Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp.Case Study – Get Catering and Grow Sales! ™ System
Catering as aTurnaround Strategy
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Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp. has 124 soup, salad and
bakery restaurants under the Souplantation and Sweet
Tomatoes brand names. The locations span 15 states and
offer diners a lunch and dinner buffet-style experience that features
a smattering of fresh vegetables, made-from-scratch soups and hand-
crafted muffins, breads, pizzas, pastas and desserts. Founded in San
Diego in 1978, the company was purchased by Sun Capital Partners,
Inc. in 2005 and now has more than 1.2 million members in its Club
Veg loyalty program.
The Situation
Throughout the last nine years of company growth, Garden Fresh deployed and maintained a catering program that spanned 72 locations and generated $4 million in annual revenue. The program was created by an internal team with general managers at each location operating their unit-level catering program as they saw fit.
While the program was viewed as a success, Garden Fresh was only generating 2-3% profit from annual catering revenue.
Additionally, there was no formal program structure or sales team to further develop its catering platform.
“We knew we could sell catering, but we didn’t have the infrastructure to control or grow it,” said Bob Mason, Catering Director at Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp. “So, we started searching for a company that could guide us.”
Streamlined Strategy and Catering Sales Training
Mason connected with the
executive team at the MMS Catering Institute™ and MonkeyMedia Software in 2011 in an effort to bring the Garden Fresh catering program completely under its strategic umbrella. With help from the catering experts at the MMS Catering Institute, Mason worked toward the strategic alignment of the Garden Fresh executive team in regard to what a streamlined and well-executed catering program could provide. He also continued to work with the Catering Institute on the creation of a clear and concise catering vision for future operations.
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Case Study 3
“When Garden Fresh started catering, each store was doing its own thing and every store had its own catering van, which resulted in operational waste,” said Tracy Avolio, VP of Client Services for the MMS Catering Institute. “They didn’t have Catering Sales
Managers but had Catering Coordinators in their stores helping with order execution and food delivery. As often is the case, retail operations always took precedence over catering, which resulted in a negative consumer experience.”
When Garden Fresh started catering, each store was doing its own thing and every store had its own catering van, which resulted in operational waste.
Tracy Avolio, VP, Client Services, the MMS Catering Institute
Based on the initial recommendations of the Catering Institute, Mason and the Garden Fresh team adjusted catering operations at underperforming locations, trimming the number of stores that were catering certified from 72 to 45. The company eliminated several of its catering vans and started to hire experienced Catering Coordinators with sales-specific backgrounds. The company also optimized its catering menu by offering items à la carte, rather than in packages.
“We’re selling products today that we never sold when we had packages,” Mason said. “We realized that by selling packages, we were not selling items that were convenient for those who wanted to order from us. When we switched the menu, it was a bit of a fire drill for us because
we didn’t realize the popularity of some of our menu items. It was pretty crazy.”
Since implementing the best practices recommended by the MMS Catering Institute, Garden Fresh is on target to ring in $3.4 million in catering sales this year, but at a profit level that has nearly doubled. The company has also increased its outgoing marketing messages tied to catering, which was another challenge Mason said the company faced when trying to strategize the program on its own.
“What the MMS Catering Institute
has done for us is basically change the entire way we cater,” Mason said. “The past year has been a pretty radical transformation, all in favor of more sales and profits.”
Restaurant Catering Software
With a sales strategy and the correct personnel firmly in place, Garden Fresh deployed MonkeyMedia Software’s MonkeyCatering business solution.
“We now have the products and the technology to focus on sales,” Mason said. “We’re doing quarterly sales training and workshops with our Catering Sales Managers, which is excellent. And the way we set it up with our sales team has been good and effective.”
With MonkeyCatering, the company also unveiled online ordering for catering at each of its 45 locations that are catering certified.
“From a service perspective, the technology rollout couldn’t have been better,” Mason said. “We had online ordering in the past but we were only getting about 5% of orders online. With the MonkeyCatering online ordering platform, online activity has gone way up and it’s interesting to see the products that customers are choosing when our catering team is not involved in the order process.”
For example, every customer that has ordered online has purchased a vegetable platter, which the company is now selling at a rate of 200+ per month.
“Before we went online we sold zero platters because they were labor intensive and we never
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Case Study 4
suggested them as a catering item. The same holds true for our pizzas and breads,” Mason said. “Online ordering will change the way we go after catering and it’s showing us that, operationally, we need to be more nimble. Now that we know what the public wants, we have to figure out how to give it to them.”
Through software implementation and the added component of online ordering, Mason and his sales teams have the opportunity to track sales and customer data that offer increased visibility into the entire catering business.
“As with everything, it’s new and challenging, but the visibility is awesome. We have made personnel decisions based on the information and the low performers show up quickly,” Mason said. “We’ve also seen catering sales, by market, increase 20-30% - sales that are still holding. The Pacific Northwest is up 30% and that was our slowest performing market a year ago. The MonkeyCatering system has changed everything for us.”
Avolio attributes the catering partnership success to thoughtfulness on behalf of both sides.
We now have the products and the technology to focus on sales.
Bob Mason, Catering Director, Garden Fresh
“The ultimate goal is to make their catering program great,” Avolio said. “If the Garden Fresh team didn’t believe in catering as a profitable business operation, it would be in the same state that it was three years ago. They’ve been able to successfully implement a new, streamlined strategy that has turned around their entire catering program.”
For Mason, the experience of working with MonkeyMedia Software and the MMS Catering Institute has been equally as positive.
“Both teams are excellent at what they do,” he said. “They are visionary in their thinking and planning so I believe they will always be on the cutting edge in the restaurant world. You have all of their resources available at your fingertips. While implementing a new catering program is challenging, when you start to see the results, it all comes together! We had a lot of operational stuff we had to clean up, but now that we’re on the other side we see the value and the opportunity, and we’re making more money every single day.”
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©2014 MonkeyMedia Software. All rights reserved.
The Catering Institute Team 5
The Get Catering and Grow Sales!™ System
Looking for a proven turnkey solution for your restaurant catering business? Our Get Catering and Grow Sales!™ System provides proven strategy and education through the MMS Catering Institute™, while the MonkeyCatering™ software platform leverages operational effi ciencies leading to fl awless execution and increased profi ts. Get the book and get engaged.
About Erle Dardick
Erle Dardick is a 15-year catering veteran, business turn-around expert and author, and is best known for helping multi-unit restaurant executives create successful catering revenue channels. Erle founded MonkeyMedia Software to provide catering solutions to multi-unit restaurant operators. He also is the author of “Get Catering and Grow Sales! A Strategic Perspective for The Multi-Unit Restaurant Executive.”
About Wayne Alexander
With 16 years of experience and a hands-on style founded in operations and servant leadership, Wayne has established catering as a sustained accelerated growth platform. Through sales force talent development, organizational alignment in the multi-unit franchised environment, centralized call center management, and program development, Wayne reaches catering decision makers at their time of need.
About Lisa DeFeo-Bass
Since 1990 Lisa DeFeo-Bass has worked for multi-unit restaurant operations such as Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, and Boston Market, where her positions have included Regional Operations Manager, Senior Sales Consultant, and National Accounts Manager. Lisa acts as a consultant to restaurant companies developing a catering program or have one that could run more effi ciently and profi tably.
About Tracy Avolio
As VP, Client Services, Tracy’s role is to help multi-unit restaurant concepts develop, implement and grow their catering program, focusing on strategic program planning and educational training. Tracy has been in the restaurant industry for nearly 25 years working in positions such as Marketing Manager, Sales Director, Regional Catering Sales, and National Account Manager, with concepts such as Ruby Tuesday, Landry’s Seafood and Boston Market.
1-877-6-MONKEY
www.monkeymediasoftware.com
@monkeymedia
©2014 MonkeyMedia Software. All rights reserved.
