This article is part of a series called “Getting Off-Premises”, which examines how to build an off-premises business.

In this episode of Getting Off-Premises, host Jim Rand gives a quick tutorial about the off-premises catering market so you can decide whether the business is right for your brand.

Breaking down off-premises

Jim Rand here, and I’m at Andre’s Café in Boston’s South End. And we’re here today to talk about off-premises dining.

You know the term off-premises has really become a catch-all in our industry. And I think what’s important to understand about off-premises is that it’s really multiple different revenue channels. You have take-out, you have delivery, you have drive-thru, and you have catering. As an operator, you really need to understand the uniqueness of each of the channels. People use take-out – right? – for convenience; people use drive-thru because they don’t want the hassle of taking their kids into a restaurant and feeding them on a road-trip. People use delivery because they don’t want to get off the couch.

So, there’s some real different needs and it’s really important that you understand those needs before you decide which of those channels that you want to play in. You have to think about the different strategic tactics.

What’s your menu? What recipes are you going to use? Does your food travel or doesn’t it? What’s the packaging look like? Do you have the production capacity to do it? Do you
have the room, the space in your restaurant? Are your people trained appropriately? And last but not least, do you have the time to execute on it.

What I’ll leave you with is to be intentional, and be very clear on what off-premises opportunities are relative to your brand.

Thanks, and have a great day.