How to get corporate catering clients
Corporate catering is the most predictable catering a restaurant can sell. Offices eat lunch every weekday, they hold meetings every week, and the person who orders does not want to find a new restaurant every time. Win that person once, deliver on time, and you can have a standing order.
Here is how to find corporate catering clients, what to offer them and how to keep them.
Why corporate catering is worth chasing in 2026
Workplaces are spending more on food, not less. In ezCater's 2026 research, 91% of workplaces planned to spend the same or more on food this year, up from 82% in 2024, and daily or weekly meal programs grew 26% year over year (ezCater, May 2026). DoorDash reported that large, team-sized orders grew 30% faster than regular orders year over year when it launched its workplace catering product in April 2026 (DoorDash, April 2026).
The orders are also bigger than a dinner table. ezCater's average workplace order runs about $430 for 26 people (Food On Demand, June 2026). And the buyers are open to new places: 96% of workplaces tried a new restaurant in 2025.
Who you are actually selling to
Corporate catering has a buyer and a set of eaters. Sell to the buyer.
| Buyer | What they order | What they care about |
|---|---|---|
| Office manager | Team lunches, all-hands, recurring meals | On time, easy invoice, dietary coverage, no surprises |
| Executive assistant | Leadership meetings, client lunches, board meetings | Presentation, reliability, discretion |
| Pharma and medical device reps | Lunches for clinics and practices, often weekly | Fast setup, individually packaged options, a receipt for expenses |
| HR and people teams | Onboarding days, trainings, holiday parties | Headcount flexibility, budget per head |
| Event and facilities coordinators | Larger events, offsites | Capacity, setup, staff on site |
Restaurant Dive's reporting on catering programs names the same people: office managers, executive assistants and pharmaceutical reps are the ones placing orders on behalf of companies (Restaurant Dive, January 2025).
Step 1: Build your target list
Start with everything inside your realistic delivery radius. For most independents that is 10 to 20 minutes of drive time at lunch.
- Open Google Maps and search your area for "office", "medical clinic", "dental office", "law firm", "car dealership", "coworking", "school", "bank", "insurance agency".
- Put each one in a sheet: company, address, phone, website, estimated headcount, and the name of whoever orders food if you can find it.
- Check LinkedIn for titles like office manager, executive assistant, workplace experience or facilities at those companies.
- Ask your own regulars. Many of them work in those offices.
Aim for 50 targets. You will not convert most of them, and that is fine.
Step 2: Make an offer built for an office
Offices buy differently from party hosts. Give them:
- Packages for 10, 20 and 40 people, priced per person
- Individually packaged options (boxed lunches) next to trays, because many offices want them
- Labels for vegetarian, vegan, gluten free and common allergens
- A lead time you can actually hit. Next-day is a strong selling point; 30% of workplace orders in ezCater's data came with under 24 hours of notice.
- Invoicing or card on file, so repeat orders take one email
See how to design a catering menu that sells for package structures.
Step 3: Reach out the way office buyers like to be reached
A simple sequence works better than a clever one.
Touch 1: Short email or LinkedIn message.
Hi Dana, I run [Restaurant] two blocks from your office. We do team lunches for 10 to 50 people with next-day delivery and labeled dietary options. Would a free sample tray for your team next week be useful? Here is the catering menu: [link].
Touch 2: Drop off the sample. Bring a tray that represents your best package, a printed one-page menu, and a card with a direct phone number that someone actually answers.
Touch 3: Follow up within 48 hours. Ask how the team liked it and whether they have a meeting coming up. Offer to hold a date.
Touch 4: Monthly check-in. A short note before the end of each month, when many teams plan the next one.
Do not send a PDF of your full menu and wait. Office managers are busy and will order from whoever makes it easiest.
Step 4: Answer inquiries like it is a sales call
When an office asks for a quote, they are often asking two or three other places at the same time. A reply within the hour, with a clear price and a confirmed date, is the single biggest edge you have. Harvard Business Review found that firms contacting a lead within an hour were nearly seven times more likely to qualify it than those that waited longer (HBR, 2011). Our guide on responding to catering inquiries has call and text scripts.
Step 5: Deliver like their job depends on it (it does)
The office manager's reputation rides on your delivery. If lunch is late for a client meeting, that is their problem first. Dinova's CEO told Restaurant Dive that on-time arrival is the most crucial factor in winning repeat corporate catering (Restaurant Dive, January 2025), and 94% of workplace orderers in ezCater's 2026 data expect delivery tracking notifications.
Practical rules: - Arrive 15 minutes early. Text the contact when you leave and when you arrive. - Label every tray. Include serving utensils, plates and napkins unless told otherwise. - Leave a printed menu and a reorder card.
Step 6: Turn one order into an account
After the first order: 1. Call or text the next day. Ask what worked. 2. Propose a recurring slot. "Your team meeting is every other Thursday. Want us to hold that slot with a rotating menu?" 3. Track the account: last order, headcount, preferences, next likely date. 4. Reach out before their usual order date, not after.
A recurring office account is also a referral source. Office managers talk to each other, and employees who try your food at work often become regulars. In ezCater's survey, 62% of employees later ordered from a restaurant they first tried at work.
How to get corporate catering contracts
Larger companies sometimes formalize food into a contract or a preferred-vendor list. To get on it: - Have a certificate of insurance ready (general liability, and auto if you deliver). - Have a W-9 and be able to invoice with net terms. - Show consistency: same quality at 20 or 120 people. - Ask your best contact who manages vendors and what the onboarding steps are.
Start with small recurring orders. Contracts usually follow proven reliability, not a cold pitch.
Common questions
How do I find corporate catering leads for free?
Your own customer base, Google Maps searches of businesses near you, LinkedIn for office manager titles, and your Google Business Profile. All are free; they just take time.
What is the best day to contact office managers?
There is no reliable published data on this. Avoid Monday mornings and Friday afternoons, and test what gets replies in your market.
Should corporate catering have a minimum order?
Yes. Set it at a level where a delivery is worth the run, usually expressed as a minimum headcount or dollar amount. Our catering pricing guide covers how to set it.
Can ads bring in corporate catering clients?
Yes. Meta ads aimed at people near your restaurant who plan office lunches and events can bring inquiries that already include a date and headcount. See catering Facebook ads.
Want the inquiries without the cold outreach?
ModernClicks runs Meta ads for independent restaurants that bring in catering inquiries from people planning office lunches, private events and larger events, with date, headcount and budget captured before they reach you. Book a call and we will look at your area and menu together.
Want more catering inquiries?
ModernClicks runs catering-focused Meta ads for independent restaurants and sends every inquiry, with date, headcount, event type and budget, to your own pipeline with an instant alert.
Book a call