From office lunches and team meetings to company celebrations, workplace catering is on the rise. According to recent data from ezCater’s Feeding the Workplace Report, 83% of businesses are maintaining or increasing their food-for-work budgets post-COVID, creating exciting opportunities for food service professionals offering corporate catering services.
We’re talking big business here — 78% of corporate clients place catering orders once a month, and 32% order at least weekly. What’s more, 40% of corporate catering orders are for groups of 20 people or more. This kind of large, recurring order volume can represent a huge increase to your bottom line. But, to become a company’s go-to caterer, you first need to capture the attention of its food-ordering decision-makers — and that’s where we can help.
Often, a few tweaks to your menu can make all the difference. The right restaurant menu design can help you stand out from the crowd by making it easy and convenient for corporate clients to place food orders that accommodate everyone’s needs.
8 expert tips for restaurant menu design
As you plan your catering menu design, remember that your menu is more than just a list of the dishes you serve. It’s also a tool to help you put your best foot forward, maximize your sales, and differentiate yourself from a sea of other catering options. Learning how to design a menu using industry best practices will help you entice customers, encourage repeat business, and drive larger average order sizes. Start with these actionable tips.
1. Prominently feature your most popular items
Individuals who place corporate food orders are under immense pressure to select menu items that will satisfy the whole office. By prominently displaying your most popular dishes and calling them out as best-sellers, you’ll simplify the decision-making process, giving them the confidence that they’ve made the right call.
The key is to make it as easy as possible for corporate clients to choose dishes they know their team will love. Highlighting surefire winners helps create a positive dining experience that will leave the group asking for your menu items again and again.
2. Create informative, concise descriptions
When creating your menu, you may be tempted to add long item descriptions packed with fancy wording. But this is often a mistake. If you want to appeal to busy corporate clients, focus on creating short, impactful descriptions with a few powerful words designed to make the reader’s mouth water.
Also, don’t forget that corporate catering is about more than just tasty food. ezCater’s Feeding the Workplace survey found that nearly half of business clients struggle with ordering the right amount of food and staying on budget. Including accurate portion sizes in your descriptions will help them order with confidence, while including tags like “vegetarian” or “gluten-free” allows them to quickly identify options that meet their needs.
If you’re using an online ordering platform, make sure the layout provides space to include all of the relevant information. For example, ezCater allows for concise, informative descriptions with serving sizes and dietary tags, ensuring a streamlined ordering experience.
3. Include a variety of packaging options
Boxed lunches and individually packaged meals were in peak demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, and from what we can see at ezCater, it looks like they’re here to stay. Corporate customers continue to crave the convenience of complete boxed meals — and they accounted for 30% of ezCater orders in 2023.
It’s easy to see the appeal. Customers love the grab-and-go aspect, allowing for quick, easy meals when time is tight. They also don’t have to worry about sides, utensils, or condiments, since everything is already in the box.
To keep up with this trend, add a section to your catering menu featuring self-contained meals. They should include an entrée, side, and all of the trimmings, as well as cutlery, a napkin, and condiments. Adding a dessert is a nice bonus too, although it’s not required. Boxed lunches featuring sandwiches, salads, or bowls are great for workplace lunch meetings — just be sure to include a few vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options.
That being said, while boxed lunches are hugely important, tray catering is equally important for ease in bulk ordering and a critical part of a high performing catering menu. If your restaurant can provide both of these options, it will open up your business to a much larger audience base as different customers have different needs for a catered experience..
4. Offer catering packages and bundles
In workplace settings, build-your-own bars, bundles, and buffets are all the rage, making up 33% of ezCater’s orders. It’s an easy way to create a party-like atmosphere while allowing each guest to completely customize their dining experience — and it makes the navigation of dietary preferences and restrictions that much easier.
From mix-and-match platters with diverse protein and side choices to taco bars with toppings galore, these types of spreads offer a ton of variety and a touch of fun. Corporate clients appreciate the budget-friendly nature of package deals and the simplicity that comes with choosing a pre-designed bundle of crowd-pleasing picks.
No matter what type of cuisine you offer, aim to create at least a few appealing packages. Get creative with bundle names that spotlight your strengths like “Best of Southwest Platter” or “Slice of Italy Collection.”
When curating packages, don’t forget to consider costs and margins. Pairing premium proteins with lower-cost sides like potatoes, rice, or salad stretches your profits while allowing affordable access to your signature dishes.
5. Increase margins with add-ons
Data from our Feeding the Workplace report shows that 64% of corporate clients budget $14 or more per person, leaving plenty of room for you to offer tempting extras that complement the main course. ezCater’s order history shows that beverages are included in 32% of orders, while salads and desserts accompany 23% and 18% of orders respectively.
When designing your menu, prominently display a selection of desserts and popular beverages, including cookie and brownie trays, bottled water, assorted sodas, gallon iced teas, and breakfast drinks like boxed coffee and orange juice.
6. Accommodate dietary restrictions
Dietary restrictions are often a key concern for those ordering corporate catering. In fact, two-thirds of ezCater orders now include at least one item that accommodates a specific dietary need, such as a vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free dish.
When a team member can’t safely consume certain foods, failing to provide dietary information can cause you to miss out on entire catering orders. However, if your menu consciously includes restricted diet options and makes them easy to identify, you’re more likely to become the client’s caterer of choice.
As you update your catering menu design, consider creating dedicated sections for specific diets or flagging dishes with bold, eye-catching icons. Using a menu design tool with these types of features can help you create an attractive layout specifically designed to show your commitment to accommodating dietary preferences.
7. Offer a breakfast menu
While the word workplace catering may bring thoughts of quick lunches, breakfast is the most searched term by customers on ezCater’s marketplace. For many restaurants and caterers, this niche represents untapped potential. Capturing early-morning catering orders unlocks additional revenue during slower hours, and the low cost of many breakfast items can create higher profit margins.
Top-selling breakfast items showcase portability and variety — think sandwiches, breakfast burritos, bagels, and wraps — each with a choice of protein and a vegetarian option. Hot breakfast spreads and lighter continental breakfasts are also popular choices for corporate catering clients.
The key to any successful breakfast menu? The coffee of course! Don’t skimp out on your Java options. Offer bulk boxed coffee, decaf alternatives, and plenty of accouterments. Round out your beverage selection with carafes of juice, milk, and milk alternatives.
8. Add photos to your menu
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this is definitely true when it comes to your restaurant menu design. High-quality photos can make featured dishes leap off the page and land directly into customers’ orders. Studies show that professional photos can increase a restaurant’s sales by 30%, and including a photo of any menu item boosts its sales by 6%.
While physical menus have space constraints, online menus allow you to highlight a wider range of menu items. This makes it easy to include tempting photos of best-sellers, high-margin items, and dishes catering to specific dietary needs. When using online ordering platforms, like ezCater, take full advantage of the opportunity to upload professional photos that showcase your most mouthwatering offerings.
Boost catering sales with an updated restaurant menu design
Your catering menu is a reflection of your brand, your capabilities, and your commitment to providing an outstanding dining experience. To entice corporate catering clients, you must provide a menu that is both appealing and convenient for those tasked with placing bulk orders.
At ezCater, we handle the entire corporate ordering experience from menus to payments, so you can focus on the things you do best. Partner with us to unlock a suite of simple, yet powerful, tools purpose-built to scale your catering operations and boost your bottom line.