Newk’s Eatery Catering Strategy Drives Revenue Growth

Newk’s Eatery has a menu made for catering. The franchise’s signature sandwiches, soups, salads and pizzas are the ultimate crowd-pleasing foods, perfect for tailgating, events or office lunches, with generous portions designed to feed teams and bring communities together.

“We’ll probably do about $2.2 million just in catering volume this year,” said Greg LaFoe, a Newk’s franchisee in the Atlanta area. “The food holds its quality over time. That's the number one thing. Unlike many restaurant offerings, items like sandwiches and salads are ideal for bulk preparation and maintain their appeal without needing to be piping hot.”

Instead of waiting for customers to come in, catering allows operators to bring the brand directly to them.

Catering appeals to a wide variety of customers, especially because the food holds so well. It’s popular with offices, as well as customers hosting their own events, like tailgates.

Newk’s catering business has found a strong fit with professional and corporate customers, especially those that need reliable food for recurring meetings, trainings and events. Medical and pharmaceutical sales teams are a major part of that demand, along with local businesses and larger companies.

“The medical and pharmaceutical sales clients are always going to be our best for performing with short-term clients because that's a large part of their day-to-day business,” LaFoe said. “We also do a good bit with larger companies, like car sales, as well as small local spots.”

Newk’s also tends to see repeat business from these types of customers.

Catering has allowed Newk’s franchisees to see success even as the market fluctuates. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many restaurants reduced staff, LaFoe made the decision to hire instead.

“Our biggest fear was that if you want to see a real disaster, have all the restaurant business come back and no employees to be able to take the orders,” LaFoe said. “And so what was happening was that when it started coming back, nobody could fulfill these large catering orders. However, we could.”

Catering is just one way Newk’s stands out in the marketplace. As the brand continues to grow, catering will continue to give its franchise owners an edge over the competition.