To succeed in this venture, you must be prepared to price boxed lunches, create menus that are appealing to kids of all ages, and prepare complete meals for 100 students or more every day. Additionally, you must maintain high participation among students and their parents.
If you are interested in catering for schools and do not know where to start, we've got you covered. Below, you will find an infallible five-step guide with easy-to-follow instructions that will help you connect with educational institutions near your restaurant and provide them with a daily school lunch program.
Step 1: Connecting With Schools in Your Delivery Area
Figuring out which schools to target may be a tad intimidating when starting your school lunch catering business. But it is not an impossible task. You could start by compiling a list of potential customers and looking up how many students are currently enrolled in each school. This will help you estimate the number of lunches you need to prepare every day.
If you are not quite sure which educational institutions in your service area require school lunch delivery, you could find out by following these simple steps:
- Use https://www.privateschoolreview.com/find-schools to discover potential clients.
- Type in your zip code and select the miles you can cover — keeping customers within a 20-minute drive will help you ensure you always deliver on time.
- Visit each school's website to find information on their current lunch program.
- Contact each school for additional information on who their lunch program provider is.
- Decide how many restaurants you are interested in collaborating with — a good rule of thumb is to work with three different suppliers, one of whom should be a pizza vendor.
Doing your due diligence will allow you to build a feasible strategy to succeed in your school lunch business. It will also help you figure out who your competitors are so that you can outperform them.
Step 2: Plan a Limited but Diverse Menu Option for Each Day
Schools have a responsibility to keep the meals they offer their students as healthy as possible. Lunches should typically be low in fat, calories, and sodium and contain a balanced mix of lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Still, the need to keep things nutritionally valuable does not mean the school lunches your restaurant offers have to be bland. Au contraire, creating diverse yet nutritious menus can help increase lunch program adoption and earn you higher profits.
Depending on your restaurant's capacity and the number of schools you cater to, offering four to eight options is a good benchmark. If you plan to use multiple vendors, limit yourself to one per day. Keep in mind that pizza is the number one selling food item nationwide, so including this option in your meal rotation at least once every week is always a great idea.
Step 3: Setting Prices
If this is your first time catering school lunches through your restaurant, you may be having trouble defining how much to charge per meal. A good rule of thumb is to keep your prices between $4.00 and $5.00. Make sure you consult with each school first so that you can get an estimate of what the average student's budget is.
If you want to help a particular school fundraise, you could increase your fares by 25 cents (or more, depending on the goal). Don't forget to automatically add all applicable credit card and transaction fees to the total retail cost of your meals to bundle prices and avoid hidden charges.
Step 4: Keep Ordering Deadlines Flexible
Flexibility is a terrific quality in the business world. Putting customers' needs first will help you offer them a more pleasant experience and encourage them to keep buying from you. For example, when catering to schools, you may come across parents that plan and order ahead of time.
However, it's not uncommon to also find working parents with a lot on their plates who need to order at the very last minute. Offering them a little extra flexibility is a nice gesture that could benefit your business more than you know. It will let you accommodate busy parents while enabling your kitchen to grab those last-minute orders and potentially make more money. It's a win-win situation all around.
Step 5: Plan Your Deliveries
Lastly, once you have closed the deal with your desired schools and have all the information you need to work on your orders, it's time to craft your delivery plan. If you're catering to several schools simultaneously, you will need to guarantee your delivery schedules won't overlap. Delayed deliveries could lead to unsatisfied customers who will not hesitate to walk out of a deal. After all, school directives must ensure kids get fed at the right time, and you need to help make that possible.
Make sure you stay compliant with state and local laws regarding the transport and packaging of food. Use containers that allow you to keep the cold foods cold and the hot foods hot and ready to eat while still helping to reduce the waste challenges faced by educational institutions. For example, you could install a container collection program or offer recyclable and compostable packaging with your boxed lunches.
The Takeaway
Starting a school lunch catering business through your restaurant could help you increase your income. However, there are certain steps you need to follow to increase your chances of success. The above guide offers helpful pointers to get you started with your school lunch delivery duties. If you need more help with meal order management, payment processing, and more for your school lunch program, reach out to Boonli today.