Direct answer: Padrino’s Restaurants, a 30-year-old family-run brand with 5 locations in South Florida, grew catering sales 62% year-over-year from March through October and 52% across the full year by treating catering as a full-funnel revenue channel: direct online ordering through Appfront, paid Meta ads and cold outreach to corporate buyers, website visitor identification and retargeting, database email and SMS, a recurring-order pitch, and catering-specific SEO.
Key numbers
- 62% year-over-year catering sales growth, March through October (non-holiday months)
- 52% year-over-year catering sales growth across the full year
- #1 Google rankings for multiple high-intent local catering keywords
- 5 locations, 30+ years in business, family-run
Notice the two growth numbers. The non-holiday months grew faster than the year as a whole. That’s the signal that this was system-driven growth, not a holiday spike.
Client: Padrino’s Restaurants, South Florida. Campaign run by Breadth Restaurant Marketing.
Why most restaurants never grow catering
Most restaurants say they want to grow catering. Few actually do. And even fewer treat it like the strategic revenue channel it deserves to be.
The usual approach is a “Now Catering” banner on the website and a few tray photos on Instagram. That’s not a catering strategy. That’s a hope.
Padrino’s set a different goal: double the catering business. No wishful thinking. Focused execution across every channel a catering buyer actually uses.
How do you grow restaurant catering sales? The full-funnel playbook
Here’s what we built with Padrino’s, and importantly, what was in place before any marketing kicked in.
1. A seamless online ordering experience, first. Before a single campaign launched, Padrino’s set up direct online catering ordering through Appfront. With light guidance from our team, they ensured a smooth ordering flow and added high-quality photos for every tray. If a corporate buyer can’t place a $400 order in under three minutes on their phone, nothing downstream works. Fix the ordering experience before you spend a dollar on traffic.
2. Targeted lead generation across multiple channels. We didn’t run broad ads. We launched personalized cold outreach campaigns to corporate contacts near each location and used paid Meta ads to reach the decision-makers most likely to book catering: office managers, executive assistants, HR, and event planners.
3. Website visitor identification and retargeting. We activated visitor identification tools on the catering page to capture data on businesses browsing the menu, then retargeted visitors who didn’t convert on their first visit. Most catering buyers look two or three times before ordering. This closes the gap.
4. Limited-time offers that drive action. We introduced limited-time offers with real incentives to create urgency and push first-time buyers into the online ordering flow, with measurable results.
5. Database marketing that works. Using Padrino’s existing guest database, we deployed email and SMS campaigns to re-engage past guests and promote catering. Reach without added ad spend. If you’re not emailing your own guests about catering, you’re paying to reach strangers while your best prospects sit in your POS.
6. The recurring order pitch. One-time orders are good. Recurring orders are the business. We built a simple system to convert first-time office orders into standing weekly accounts. The full script and offer structure.
7. SEO built for the catering buyer. We rebuilt Padrino’s catering content and site structure to target high-intent local searches. Result: #1 rankings for multiple high-intent catering keywords, and those clicks turn into orders.
8. Full-funnel presence everywhere the buyer looks. Direct online ordering on the site. Organic social content built around real use cases (office lunches, family events, team meetings). Website UX designed for catering conversion. In-store four-wall signage. Email signature promotions on every outgoing message. Operations team trained and aligned.
This is what it takes. It’s not one channel. It’s not one flyer. It’s a consistent ecosystem built for repeat revenue.
Why the full-funnel approach works for catering
Catering is a B2B sale disguised as a restaurant order. The buyer is an office manager with a budget, a deadline, and a boss who will complain if lunch is late. They research, they compare, they check reviews, they order once as a test, and then they either become a recurring account or disappear.
Every step in the playbook above maps to one of those moments. The ordering experience handles the test order. Retargeting handles the comparison phase. Database marketing handles the people who already trust you. The recurring pitch handles the moment after the test order, which is where most restaurants go silent and lose the account.
What operators can apply this week
1. Audit your online catering ordering on your own phone. Place a test order. Time it. If it takes more than three minutes or requires a phone call, that’s your first fix, before any marketing.
2. Email your existing guest list about catering this week. One email. Subject line about office lunches or event catering. Link to your ordering page. Most restaurants have never done this once.
3. Pull your last 90 days of catering orders and call every business that ordered once. That list is your highest-converting lead source and it costs nothing. The script for that call is here: [INTERNAL LINK: Post 03 recurring office orders]
The takeaway
If you’re a multi-unit brand, a strong operator, or a restaurant that knows it could be doing more with catering but hasn’t committed to it strategically, you’re not alone. But you’re also missing what could be six to seven figures in annual revenue. Demand for catering, like demand for reservations, is something you build before you need it.
Stop offering catering. Start owning it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to grow restaurant catering sales? Padrino’s saw measurable year-over-year growth within the first quarter of the program and sustained 62% growth across the March-to-October window. Expect the first 60 to 90 days to be spent fixing the ordering experience and building outreach lists before growth compounds.
What is the best online ordering platform for restaurant catering? Padrino’s uses Appfront for direct catering orders. The platform matters less than the principle: catering orders must be placeable online, directly on your site, with photos of every item, without a phone call.
How do you market catering to corporate clients? Combine personalized cold outreach to office managers and assistants near each location with paid Meta ads targeted at those same roles, then retarget website visitors who browse the catering menu without ordering. The same outreach logic applies to private events.
Should a restaurant use third-party catering marketplaces? Marketplaces can supply first orders, but they own the customer relationship and the margin. The Padrino’s strategy prioritized direct ordering and a database the restaurant owns, so repeat orders don’t pay a commission.
What catering metrics should a restaurant track? Year-over-year catering sales by month, number of unique business accounts, repeat order rate, average order value, and the share of orders placed online versus by phone.
About the author Sebastian Stahl is the founder of Breadth Restaurant Marketing, a restaurant marketing agency that runs catering, private events, and pre-opening campaigns for independent restaurants and multi-unit hospitality groups.
If you want to talk through what a catering growth system could look like for your restaurant, I keep a few strategy calls open each week. No pitch, just a conversation about what’s working and what isn’t. Book one here