Blog

Technology Evolution and the Catering Industry Because of the complexity of full service catering, and the number of moving parts involved, catering has been a target of opportunity for many [...]

Learning When To Say No As practically every caterer knows, taking advantage of opportunities as they present themselves is crucial to catering success. But there is another side of this [...]

Show Your Appreciation H Jackson Brown wrote a New York Times Bestseller called “Life’s Little Instruction Book”.  And in that book he’s got a great quote that says, “Don’t forget a person’s [...]

How Much Should a Caterer Spend on Labor? One of the most common questions we get from caterers around the country relates to labor cost. For most full service caterers, this is the single [...]

The Accidental Caterer I have to share this story with you all. It comes from my friend Richard Radbil – a veteran of the catering industry and one of Wisconsin’s most successful caterers. Here’s [...]

An Outsider’s Look At Your Catering Business What we do as consultants is getting caterers out of their comfort zones, and into their challenge zones. We all like to think that we’re very [...]

Where Are You Going? Imagine if you went outside your home and your neighbor was packing up their car with suitcases, clearly heading for some sort of trip.  As a good neighbor you ask, “Where [...]

Give Your Holiday Sales Marketing a New Recipe As fall approaches you have a small window to catch your breath for a few brief moments—and then jump right back in. That’s right—it’s time to [...]

Want it All? Be Careful! We’ve spoken before about the dangers in taking just any type of catering event that is presented to you, especially if you are not exactly sure how to pull it off. While [...]

What Is Consulting All About?  Consulting for Caterers – the Cost/Benefit Equation Virtually all large corporations use consultants for a variety of purposes – but many caterers are unsure [...]

How Engaged Are Your Staffers? First of all, what is employee engagement?  Second of all, why should we care?  And lastly, if we decide we care, then what? These are good questions that every [...]

Always Be Recruiting As I talk to business people here in Denver, I love to ask; “What is the biggest challenge you are facing?”  Recently, the answer has overwhelmingly been: “finding great [...]

Did you know that special event companies have similar triumphs & tribulations from all around the country regardless of their shape and size? Well, it’s true! I have the wonderful [...]

You Said It Without Saying It Is what you say actually as important as the way that you say it, as well as how you carry your body when you do? Studies show that the answer is usually no. Our [...]

Landing the Big One One interesting bit of collective memory among off-premise caterers: remembering the first truly big party that you ever catered. Often if this topic comes up over drinks at [...]

Lessons from a Broken System I recently heard an independent political analyst talk about the current state of politics in the US and he suggested that we currently have a “broken system”.  As [...]

Rewards and Recognition for Your Staff “Doing a good job is like wetting your pants in a dark suit, you get a warm feeling but no one else seems to notice!”  We’ve all felt that way at one time [...]

How Is Your Catering Etiquette?   Mike Roman knew that he would have clients from all segments of the catering industry, and he was always careful to be inclusive. When Mike talked about [...]

Life In a Catering Kitchen Over my years in the catering trade, my clients would often ask…what’s your secret to putting out great tasting cuisine?   So let me share some of my kitchen catering [...]

Diversifying your Catering Company – the Risks and the Rewards One of the most interesting spectacles in television sports is the opportunity to watch world-class athletes competing outside of [...]

Fun – More Than Just a Good Time “Fun” is one of our core values at Footers Catering and it’s rooted in the first part of our mission statement; “Love what we do”. My wife, [...]

Are My Salespeople Order-Takers? Not long ago, I received a call from a rather frustrated sales manager. He felt as though his sales people were not actively selling, just writing orders. I asked [...]

Getting the Most Bang for Your Buck:  Why You Should Consider Outside Consulting Advice I know what you’re thinking. Why do I need a consultant?  I know my own business better than everyone [...]

Count Your Blessings OK, so depending upon where you live, it’s “the dead of summer” or you are nearing the fall season. Maybe summer is your slow time and you can’t wait for the post-labor-day [...]

Two Keys for Great Teamwork We’ve been fortunate to have an awesome past couple of months!  We just had our second busiest month in Footers’ history and overall we could not be happier with the [...]

It’s Your Fault   One of the most frequent questions I’m asked is, “Why am I not doing more business? My catering volume seems to be stuck at (for example) $400,000 and no matter what I do, [...]

Step Back, Before you Leap Forward If you were asked to jump as far as you could from a certain point, you would probably start by swinging your arms backward before launching yourself forward or [...]

When is Enough, Enough?  Dealing with Charitable Events This morning I listened to the audio from my Spotlight Campfire Session at the New Orleans Catersource.  Kathleen Stoehr, who is taking [...]

How to Hire a Great Salesperson One of the most common questions I get from my clients is, “how do you hire excellent salespeople?” This, as you may know, can be easier said than done! [...]

Contract Opportunities for Independent Caterers Just as nearly every business requires catering services at some point, most government entities have catering needs as well. These opportunities [...]

What is Consulting All About? Consulting for Caterers – the Cost/Benefit Equation By Carl Sacks   Virtually all large corporations use consultants for a variety of purposes – but many [...]

Complimentary Consulting Sessions Sunday March 12 & Monday March 13 Sign up on site in Room 342 at the Convention Center. Some consultants’ availability may be limited, sessions are [...]

Meet the Certified Catering Consultants Team in Booth #1632 during Tradeshow Floor Hours Catersource Show 2017 Sunday, March 12 – Wednesday, March 15, 2017 Conference sessions and most [...]