Last week we talked about catering breakfast—the advantages and disadvantages. Let’s say you’ve decided to do it, and you have determined the set-up time is 7:45 a.m.
Next, you need to establish:
(1) What time should the delivery person arrive at the customer’s building?
and based on that,
(2) What time should they leave your building?
And also,
(3) What time should they arrive at your building?
Determining factors include distance to travel, typical traffic conditions, size of the order, logistics of getting into the client building, and other scheduled deliveries. (If you are in a densely populated downtown/financial district location, sometimes you can transport the order from your restaurant on a cart).
Here is a question to consider:
• Is this the first time delivering to a location?
If so, have someone make a test drive the morning before, at the same time as the scheduled delivery. From this, they will determine:
• How long does it take to get there?
• What is the parking situation? On street or loading dock?
• What are the logistics of getting from outside the building, to inside the customers office?
• Can you simply walk thru the lobby or are you required to use the service elevator?
Take some time to think critically about these questions. Every detail matters when it comes to catering breakfast. Contact me about any questions you might have, I’d be more than happy to help!
Michael Rosman is a member of the Catersource consulting team. If you would like information about him coming to your business to address your specific needs, please email Carl Sacks at [email protected]. His book, Lessons Learned From Our Mistakes – and other war stories from the catering battlefield is available through the Catersource store.
You can visit Michael’s website at www.TheCorporateCaterer.com email [email protected].
