How to Use Technology to Maximize Sales Potential

In our 2015 end-of-year survey, 92.92% of caterers responded that their sales were going to increase in 2016. While this is great to hear, it also raises the question: how are you going to handle it?

Software, systems, and success
Technology has revolutionized the catering world in the last few decades. The development of invoicing software designed for caterers in particular has changed the game. Properly utilizing these advancements can propel your business to success. Here, a couple of ICA members talk about the different software systems they use to improve efficiency.

Karen O’Connor, executive chef at Daniel et Daniel Catering and Event Planning in Toronto, told us about how beneficial the implementation of Caterease has been for the company. “[Caterease] has allowed us to streamline our orders, making us much more efficient.... It has created a much more harmonious atmosphere,” O’Connor said. “The new software will enable us to input all our recipes, thus allowing us to generate prep and order lists, which we currently do by hand,” she added, also noting that they will gain precision in ordering and save valuable time that can be used for production.

Shown: the Daniel et Daniel team works on a new menu rollout, as well as chef demonstrations and meetings regarding running through various recipes using Caterease sheets.

We spoke with Adam Gooch, corporate executive chef of Common Plea Catering in Pittsburgh, about what changes the company has made. “We are currently in the process of changing over catering software to Total Party Planner. We are going to be using this system to its fullest capacity on recipes, inventory, accounting, and event planning,” Gooch said. Additionally, Gooch mentioned, “putting in a time card software system that will allow all employees the ability to sign in and out of work by using their smartphones.” Adam says they have also “updated tracking on our trucks.”

On the Standard Operating Procedure Wall at Common Plea Catering: print outs from Total Party Planner software showing ingredients and how to plate consistently.

According to our survey, the vast majority of you have an exciting year ahead, and maybe technology can help you through the bustling times. Also, we encourage you to attend CSES2016 and meet with ICA members and other caterers who know all about growth and are willing to share some wisdom—whether on maintaining sales or sanity.

Daniel et Daniel Catering and Event Planning and Common Plea Catering are proud members of the ICA. To learn more about the ICA, visit www.internationalcaterers.org.

Get Fresh February 2016
eNews February 2016