Use Marketing Materials During Your Presentation

In face-to-face meetings with shoppers, the salesperson should have any advertisements that have run in newspapers, magazines, etc., to present and discuss with shoppers. In the case of television or radio ads, the salesperson should be able to play them for customers.

“Mr. and Mrs. Smith, let me show you our latest advertisement and explain how it will have a positive effect on your event plans.”

Marketing starts the selling process, but the salesperson makes the sale happen. If salespeople embrace and incorporate their company’s marketing messages into their presentations, sales will come more frequently. Your shoppers can get their catering from lots of different places; you need to strive to create marketing that helps the shopper understand that your company offers the greatest opportunity for their event’s success.

Audio Blog: A Marketing Lession From Roman (4:30)

How do you sell a clock radio? Yeap ... listen and I will share with you an great learning story about selling catering!

Enough Discussion Points Already!!

Can't help myself... need my blog readers to keep thinking!!


1. You should never lose the ability to laugh at yourself. Let's face it, the life of a caterer is often filled with humor! Of course some of the funniest incidents don't actually become funny until long after the fact.

2. It is important for caterers to read the food sections and restaurant reviews in their city's newspaper.

3. More sales would be made if the contract/agreements were written in a  more "user-friendly" manner.

4. There are no retirement homes for caterers ... a caterer needs to create their own retirement fund.

5. Understand the two most important words when making decisions in catering are "it depends". 

6. Each event is its own P & L statement.     

Audio Blog: Roman's Thoughts On Websites (5:50)

Click below to hear me ramble on about my views on the goals of a website. In my view it really isn't the goal of a website to make a sale from the info on the website! Listen ...

Food Allergies, Religious Requirements and Dietary Restrictions

It is your responsibility to ask clients about guests’ special food requirements. The problem is that hosts may not know all the guests who are coming to the event, let alone their food preferences or allergies. Still, you must actively make the client aware that some menu items don’t work for some guests.

Dangerous reactions from certain food ingredients, lack of vegetarian food choices, or a menu that is not respectful to the religious beliefs of guests are just a few of the concerns you must be prepared to deal with for events. You must continually educate yourself on these different concerns. Most of the answers and solutions can be found through Google searches.

Nuts of any kind can be deadly to some guests. It is safer to simply keep nuts out of recipes. In some cases, you can place nuts on the buffet table next to a particular item that would be enhanced by them. This makes it each guest’s decision as to whether to add nuts or not. The same technique could be used for spicy menu items. Instead of deciding how hot an item should be, place various sauces next to the item so the guests can take the spiciness to the level of their choice.