The short answer
Show your prices, reply faster, make quotes easy to accept and follow up once. Then grow the order with set menus and add-ons, and win repeat corporate clients. Track your acceptance rate so you know what is working.
1. Show prices on your website
Many caterers hide prices and ask people to get in touch. Some customers never do: they book the caterer whose price they could see. Show per-person prices, or better, let customers build an order and see the total. You lose nobody you wanted, and the enquiries you get are serious.
2. Answer the enquiry fast
Event planners often ask several caterers at once. The first complete, clear answer has a head start. If you cannot quote the same day, send a short reply saying when you will.
3. Make the quote easy to accept
One page, itemised, with an expiry date and one way to say yes. Every question the client has to ask you is a day the booking waits.
4. Follow up once, before the quote expires
Clients get busy and forget. A short, friendly message asking whether the quote arrived and whether anything should change wins bookings that would otherwise go quiet.
5. Sell set menus and add-ons
A set menu is easier to choose than a blank page, and it is easier for you to cost. Then suggest the things people forget: drinks, dessert, extra staff, tableware. Suggested at the right moment, they raise the order without a hard sell.
6. Go after repeat corporate work
Offices order lunches and meetings every month. One good office client can be worth more than several weddings a year. Make reordering effortless: the same menu, the same link, a known price.
7. Measure what happens to your quotes
Count how many quotes you send, how many get accepted and how long the client waited for your first reply. If you do not know these numbers, you cannot tell which of the steps above is your weak spot.
Where CaterWay fits
CaterWay puts an order calculator with your menu and prices on your own website. The customer sees the price, the request lands in one list with every detail filled in, and you can see your acceptance rate and how long customers wait for your first reply. Set menus and suggested add-ons are built in. See all features.
