Catering Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a catering business plan, your marketing planning should include the following:

Product: in the product section you should reiterate the type of catering business that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific food items you will be offering.

Price: Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the menu items you offer and their prices. Since these items might vary from client to client, include your core items in your plan.

Place: Place refers to the location of your catering business. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, is your catering business located next to a heavily populated office building, or gym, etc. Discuss how your location might provide a steady stream of customers.

Promotions: the final part of your catering business marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Advertising in local papers and magazines
• Reaching out to local bloggers and websites
• Flyers given to office managers at local businesses
• Partnerships with local organizations
• Local radio advertising
• Maintaining a community presence by joining local charity organizations and networking groups. This could give you a huge competitive edge and help spread the word about your business.
• Banner ads at local venues
• Blogging and social media marketing
• Email marketing

Finally, in your marketing plan, talk about your brand and what you would like it to symbolize.