How to market a catering business

People rarely search for “a caterer”. They search for the event: a boxed lunch for a team meeting, a plated wedding dinner, a holiday party for 80, drop-off trays for an office. A catering website with one menu page and a contact form cannot answer those searches, so it loses them to whoever can.

The steps below are the ones we work through with catering companies. Most cost time rather than money, and each one makes the next work better: pages give ads somewhere to land, reviews make the Business Profile convert, and clear facts make AI assistants willing to recommend you.

1. Build a page for each kind of catering

List the event types you actually want more of: corporate breakfasts and lunches, weddings, private parties, holiday parties, drop-off catering, full-service events with staff. Each one gets its own page with a sample menu, the minimum order or guest count, how far ahead to book, what is included (staff, rentals, setup) and photos of that kind of event.

Name the page the way people search: “corporate catering in [city]” rather than “Business solutions”. These pages are also what you point ads and social posts at, so they need a clear way to request a quote with the date and headcount.

2. Make your menus readable, not a PDF

A menu locked in a PDF or an image cannot be read well by search engines or AI assistants, and it is hard to use on a phone. Put menus on the page as text, with dietary labels (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, kosher-style, halal) where they apply.

Planners filter by dietary needs before anything else. When your page says plainly what you can do, you show up for “gluten-free catering” style searches and you get fewer back-and-forth emails. Our checklist for catering pages AI assistants cite goes page by page.

3. Complete your Google Business Profile

Choose the most accurate primary category (caterer, or the closest match to what you do), add the secondary categories that are true, set your service area to the places you deliver, and list each kind of catering as a service with a short description.

Add photos of real events and real food every month, answer every review, and post seasonal offers ahead of the busy periods: holiday parties, graduation season, wedding season. Work through the Google Business Profile checklist once, then keep it current.

4. Get on venue preferred lists

Many venues keep a list of approved or recommended caterers, and planners lean on it. Make a list of the venues in your area that allow outside catering, visit them, learn their kitchen and load-in rules, and ask what it takes to be added.

Once you have worked a venue, create a page or a gallery section for it: the events you have done there, how service works in that space, photos. That page answers searches that name the venue and gives the venue a reason to send people to you.

5. Ask for reviews after every event

Send a short thank-you within a day or two of the event with a direct link to leave a Google review. Ask the person who booked, not just the guest of honor. Never offer anything in exchange and never filter who you ask.

Reviews that mention the event type and the food (“the plated dinner for our gala”) help you show up for those searches and give the next booker the detail they need.

6. Advertise the events you want, where you deliver

Google Ads work well for catering when each campaign targets one kind of event and sends people to that event's page: corporate lunch searches to the corporate page, wedding catering searches to the wedding page. Limit the area to where you actually deliver.

Start budgets ahead of your peaks, not during them, and add negative keywords for job searches, recipes and cheap do-it-yourself queries. The negative keyword list for event vendors is a good starting point.

7. Turn one corporate order into a standing account

Corporate clients reorder. After a first office lunch, follow up with a simple standing-order option, a menu that rotates, and one person to contact. Keep a list of every company you have served and check in before their known busy dates: quarterly meetings, holiday parties, summer events.

On LinkedIn, office managers, executive assistants and HR teams are the people who book. A short post after a good corporate event, with photos and the client's permission, reaches the next one.

8. Reply fast and track where bookings come from

Catering inquiries usually go to several caterers at once, and the first useful reply often wins. Answer within the same business day with a sample menu and a price range for that event type, and ask for the date, headcount and venue.

Record where each inquiry came from (search, ads, a venue, a planner, a repeat client) and which ones booked. After a season you will know which pages, venues and campaigns are worth more time. When you want a second opinion on where you stand, our free audit checks Google and AI answers for your business.

Catering marketing checklist

• A page for each kind of catering you want more of, with a sample menu, minimums and lead time
• Menus as text on the page, with dietary labels
• A quote request that asks for date, headcount, venue and event type
• Google Business Profile with accurate categories, service area and every service listed
• New event and food photos added each month
• A list of local venues that allow outside catering, and a plan to visit each
• A page or gallery for each venue you have worked
• A review request sent after every event, with a direct link
• Ads split by event type, each pointing at its matching page, limited to your delivery area
• Negative keywords for jobs, recipes and do-it-yourself searches
• A standing-order offer for every new corporate client
• Every inquiry tagged with its source and whether it booked

Keep reading

How we do this for clients: Marketing for catering companies.

• Catering pages AI assistants cite
• How to get corporate event clients
• Local SEO for event companies
• Free audit

Common questions