Tastings that convert

A tasting is the most persuasive sales meeting a caterer or bar can run, and the most expensive if badly managed. Learn how to qualify clients first, choose between private, group and paid formats, run the tasting as a sales conversation and follow up until it ends in a signed contract.

Read the transcript

Tastings that convert.

A tasting should confirm a decision the client is already close to making.

Too many caterers use it to start the conversation instead, cooking a five-course meal for couples who have not set a budget, booked a venue or decided between three other caterers.

Qualify before you cook.

Before you offer a tasting, the client should have answered five questions.

Ask them on the inquiry form or in a short call.

Choose your format.

There is no single right way to run tastings.

Each format has a cost and a conversion rate, and the right one depends on your volume and the type of event.

Worked example: what a tasting really costs.

The figures here are illustrative.

Juniper Table ran free private tastings for every wedding inquiry that asked for one.

Run the tasting as a conversation.

The food will do much of the selling, but the conversation around it decides whether the client signs.

Use a simple agenda, and keep it to about 75 minutes.

Follow up within 48 hours.

The revised proposal should arrive within two business days, while the flavours are still in their minds.

Include the menu exactly as discussed, the all-in per-person price, the deposit amount and date, and how long the price and the date are held.

That is the lesson. The worksheet and the quiz are just below this video.

What you will be able to do

• Qualify inquiries so that tastings go to clients who are ready and able to book
• Choose a tasting format and fee policy based on cost per booking, not habit
• Run a tasting agenda and a 48-hour follow-up that move the client to a deposit

A tasting should confirm a decision the client is already close to making. Too many caterers use it to start the conversation instead, cooking a five-course meal for couples who have not set a budget, booked a venue or decided between three other caterers. Treat the tasting as the final step of a sales process, and it will convert. Treat it as a free dinner, and it will cost you.

Qualify before you cook

Before you offer a tasting, the client should have answered five questions. Ask them on the inquiry form or in a short call.

1. Is the date and venue confirmed? Without a venue, you cannot confirm kitchen access, service style or rentals.
2. How many guests, roughly? The number decides whether you can take the job and at what price.
3. What is the budget per person or in total? If the budget is half your minimum, a tasting will not fix that.
4. Have you seen our sample menus and prices? A client who has seen your all-in price and still wants a tasting is a serious buyer.
5. Who will make the decision, and can they attend? A tasting without the person who signs the contract usually leads to a second tasting.

Send clients who are not ready a helpful reply with sample menus and a note to come back when the venue is booked. Keep them on your list if they have agreed to hear from you.

Choose your format

There is no single right way to run tastings. Each format has a cost and a conversion rate, and the right one depends on your volume and the type of event.

Worked example: what a tasting really costs

The figures here are illustrative. Juniper Table ran free private tastings for every wedding inquiry that asked for one. Last season it held 40 tastings. Each cost about $90 in food and four hours of chef and owner time, valued at $45 an hour, so $270 in total per tasting. Forty tastings cost $10,800, and 14 couples booked. The cost per booking from tastings was about $771.

The owner changed three things. Tastings were offered only after a proposal was accepted in principle. Group tastings were held on two set evenings a month for couples with weddings under 150 guests. And private tastings cost $75 per person for up to four people, credited in full to the contract if the couple booked within 14 days.

The next season, 22 private tastings and 6 group evenings with 5 couples each produced 21 bookings. Private tastings cost the same $270 each, or $5,940, offset by about $2,400 in fees from couples who did not book. Group evenings cost about $600 each, or $3,600. The net cost was about $7,140 for 21 bookings, or about $340 per booking. Fewer free dinners, more weddings.

Run the tasting as a conversation

The food will do much of the selling, but the conversation around it decides whether the client signs. Use a simple agenda, and keep it to about 75 minutes.

1. Welcome and recap, five minutes. Confirm the date, venue, guest count and anything that has changed since the proposal.
2. Service story, ten minutes. Walk them through the evening from the guests’ point of view: when canapés go out, how dinner is served, how long each course takes, who clears and when the late-night food appears.
3. Tasting, forty minutes. Serve dishes in the order guests would eat them, plated as they would be at the event. Ask what they like and note every comment.
4. Dietary and logistics, ten minutes. Confirm allergies, cultural requirements, children’s meals, vendor meals and the venue’s kitchen access.
5. Next step, ten minutes. Summarize the choices they made, tell them when the revised proposal will arrive and what deposit secures the date.

Ask a closing question before they leave: is there anything that would stop you booking with us this week? The answer is the real objection, and you can address it while they are still at the table.

Follow up within 48 hours

The revised proposal should arrive within two business days, while the flavours are still in their minds. Include the menu exactly as discussed, the all-in per-person price, the deposit amount and date, and how long the price and the date are held. Add one or two photos of the dishes they tasted, plated at a real event.

If you hear nothing, follow up once after three days with something useful, such as a note on a seasonal ingredient for their date or an answer to a question they asked. Follow up again a week later to say the date hold is ending. Then let it go politely.

Track every tasting in your CRM with its format, date, cost and result. After a season, compare conversion by format and by event type. If group tastings convert as well as private ones for smaller weddings, move more couples into them and keep private tastings for the largest and most complex events.

Tastings for bars and trucks

Mobile bars can run cocktail tastings for couples and corporate clients, but alcohol brings licensing and advertising limits, covered below and later in this track. Many bars run the tasting with non-alcoholic versions of the signature drinks, and describe the spirit choices in words. Food trucks rarely run formal tastings; for private bookings, invite clients to visit the truck at a public event, and hold a reserved tasting plate for them.

In Canada and the GTA

Alcohol at tastings. Serving or selling alcohol at a tasting requires a licence or permit that covers that place and that kind of event. Under the AGCO’s Registrar’s Interim Standards and Requirements for Liquor, licensees shall not advertise the availability of complimentary liquor except in limited customer-relations situations, and contests involving free liquor are not permitted. So do not promote your tastings with lines like free wine pairings or complimentary cocktails. A licensee using a caterer’s endorsement may not promote, or invite people to, an event where it sells liquor under that endorsement. If you are unsure whether your tasting is covered, check the AGCO’s standards on safe and responsible sale and service or ask the AGCO before you invite clients.

Food safety. A tasting is food service. Under Ontario’s Food Premises Regulation, food service premises must have at least one certified food handler on site during all hours of operation. Run tastings in your inspected kitchen or a licensed venue, not in a client’s home, and follow the same allergen procedures you would use at the event.

Dietary and allergy information. Under PIPEDA, the information you collect about guests is personal information. Allergy and medical dietary details are more sensitive, and the OPC says express consent is generally required for sensitive information. Collect only what you need to feed guests safely, explain why you are asking, keep it secure and share it only with the staff who need it on the day.

Tasting fees and HST. A paid tasting is a taxable sale. If you are registered for HST, charge 13 percent on the fee and show it on the receipt; the CRA’s RC4022 guide explains what a receipt or invoice must show. When you credit the fee to the booking, show the credit clearly on the contract and invoice so the client can see they were not charged twice.

Deposits and consumer agreements. Wedding and private-event catering contracts are usually consumer agreements under Ontario’s Consumer Protection Act, 2002, which applies until the 2023 Act is proclaimed. Most catering bookings are future performance agreements, where the client pays now and you deliver later. Write the deposit, the payment schedule and the cancellation terms in plain language, because any uncertainty in a consumer agreement is interpreted in the consumer’s favour. Ontario’s official pages do not set a general rule on non-refundable deposits for event bookings, so get advice on your own terms rather than relying on a competitor’s wording.

Emails after the tasting. A client who inquired gives you implied consent under CASL for six months from the inquiry, and a client who books gives you two years from the purchase. Your follow-up emails should identify your business and include an unsubscribe link, even when they are personal notes about a proposal.

Timing in the GTA. Wedding tasting demand peaks from January to April, when couples who booked venues over the winter look for caterers. Corporate holiday party tastings cluster in September and October. Plan group tasting evenings for those windows, and hold weekday evening slots for couples who both work downtown and commute. In large cultural weddings, the decision often involves parents and grandparents. Ask how many family members will attend, and plan a tasting that allows them to try dishes in the order they would be served. Some families will want to bring an elder who leads cooking for the community; welcome that, and treat their comments as the decision they often are. For corporate clients, a tasting box delivered to the office at lunch, with a short note on each item, often reaches more of the decision makers than an evening tasting ever could.

This is general information, not legal advice. Check the official source or a lawyer for your own situation.

Worksheet

Download the worksheet and complete it for your own business, using Lantern & Lane as the model where it helps. Keep it with your marketing plan. It takes about 10 minutes.

Download the worksheet (PDF)