Erhart's Catering News & Media

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Friday, November 4, 2011

Corporate Holiday Lunch Specials from Erhart's Catering

Erhart's Catering has announced a special 2011 Holiday catering special available anytime Monday through Friday from 10am to 3pm and starting at only $13.95/pp. Please see the flyer below for details and call us at 714.826.3350 to schedule your party!

Flyer - Erhart's Catering 2011 Holiday Special

Erhart's Catering

Friday, October 8, 2010

Catersource Magazine Article :: X-Games

From: http://www.catersource.com/resources/library/focus-on/x-games

16 Highlights, 17 Days and 9,293 Meals Later
“Everyone got fed and everyone was happy,” says Alan Scott, general manager of Erhart’s Catering in Los Angeles. Erharts, a relatively small catering company (about 20 regular employees), won the contract for this year’s X-Games, July 29–August 1 at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The multi-day extreme sports events were the biggest catering operation Scott had experienced with Erhart’s, and a lot was riding on its success—hopes for 15 to 20 percent of the company’s annual income, for one thing. More important, though, the opportunity to show potential clients—and the company’s own staff—that Erhart’s can do the big stuff and do it well.

Was it a success? Of course. Were there challenges? Of course.

One early challenge was the inability to get a full liquor license for the Coliseum, because of a death at the venue earlier during a huge event. “They didn’t want to give us a license at all, but they finally did give us one for beer and wine,” says Scott. “For the VIP suites, it definitely would have been nice to have high-end liquor.”

Scott says the success of the event for Erhardt’s will help the company move ahead with its plans to launch a tailgating catering division, and to try to win other sports events. “Sports is sort of a recession-proof business,” he says.

Overall, Scott says, “It’s all stuff we’ve learned throughout the years, but it was so much validation that this is what we do and we’re doing it right. The payoff was great.”
He still has to do the numbers, but it looks like the X-Games gave Erhardt’s 15-20 percent of its catering revenue for the year—“the shot in the arm that we needed.”

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Read the full article at:
http://www.catersource.com/resources/library/focus-on/x-games

Friday, October 8, 2010

Catersource Magazine Article :: "Selling Big"

From: http://www.catersource.com/resources/library/sales-and-marketing/selling-big

Smaller companies win major events with strategy
It’s no surprise when big catering companies win the contracts for big events. They’ve got the staff, the resources and the experience to do everything from put together impressive proposals to serving up food to thousands of attendees.

But not every big event goes to a catering company with hundreds of employees. Two recent events—one in Los Angeles and one in Chicago—went to companies with about 20 full-time employees each. The two, Erhart’s Catering and Behind the Scenes Catering, used different tactics to sell themselves.

Relying on expertise and local experience
Erhart’s Catering in Los Angeles was competing not just against other U.S. catering companies, but against international companies when it bid on the catering contract for the X Games, extreme sports contests held July 29 through August 1. The company hadn’t really thought about bidding on something so big. “What it boiled down to was that we have worked with the director of food and beverage at the Los Angeles Coliseum (the venue for many of the X Games contests) in the past,” says Alan Scott, general manager.

Erhart’s is launching a tailgating division and the company had been talking to the staff at the Coliseum about tailgating there. The director of food and beverage called Erhart’s and asked if the company was interested in bidding on the X Games contract. “We didn’t even know what it was,” Scott says.

The relationship with the Coliseum let Erhart’s get its foot in the door and then, “We put together a great proposal,” Scott says. One of Erhart’s advantages was that its smaller size meant a more personal touch. “Things don’t have to go to a corporate office somewhere,” he says. “We were able to make decisions on the spot.”

The contract included catering meals for all of the corporate suites and meals for 50-300 staff, special guests, VIPs, the media and 50-200 athletes (depending on the day). Scott says this contract alone will be responsible for 15 to 18 percent of Erhart’s catering income for the year—and just before the event, he was hoping to get it to 20 percent.

The X Games is the biggest event Scott has worked on since coming to Erhart’s eight years ago. “We are what we call a boutique caterer,” he says. “Events like this don’t come along every week; they don’t come along every year.”

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Read the full article at:
http://www.catersource.com/resources/library/sales-and-marketing/selling-big

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