MONKEY Catering Platform

48 hours left to give someone their moment. Yourself. Your teammate. That person at another brand you've always admired from afar. Bringing people together over great food is work worth celebrating, and the Top 30 Movers & Shakers in Catering is how we're doing it. Nominations close July 28. Two minutes now, a stage in Arlington in October. Link below: https://lnkd.in/eKMQ4QJQ

You built the program. Tell the story. Nominating yourself isn't bragging; it's putting the work on the record. The late nights, the systems you built, the customers who keep coming back because of you. The Top 30 Movers & Shakers in Catering is celebrating the Innovators, the Leaders, and the Experts moving this industry forward. If that's you, we want to hear about it. Nominations close July 28. Link below: https://lnkd.in/eKMQ4QJQ

For years, catering revenue grew because average order values kept climbing.    From $174 in 2021 to $416 in 2026. A pricing tailwind that made growth feel easy.    That tailwind is gone. AOV growth is now down to roughly 2%. Guests are price-aware, and pushing prices further risks eroding frequency that makes catering programs valuable in the first place.    Revenue growth in catering now comes from winning more occasions, not charging more per occasion.    Volume is the new growth lever.    And winning volume means investing in proactive sales, first-party ordering experiences that convert, and CRM that turns one time buyers into repeat accounts.  The brands building that infrastructure are pulling away. The ones waiting are plateauing.    This is one of seven data-backed findings in The State of Catering 2026. Free download at the link below.  https://lnkd.in/g_4CasEk #Catering #RestaurantStrategy #AOV #StateOfCatering2026 #CateringGrowth 

Somebody on your team makes catering look easy. It isn't. The one who catches the order change before it reaches the kitchen. The one who knows every corporate account by name. The one who turns a hectic Friday of deliveries into just another Friday. They'd probably never nominate themselves because for them it's all about the guests and their team. That's what you're for. Nominations for the Top 30 Movers & Shakers in Catering are open through July 28, and winners will be honored live on stage in Arlington this October. Give them the moment they've earned. Link below: https://lnkd.in/eKMQ4QJQ

60% of catering orders come from just 5% of guests.    Read that again.    Catering revenue is not spread evenly across your guest base. It is highly concentrated among a small group of loyal, high-value accounts who order regularly, spend consistently, and don't need to be convinced. They already believe in you.   The question is whether you know who they are.    The only way to identify, own, and retain those accounts is through first-party data. Marketplaces drive discovery, and that's real and it matters, but they don't hand you the relationship. And the relationship is everything.    If those orders are flowing through a marketplace that owns the data, not you, then you're growing someone else's asset.  This is one of several findings backed by real transaction data in The State of Catering 2026. Download the full report free at the link below.  https://lnkd.in/g6amUQYq #Catering #RestaurantGrowth #GuestRetention #StateOfCatering2026 #FoodService 

Here's our favorite kind of nomination: the one for someone you don't even work with. Everyone in this industry has that person. A catering director at another brand whose operation you quietly admire. An operator whose packaging made you rethink yours. A leader whose ideas you've borrowed more than once. Catering is a relationship business, and the best parts of it don't stop at your own four walls. Some of the greatest ideas in this industry travel brand to brand because someone was generous enough to share them. The Top 30 Movers & Shakers in Catering welcomes nominations across brands, and we'd love to see more of them. Recognizing great work wherever it happens is exactly what makes this community special. So think of the person you've always respected from across the industry, and let them know. Publicly. It takes two minutes and it might make their year. Game recognizes game. Deadline: July 28. Link below: https://lnkd.in/eKMQ4QJQ

Catering is no longer a side channel.    It is growing faster than any other dining segment. And the gap between operators who committed to it and those who didn't is already meaningful. And widening.    We just published The State of Catering 2026, built on real transactional data from 100+ restaurant brands, 8,000+ locations, and $1B+ in annual catering volume. Not a survey. Actual program data.    A few things the data shows:  •  Catering is growing at more than 2.5x the broader restaurant industry rate   • 60% of catering orders come from just 5% of guests. Your best accounts may already be yours.   •  Marketplace share of catering orders has nearly tripled since 2021 and operators without a first-party strategy are handing over the relationship that drives repeat business    The brands pulling ahead own the customer journey, sell directly, and build programs designed to drive repeat business. The window to build that advantage is still open. But it's closing.  There is a lot more in the full report. Download it free at the link below:  https://lnkd.in/gVcyEQEh #Catering #RestaurantIndustry #StateOfCatering2026 #FoodService #CateringTech 

Bringing people together over great food is a simple, profound act. It deserves recognition. Behind every flawless office lunch, every event that lands, every delivery that shows up right on time, there's someone who made it happen. And we think the people doing that work deserve a moment in the spotlight. That's why we're proud to partner with Fast Casual to present the Top 30 Movers & Shakers in Catering: a celebration of the innovators, leaders, and experts crushing it in catering right now. Nominations are open, and anyone can put a name forward: 🐒 Yourself (you know your story better than anyone) 🐒 A colleague (the teammate who makes it look easy) 🐒 Someone at another brand (our favorite; more on this soon) Winners will be celebrated live on stage at the Awards Parade in Arlington, TX this October. Nominations close July 28. Link below: https://lnkd.in/eKMQ4QJQ

Nominations for the Top 30 Movers & Shakers in Catering are open; presented by MONKEY 🐒 and Fast Casual. If there's someone in catering doing work worth recognizing, now's the time to put their name forward. Nominations close July 28, 2026. Submit your nomination using the link below. 🚀 https://lnkd.in/eKMQ4QJQ #Catering #MoversAndShakers #FastCasual #MONKEYCateringPlatform

Anyone can use AI to move fast. It takes 20 years of catering expertise to use it to build smart. From voice agents like Sadie to predictive data with GuestIQ, we are proud to be leading the charge in catering innovation; all driven by the best troop in the business. Check out the full breakdown from our CEO below! 👇 #TechInnovation #CateringIndustry #ProductDesign #MonkeyTroop