Building a successful restaurant brand is no easy task. While great food, excellent service, and an enjoyable atmosphere are the cornerstones of a thriving business, staying competitive requires innovation, strategic thinking, and the right partners.

Cole Robillard, the Chief Marketing Officer at Smokey Bones, knows this well. The popular restaurant chain, which currently operates 62 locations across the U.S., is well known for its signature barbecue, stacked sandwiches, and bold flavors. With add-ons like skillet cornbread and honey-pecan butter, it’s not just the beloved wings and American barbecue that keep brick-and-mortar customers happily coming back. These core customers know they can count on Smokey Bones for well-rounded, satisfying meals. However, when it comes to scaling its catering operations and expanding into new markets, Robillard turns to ezCater.  

Increasing reach and visibility in new markets

Prior to working with ezCater, Smokey Bones prioritized its marketing efforts on targeting core customers near the restaurant’s brick-and-mortar locations. Having a partner like ezCater increased the restaurant’s reach and visibility to outside markets, leveraging ezCater’s extensive network to connect with a whole new group of potential customers.

“The partnership with ezCater is terrific because it allows us access to audiences that might not be in our current market,” says Robillard. “We’re getting visibility and exposure with possible customers that otherwise may not have ever heard of us.”

Amplifying Smokey Bones’ existing menu

Instead of reinventing the wheel on the catering side of the business, Cole and her team at Smokey Bones have found success by amplifying what’s already working on the existing menu. 

“We don’t try to introduce new products or items that we don’t already serve within the four walls,” says Robillard. “In a catering platform, what we do is try to extend and amplify the things that we do really well.” 

For instance, they offer their popular menu items in larger formats suitable for catering, ensuring the food their customers love is available for bigger gatherings. Their beloved wings are the perfect example. They developed a chicken wing brand for their catering audience called The Wing Experience, which features Jumbo Wings in 50 flavors.

“We already have the jumbo wings, and we do them great. Robillard explains. “Our wings are amazing inside the restaurant. This is just a way to make that the highlight of the brand.” 

The Wing Experience is entirely virtual, and created to reach business customers where they’re at: on third-party marketplaces like ezCater. 

This unique approach helps Smokey Bones capture a larger share of the catering market, driving additional profits without having to change their core operations.

Accepting more orders using ezDispatch

As catering operations scale, most restaurants face logistical challenges, especially when it comes to delivery. Smokey Bones was no exception. In many instances, they actually had to turn away orders due to a lack of delivery capacity. ezCater offered an affordable and convenient solution: ezDispatch.

“We have looked at having our own drivers,” says Robillard. “In some cases we do, but there’s no way that we could possibly accommodate the volume of orders that we’re able to handle right now without ezCater’s ezDispatch.”

“ezDispatch really allows us to scale and to handle as many orders as come through,” she continues. “We don’t have to say no to anything. We’re able to accommodate any volume of orders without really taking away from what’s happening inside the restaurant.”

Driving repeat business with catering

Like many other catering restaurants, Robillard has discovered a powerful connection between catering customers and repeat business. She believes that a great catering experience can lead to incremental repeat visits, turning first-time catering clients into loyal restaurant guests, a cycle of business she refers to as a “flywheel.”  

“A B2B customer is also a B2C customer, it’s just a different occasion,” explains Robillard. “If you bring a catering customer into the funnel, it leads to incremental visitation. We look at every interaction with a catering guest as an opportunity to bring them back into our world.”

By consistently delivering exceptional catering services with ezCater by their side, Smokey Bones encourages catering clients to visit their restaurants, boosting overall customer loyalty and engagement that helps sustain long-term growth for the brand.

Leverage your catering for higher profit margins

Another benefit of partnering with ezCater has been the quality — and size — of the orders themselves.

“The customer that we have access to through ezCater is a high-value guest,” Robilliard says. “The orders are larger and the profits are larger.”

Additionally, expanding their catering business enables the company to maximize its existing resources by fulfilling larger orders during underutilized parts of the day.

“Most of our catering orders are out the door before 11:30 — before the lunch rush starts,” she continues. “So it’s really a way to capitalize on the things we’re already paying for. The lights are already on, we’re already in the restaurant, so we want to make our opening hours as profitable as possible.”

Whether you’re looking to expand your reach, drive repeat business, or maximize your restaurant’s profit potential, the right partner will make all the difference. Explore ezCater’s Growth Platform now to see for yourself how we can help you take your business to a whole new level.