Keynote Session / Wednesday / October 8, 2025 / 9:00 AM

Building a Scalable Catering Sales Engine: Strategies for Long-Term Growth

Growing a catering program isn’t about waiting for orders—it’s about creating demand and building a repeatable, predictable sales process.

In this session, we’ll cover:

  • How to build and train a catering sales team (even if you don’t have one yet!)
  • Outbound vs. inbound catering sales—what actually works?
  • Key performance metrics to measure success
  • How to sell catering without it feeling like “sales”

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Erle Dardick | Senior Partner | The Off Premises Growth Academy
Erle Dardick is an entrepreneur, author, restaurant veteran, and off premises thought leader for the Global Foodservice Industry. Erle’s mission is to help foodservice operators create successful off premises revenue channels. An expert in turning around struggling businesses, Erle's journey into catering began with acquiring a small Vancouver deli and developing it into a flourishing off premises operation. In a small office above that deli, Erle created MONKEY, The #1 Cloud Platform for takeout, delivery & catering. Through his vision of The Catering Institute, MonkeyMedia Software, and Off Premises Insights, Erle became a leader in a rapidly developing space. Throughout this process, Erle pioneered The 5 Pillars of Successful Takeout, Delivery & Catering which has since evolved into the 5 Stages, a leading strategic framework for the restaurant and foodservice industry. Since selling his company to ezCater in 2019, Erle has gone on to work with several more cutting-edge order management solutions including Olo and Lunchbox, in developing and refining their off premises strategies. Eventually, Erle came to realize that the best way he could serve the foodservice community was by sharing his insights on the principles of the 5 stages, rather than any singular solution. Today, as Founder & Senior Partner, Erle leads The Off Premises Growth Academy, focusing on industry advocacy for the off premises segment, as well as training and certification for foodservice multi-unit off premises channels. Erle earned his MBA at Simon Fraser University and lives in Vancouver BC, Canada.