Saudi Arabia and the region have witnessed increased demand for corporate event catering services and hospitality solutions. Companies no longer rely solely on major annual events but are actively seeking continuous, high-quality options for catering their meetings, training sessions, and daily employee meals.
This sector’s strategic importance lies in that it represents a stable and reliable source of revenue, surpassing the fluctuations of a restaurant’s typical daily orders. Contracts for providing corporate catering events and menus are often regular in volume and hold a high financial value. This guarantees a higher cash flow for the restaurant and improves the kitchen’s production capacity during quieter times. Restaurants that can successfully break into this market can generate a new revenue stream and enjoy a profitable shift from single-item sales to bulk service sales.
Read on to learn more about corporate catering for restaurants and how you can benefit from this opportunity.
Corporate Event Catering Services: Understanding Needs
If you want to offer corporate event catering services, you need to have the following:
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Reliability and punctuality
By far the most critical. Companies that use corporate catering services expect punctuality and reliability. Any delay in meals for meetings or events means a disruption in schedule.
Therefore, your restaurant must have a proven track record of accuracy and the ability to fulfill large, complex orders on time.
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Professional offerings and consistent quality
To cater to corporate needs, all meals, including packaging, must be well-presented, reflecting business needs and the restaurant’s professionalism. True excellence lies in your commitment to uniform quality. This means every dish retains the same high-quality taste and standard of preparation, whether it’s an individual order or an event hosting hundreds of people.
This consistency instills confidence in the restaurant’s ability to deliver an exceptional experience every time.
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Ease of ordering
Your restaurant must provide an easy corporate food ordering system, whether via your restaurant website or mobile app. This will simplify the process for the purchasing department.
Invoices and financial transactions must also be clear and professional to avoid any confusion or delays. Finally, effective communication before and during execution ensures specific requirements, such as a request for vegan or vegetarian meals or last-minute adjustments, are met accurately and quickly.
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Corporate Event Catering: Building a Suitable Corporate Catering Menu
To succeed in the corporate event catering sector, your restaurant should consider several points regarding the corporate catering menu.
Here are a few ideas:
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Offer flexible and diverse packages
Provide a variety of buffet options for large meetings and events. This gives companies the freedom to choose what they need and lends a sophisticated touch to the occasion.
Moreover, pre-packaged lunch boxes are ideal for training sessions, workshops, and trips. Their practical individual packaging simplifies distribution and organization.
Meanwhile, coffee breaks and light snacks allow restaurants to offer quick, easy-to-prepare options for short events, combining quality and convenience and leaving a professional impression on companies and their employees.
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Focus on transportable dishes
For corporate food delivery, consider creating a catering menu. Include dishes that retain their heat and quality for an extended period during transport. This ensures an optimal dining experience after delivery.
Avoid dishes that require complex preparation at the delivery site. Instead, add items that are easy to pack and assemble in individual containers or insulated thermal carriers, ensuring a consistent and comfortable experience and reflecting a high level of professionalism.
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Include vegetarian and diet-specific options
Your corporate catering menu should include distinct vegetarian and meat-free dishes to meet all dietary preferences.
Accurately indicate dishes containing allergens like gluten or nuts, highlight healthy options and disclose calorie counts. This will reflect your high level of professionalism and flexibility in handling special dietary requirements, boosting corporate trust in the quality of the service provided.
Corporate Event Catering: Establishing Brand Identity and Presenting Your Services
There are several points to consider before starting to offer corporate catering services, especially regarding brand identity, invoicing, and other official documents.
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Create a brochure
Create a professional digital and physical brochure (or catalog) of your offerings. This will help purchasing managers evaluate your restaurant’s services quickly. The brochure must be appealing and reflect your brand identity so it serves as the official interface for the catering service.
It should include your corporate catering menu and detailed pricing packages, whether based on per-person cost or event size, along with other types of services available, such as pre-packaged meals or event buffets.
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Use professional photos & emphasize hygiene standards
Visual impression is critical when pitching food services to companies. Focus on both high-quality images and operational standards. You can generate images with ChatGPT, highlighting dishes, such as organized buffets or carefully packaged lunch boxes. Showcase your kitchen’s operational capacity, such as efficient meal prep for hundreds of individuals in a single event.
Emphasize your commitment to hygiene and sanitization standards throughout all stages of preparation, packaging, and transport. These standards are the cornerstone of trust for companies seeking a reliable and safe restaurant and supplier.
Further reading: Cloud Kitchens and the Future of Restaurants
Encourage repeat business with loyalty and referrals
Consider focusing on corporate loyalty programs to build long-term corporate relationships and incentivize these customers to continue ordering from you. One of the benefits of restaurant loyalty programs, in general, is customer retention. Unlike standard rewards programs, point-accumulation and benefits offers will vary in a corporate loyalty program, given the large size of corporate orders.
Create a custom loyalty program for companies that rewards frequent customers, such as a fixed discount after a specific number of orders or a complimentary service upgrade. This can strengthen their bond with your brand and encourage continued business. At the same time, activate Referral Offers that give companies an incentive to refer partners or other departments to your services in exchange for bonuses or discounts on future orders.
Streamlining Operations with Foodics
To turn corporate event catering services into a profitable and efficient income stream, you must move away from old manual methods. Use restaurant tech to streamline operations and ensure accuracy and speed.
Foodics solutions provide you with the necessary tools to automate and organize the entire catering process. Here’s how:
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Foodics POS for large order management
The Foodics point-of-sale (POS) system helps you manage your entire restaurant, including handling corporate catering services efficiently and professionally. Using Foodics POS you organize large and complex orders smoothly, ensuring the accurate entry of all items within huge invoices without any human errors.
The system also allows catering sales to be categorized as a separate department from daily restaurant sales, providing an accurate view of financial performance. This helps analyze profits, identify the most requested dishes by companies, and develop future offers based on reliable data.
Further reading: Best Practices for Controlling Food Costs Through Accounting
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Leverage a CRM
A restaurant customer relationship management (CRM) system helps you store each company’s preferences, including dietary requirements, preferred delivery locations, and payment terms accurately. It’s like creating a profile for each business or company you work with.
This makes every order smoother and better aligned with the client’s needs.
The historical order log also allows for quick reordering and the suggestion of personalized offers based on previous purchasing behavior. This boosts corporate satisfaction, strengthens loyalty, and opens the door to long-term cooperation built on a professional and personalized service experience.
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Integration with accounting and delivery tools
The Foodics accounting system which facilitates accurate invoicing for companies, enhancing reliability and professionalism when dealing with corporate finance departments.
Foodics also integrates with major delivery service providers via the Foodics Marketplace, offering a smart mechanism for managing and tracking shipments in real-time. This ensures timely delivery of orders, giving you complete control over every stage of the operational process.
Final Words
Excellence in the corporate event catering market isn’t measured by volume, but by your restaurant’s ability to run an integrated and effective model. This combines operational efficiency, logistical precision, and the capacity to deliver consistent high-quality service with reliability and ease, regardless of order size.
Companies seek dependable partners who offer more than good food. They require on-time delivery, flexibility, professional support, and a service that positively reflects on their organization. Building long-term relationships with customized, well-thought-out service for every client is vital, supported by a powerful order management system and accurate operations tracking.
By combining culinary expertise with operational readiness and smart management tools like Foodics, your restaurant transforms from a regular food provider into a dependable partner. One capable of efficiently meeting corporate needs, achieving a continuous flow of orders, and maximizing revenue even outside of peak hours.
