Starting a corporate catering business in France

A market of its own within catering

Catering for private clients follows weekends and the wedding season. Corporate catering follows office diaries: Monday meetings, training days, board meetings, seminars, leaving drinks, end-of-year parties. Orders come in on weekdays, are delivered in the morning or at lunchtime, and are paid on invoice.

There is no reliable public statistic that separates this market from the rest of catering. What you can see is how it works: every company holds dozens of occasions with food a year, and the person ordering wants a reliable caterer rather than the cheapest one. Once they have found one, they keep it.

What French companies order

Five formats account for most of the demand. As a benchmark, here are Crozy's prices per guest in Paris and the Île-de-France region, delivery included except in Seine-et-Marne: they give an idea of order values in this market.

Why it is a steady market

Repeat business, first. A private client orders once for a wedding; a company orders for every important meeting, every training session, every intake of new staff. Ten loyal companies make a regular order book that the wedding calendar never gives you.

Office hours, second. Most deliveries happen Monday to Friday, in the morning and at lunchtime. It is a demanding job, but one that leaves evenings and weekends free if you want them, apart from cocktail receptions and the end-of-year season.

Higher order values, finally. A meeting for twenty, a seminar for fifty or a reception for a hundred mean orders worth several hundred to several thousand euros. Autumn is the high season: back-to-work, seminars, then the end-of-year parties. Summer is quieter; that is when you prospect.

What buyers really expect

The person placing the order is almost never the person eating. It is an executive assistant, an office manager, a facilities manager or a works council member, and their reputation is on the line every time. What they fear is lateness, something missing, and a surprise on the invoice.

So they expect clear per-guest prices with no hidden fees; a reply the same day, ideally within hours; dietary requirements handled without having to chase; on-time delivery, set up neatly, with a contact who answers the phone. Food quality matters, of course, but it never makes up for a late delivery on board meeting day.

Finding your first B2B clients

Start with your own network: former employers, friends' companies, local shops and tradespeople, business associations. The first orders almost always come from someone who knows you, and they become references for the next ones.

Make yourself easy to find. A business listing on online maps, a website with your formats and prices, pages by city and by type of event: most buyers search for a caterer on their phone, the day before or two days before. Reply to every enquiry within the hour if you can; the first clear answer often wins the order. In France, that means replying in French, even if your website also speaks English.

Then approach the right partners: meeting and seminar venues, coworking spaces, business centres, event agencies, training organisations. They receive catering requests every week and want a reliable partner to recommend. Offer them a clear menu and a reply time you keep, rather than a discount.

Finally, turn every client into a repeat client: a message after the event, a proposal for the next meeting, a year-end quote ready from September. Keeping clients costs far less than finding new ones.

Prices, quotes and payment: the rules of the corporate game

Companies compare quickly. Show a price per guest, with delivery included or clearly costed, and a minimum order you stand by: it protects your margin on small orders and stops you driving across town at a loss. A quote should go out within hours, not days: the person ordering often has several requests on the go, and remembers the first caterer who gave a clear answer.

Payment follows each client's habits: online payment for small orders, invoice and bank transfer for larger ones, a purchase order for some public bodies. Large companies and the public sector often pay at 30 days: plan the cash flow for it, especially at the end of the year, when deliveries pile up before payments arrive.

Dietary requirements are part of the order, not a negotiation: vegetarian, no pork, gluten-free, declared allergies. Have an answer in every format, show allergens on every label, and you will avoid the anxious call from the assistant ten minutes before the meeting. That detail is often what makes a client come back.

Expect to work in French. Your website can speak English, and some international companies in France will happily order in English, but most enquiries, invoices and phone calls will be in French, and the person ordering will judge you on how clearly you answer.

Starting with the Crozy brand and website

For a new corporate caterer, the slowest part is building that flow of regular orders. That is what Crozy brings to those who open a Crozy in their area: a website where companies order, sign and pay online, a full menu at set prices, local search campaigns run by Crozy for your area, and the website orders delivered there, of which you keep 75%.

These orders are assigned with no volume guarantee: before any commitment, we review the real potential of your area with you. Your own clients, found with the methods above, come on top with no percentage. The other ways to get started are compared in our franchise or licence comparison, and the full journey is in the step-by-step path to becoming a caterer.