1. Jeff Ware
October 23rd, 2013

2. Catering 101
◦ What Is Catering
◦ How We Price Our Services
On Premise vs. Off Premise
Selecting a Caterer
Venues
Working with Planners

3. Started with CBM at 14
Electrical Engineering/
Computer Science
Background
Worked at CNN & theatres
Learned other aspects of live
events
Fell in love with food thanks
to this job

4. Founded in 1980 as a hot
dog stand
Catering spun off into
separate company in 1991
Peak revenue of $17 Million
90 FT & 130 PT Employees
45% Full Service / 35% On
Premise / 20% Delivery

5. Largest event $1.3 million
Focused on food quality
above all else
Poor facility design
challenges efficiency
Non Chicago address is a
marketing struggle

26. Food Cost
◦
◦
◦
◦
30%
30%
30%
10%
Labor
Overhead
(or less) Food Cost
to pay sales commission and profit
Any average food cost 20%-30% is ok
Chipotle is at 33.5%

28. They
They
They
They
They
always want lower prices
believe highest prices are given first
play caterers against each other
think all chicken is the same
feel that haggling is expected

29. Portion size
Sanitation & quality of vendors
Staff that truly cares
Menu variety & creativity
Overall guarantee – Non Embarassment!

30. They give the price of admission
“For your event on the 23rd of October for 215
guests, I can share with you that we will have
a wide and wonderful variety of menu
solutions ranging from $70 to $110 per
guest. Is that the range you were looking
for?”

31. Hotels
Banquet Halls
Convention Centers
Restaurants (Private
Dining)
Cultural Institutions
On Premise
Off Prem Caterers
Restaurants
Festivals
Food Trucks
Private Chefs
Off Premise

42. Leading Caterers of America
◦ Catersearch.com
Are they going to show up?
Are they going to get your guests sick?
Are they able to make all that food?
Will it taste/look the same as my tasting?
Are they going to raise my prices later?

43. 394 Vendors
3,220 Inventory Items
13,308 Recipes
◦ Largest known database in existence
3 FT Staff dedicated to managing the database
15,381 photos (432 GB)

44. Consistency in your product
Selling based on true costs
Consistency in sales force pricing
Keep profit margins where they need to be
Smart purchasing decisions
Historical data = forecasting trends
◦ Caterers are selling for the future

45. The game changer

46. It’s a love/hate relationship

47. Be professional
Communicate the vision
Be a partner, not a customer
Work harder than anybody else in the room
Be honest
Don’t ever just hope for the best
Anticipate problems and have solutions ready

48. To download a copy of this presentation, go to:
slideshare.net/CateringChicago
Jeff Ware
jware@CateringByMichaels.com
|
(847) 966-6555