experience as a corporate executive in the restaurant industry. As the former CEO of Jimmy John’s, he played a major role in expanding the franchise from 33 to 300+ stores in just 5 years by surrounding the company’s marketing strategy around the innovative approach of delivering sandwiches and being “freaky fast”. Majewski has worked to develop restaurant concepts over the last two plus decades, before starting Craveworthy Brands in 2023, which currently includes a growing portfolio of restaurant brands. Craveworthy Media is Majewski’s gift back to the industry that has given him so much. The goal of Craveworthy is to inspire the up and coming industry leaders by providing important information, stories, and insights from titans past and present.

Connect with Craveworthy

• Follow Gregg Majewski on Instagram
• Follow Craveworthy Brands on Instagram
• Visit Craveworthy Online
• Connect with Gregg Majewski on LinkedIn
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