How Restaurants Find Catering Clients: The B2B Email Strategy Nobody Talks About

Catering Is the Highest-Margin Revenue Stream for Restaurants

Walk into any successful restaurant and ask the owner what their most profitable service is. Nine times out of ten, the answer is catering. Average catering orders run $500-$5,000, margins are 40-60% (compared to 10-15% on dine-in), and the best part — catering clients reorder regularly.

Yet most restaurants treat catering as a passive service. They put a "Catering Available" page on their website and wait. Meanwhile, the restaurants that actively pursue catering clients through email outreach are booking $20K-$50K per month in catering revenue alone.

The Three B2B Segments Every Restaurant Should Target

1. Corporate Offices (Weekly Lunch Orders)

Companies with 20+ employees regularly order lunch for meetings, team events, and client visits. The key is reaching the office manager or executive assistant — they're the ones placing orders. Use Easy Email Finder to locate these contacts at companies in your delivery radius.

Your pitch is simple: "We handle lunch so your team can focus on work. Weekly rotating menus, on-time delivery, zero hassle." Offer a free tasting for the first order.

2. Event Venues (Preferred Vendor Partnerships)

Wedding venues, conference centers, and event spaces constantly get asked "Do you have a catering recommendation?" Getting on their preferred vendor list means a steady stream of high-value referrals. Email venue managers and event coordinators offering to do a complimentary tasting for their team.

3. Corporate Event Planners

Companies throw holiday parties, product launches, client dinners, and team celebrations year-round. Event planners at mid-size to large companies are always looking for reliable catering partners. One corporate relationship can generate $30K+ in annual catering revenue.

Email Templates That Get Responses

The worst thing you can do is send a generic "We offer catering services" email. Instead, personalize every message. Reference the company by name, mention a recent event they hosted (check their social media), and make your offer specific.

Subject line: "[Company Name] — Complimentary Lunch Tasting for Your Team"

Body: Keep it under 100 words. Mention your restaurant, your signature dishes, and offer something free — a tasting, a sample platter for their next meeting, or a 20% discount on the first order. Include a link to your catering menu and make it dead simple to reply.

Building Your Catering Prospect List

Use Easy Email Finder to search for businesses in your delivery area. Focus on companies with 20+ employees, event venues, wedding planners, and corporate offices. Export the contacts, segment them by type, and create separate email sequences for each segment.

Send 20-30 personalized outreach emails per week. Follow up twice. Track which segments respond best and double down. Most restaurants see their first catering booking within the first 50 emails sent. By email 200, you'll have a reliable pipeline of recurring catering clients that transforms your bottom line.