October 8, 2025 • 42 mins
In this episode of Restaurant Catering Smarts, Michael Attias welcomes Terry Matthews, Co-Founder of CaterLinked, a fast-growing community built to connect, educate, and empower catering professionals.
Terry shares how CaterLinked was born out of one big idea: that caterers don’t have to compete alone—they can grow stronger together. Through online groups, in-person meetups, and the newly launched CaterLinked Academy, Terry and his team are creating a space where operators can collaborate, share best practices, and accelerate their success.
Michael and Terry talk about the power of curiosity, connection, and community, and why open sharing—not secrecy—is the real key to innovation. They also dive into how education, culture, and technology all intersect to help restaurants turn catering into a scalable, profitable business.
Whether you’re a small operator looking for support or a multi-unit brand ready to grow, this episode will inspire you to rethink competition and embrace collaboration as your new business advantage.
Restaurant Catering Smarts is sponsored by CaterZen Catering Software — trusted by restaurants nationwide to simplify catering operations, save time, and increase sales.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:27):
Hello again, I'm Michael Attias, your host of Restaurant Catering Smarts and today's guestis Terry Matthews, co-founder of Cater Linked with a wealth of experience in restaurant
and catering operations.
Terry has dedicated his career to helping operators build stronger, more profitablecatering programs through Cater Linked.
He connects restaurants with vetted service providers, resources and solutions designed tosimplify operations and drive growth.
(00:53):
Terry brings a deep understanding of the challenges caterers face along with practicalstrategies to overcome them.
And we're excited to have him on the show today.
But before we get started, let's take a minute to recognize our sponsor, CaterZen CateringSoftware.
They help restaurants turn their catering chaos into calm.
Discover why restaurants trust CaterZen to save them time and increase sales.
(01:15):
Go to caterzen.com and sign up for a walkthrough of the software.
Now let's dive into this episode of Restaurant Catering Smarts.
How are you doing today?
I'm doing wonderful.
Thank you, Michael.
You know what?
love your intro music.
It's absolutely fantastic.
Thank you.
Sorry, go ahead.
(01:37):
Now, I'm super excited to be on the show.
Yeah, I've watched many episodes.
I've seen the ones posted on case of links.
Yeah, very, very excited to join you.
Thank you for having me.
Yeah, and we've known each other for a little while, so it is nice to get you on here.
But before I get started with questions and talking catering and what not, I like anicebreaker question em to get started.
(01:59):
So give me a number between one and 300.
Okay, so it's gotta be 16, which is my shirt number for my soccer team.
So sweet 16.
okay.
If you could speak one language other than your native language, what would it be and why?
Oh, 100%.
It would be French.
And then I would understand my girlfriend properly.
(02:20):
Your friend speaks French?
Oui, elle parle français très bon.
I say, say, ma, je parle français, je suis né à Paris, je comprends très bien, mais jeparle comme si comme ça.
Did you understand what I said?
Let me tell you, if your girlfriend says something under her breath, they need to know,just send me the transcript and I'll translate for you.
(02:44):
I was born in Paris.
fantastic.
I did not realize you spoke French.
That's good.
Redneck French, yeah.
That's awesome.
but I understand and I can crack jokes with Uber drivers, so I'm accomplished enough.
Yeah, yeah, and I'm trying to get my French citizenship back.
My parents took it away from me when I was 10.
(03:05):
Yeah, we moved over when I was two and a half and we became naturalized citizens.
So, you know, when you're 10, you don't have any.
you know, they didn't keep the French citizenship and whatever.
And I'm like, you know, in today's day and age, it doesn't hurt to have two, three, fourpassports.
You never know when you got to bogey out and have a place to go.
it could be useful.
Yeah, I've got two sisters and ships, one with the UK and one with Canada, which is whereI'm living right now.
(03:32):
what's crazy, people don't know this.
My birth name is Mikael, M-I-C-K-A-E-L, and the A or the E has the two dots over it.
But when they came over, all my papers are Michael, right?
Because Michael's the English equivalent.
So if I do get French citizenship, I'll be, I'll really have two identities like JasonBourne.
(03:55):
You know, he's got all these passports with different names.
They won't know that I'm the same person.
So.
We're going down a rabbit hole, let's get back into this.
I guess at one point, I didn't really know you when you were with Monkey.
I wouldn't say we were competitors.
You took one of my biggest clients.
(04:16):
No, mean, y'all really dominated the enterprise space.
And I think it all started when you took, unfairly, and there was nothing unfair about it.
You took most Southwest Grill, because you were bigger, more capitalized.
organization and y'all really built a following in the enterprise space.
uh When did you get, you know, let's talk about your background.
(04:40):
Like how did you get into restaurant tech?
Were you in the restaurant world before the catering world?
Yeah, my background, yeah, I've been in construction accounting and with software.
I've always been in the software world, tech world, but did that, went into manufacturingsoftware for a bit.
(05:02):
But then when I came over to Canada, I met up with Moe Eskari and that was in the gamingindustry.
as we worked on...
and integration together back in 2004.
So I've known Mo for like many, many years.
And that was to integrate Paradise Poker with the platforms that we were putting together.
(05:26):
that's how I got to know Mo.
And then shortly, shortly-ish after that, I met up with Earl, monk media software in 2010,where Mo was there as well.
So we teamed up again.
media software.
that's where I joined.
That's where the monkey experience started.
(05:47):
And so I guess you were always a product manager.
Actually, no, you know, I've bounced bounced around between being a product manager andsorry project manager and And a developer software developer.
So it's I was I was in there with the with the code.
Hey, I love covering Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
(06:08):
Yeah, so that was my background So I bounced a bounce between coding and projectmanagement and I did that quite a bit join monkey media as a project manager and um
And I missed the coding.
So yeah, you look back on even today.
Yeah, exactly.
But even today, you look at Ruby Tuesday's catering site.
(06:33):
I actually put that together with Rado and Jeff, yeah, the developer there.
So yeah, we put that together.
But I found my happy space in product management, because that was kind of working withdevelopers, working with clients.
Talking about the software and what was needed and I loved that space.
(06:54):
Fantastic.
know, let's talk about this because to be a product manager or a software, if you're not,you know, the path like Earl and I took the founder of most people know who he is, but if
you don't Earl Dardick.
was a founder of Monkey Media and he had a deli, like I had a restaurant and he created aplatform based on what he needed.
(07:15):
So really some of the best software companies are birthed from people in the industry thatknow it intimately and know the pain points and know how to design it.
You know, if you're a developer and somebody comes to you and go, we need this, you takeit at face value because you don't know.
You know, you probably have to ask a lot of questions now.
Is this like something that's universally applicable or is this just this one person hassomething that they need and no one else is going to need it.
(07:43):
I'm building it for nothing.
And I think that's the value somebody in the industry has is you could quickly quicklyspot something go, my God, why didn't I think of that?
We knew this yesterday or hey, that's great.
You want it.
But like you have a very fringe case that I can't monetize.
you know, this investment.
(08:03):
How did you go about learning the catering industry?
Because obviously now with CaterLink, and we'll talk about CaterLink and how that cameabout.
How did you go about becoming sort of a catering nerd?
Because obviously there's far more to developing software than knowing how to code.
You need to understand workflows and why something is needed, right?
(08:26):
Absolutely.
I had huge benefit in being with Earl Dardick.
I learned so much and I'm still learning um from Earl.
It's amazing when you actually go into restaurants, actually there you witness itfirsthand.
It changes your perspective.
(08:47):
A lot of people...
You see them sat on the other side of a video conference call and they talk to people, butactually being there in person, that's a completely different experience.
um And learning the business, it's all about the relationships that you have with peopleand just following their journey, following the day in the life of certain people, the
(09:12):
stakeholders.
It's been wonderful, but I've had...
the benefit of learning from uh Tracy Volio as well.
She used to train us now with new catering connections like her.
The education that I was given at Monkey through these people that been involved in theindustry has been phenomenal.
(09:35):
But yeah, it's being out there, being involved in things and looking at the problemspeople face.
That's really uh where my first-hand learning.
came from.
Yeah, it's one.
oh
say you spend in the field?
Like if you had to say you spend 10 days, you know, a day a month going out and visitingwith clients, you know, what would you say?
(09:58):
It was never enough is the honest answer.
I loved being out there.
It was amazing.
Even spending time with call centers, that was incredible.
I've been to three or four call centers, even the first party call centers, third partycall centers.
(10:19):
It's incredible to actually see the calls coming through, the speed and the accuracythat...
those operators take orders and the suggestions that they come up, the upsells, it'sfantastic.
And it's incredible.
It's amazing when you actually develop software and you think it's like perfect, this isthe solution, but you go out and I have so many notes that I take from those interactions
(10:47):
with people, because you spot.
These little tiny things that would make, would improve their lives.
And I love that, I absolutely love that.
definitely geek out on.
problem solving, but you know, the advantage that you bring is a fresh set of eyes, right?
Cause you're not tainted.
Like, you know, if you had a deli or a barbecue restaurant, Italian restaurant, and youcater for 20 years, you're very myopic and it's based on your specific, you know, problems
(11:15):
that you've dealt with.
And so you're to look at through those eyes.
Well, you have a fresh set of eyes, right?
You're like a newborn and it's like, I haven't seen this before.
I understand, but let me bring something from the gaming industry or
or just from the software, the UX, or something else as a different perspective.
that adds, there's a value to bringing that.
(11:37):
And that's, you know, that's.
you bring the curiosity as well.
You know, I love finding out about what people do and why they do it.
And that curiosity has really seen me through.
It helps.
I think I've always been curious ever since I was a kid and even as an adult.
(11:58):
Like I like to interview people like.
How'd you get into what are you doing and what's it like and how do you get customers?
It's like I have this insatiable appetite like I hated school because school isregurgitation You're not really learning you're memorizing or regurgitating learning is
critical thinking it's problem solving It's not rote memorization because really anythingyou need to memorize you can pick up in a book You can go online ask chat GBT.
(12:25):
I mean a monkey can rote memorize right?
It's it's more how do you think critically?
How do you solve problems?
How do you learn how to deal with people?
How do you get the best out of people?
those are the things that pump me up.
And, you know, unfortunately, I don't have enough developers to get everything I want todone as quickly as I want to done.
(12:47):
Right.
That's that's always a challenge.
Right.
It's always a balancing act.
Yeah, there's so many things.
So many things that I've wanted to do in the past.
So many good features and whatever.
There's so many factors that you have to factor in, including especially limitedresources.
That's the biggest one.
tell everyone my main job is like, I don't know if you remember like on the Ed Sullivanshow, they had the guy, the Chinese acrobat spinning the plates.
(13:14):
You remember that?
And it's like, one starts to slow down you got to go over here.
I'm just a plate spinner.
I got to figure out where to put the attention on which plate and not have any of thembreak.
So it's, that's my job is to, you know, herd cats and spin plates.
That should be my title.
Cat herder, plate spinner.
(13:37):
um So, know, in Monkey you work with all sorts of brands, right?
What did you see, and you know, what I'm starting to learn as we get into the enterprisespace.
They're different levels of players, right?
So a most Southwest Grill, they require their franchisees to have catering salespeople intheir territories.
(14:00):
They push catering.
It's part of their ecosystem.
It's a big part of their sales.
And they're not just taking easy cater orders and saying, we're in the catering business.
They're hustling.
They're doing full service events, drop off events.
And then you've got other brands that
You know, frankly, they say they need catering software.
All they really need is an online ordering portal and maybe a light CRM.
(14:23):
They're you know, they're not doing anything heavy duty.
What separates, you know, not to be sexist, the men from the boys, right in that arena andwhat you saw.
You know, for Mo's Southwest Grill specifically, it blew me away because we went to theirannual conference, did a few of their annual conferences, m fantastic events.
(14:48):
But it's, I loved presenting to the team, it's great watching the presentations, that wasall well and good.
But the action actually happened during the breaks.
And that's what blew my mind.
It was the catering sales managers.
And they literally had their phones out and they were working on the orders, makingchanges, they were calling up, they were following up on things.
(15:15):
They were constantly working, working those relationships that they had.
And that's what blew me away with them.
You're so right.
People think about...
you know, it's software that they need.
Software is going to solve my problems.
it's really, it's not.
Software is going to help you for sure.
It's going to facilitate um a catering program, but it's not, it really isn't going tosubstitute for a lack of process, a lack of strategy.
(15:44):
And that's the key.
And if you've got clear direction and you know what processes actually work,
then the software is secondary to that.
I shouldn't be saying this to Kate's own mom.
but it's true.
It's true because I did a million a year out of 104 city restaurant.
(16:04):
And what I use, we use two part paper and we use Excel spreadsheets.
And I mean, you know, a little red book.
I mean, it was very rudimentary in what we did.
So you don't need it.
It just makes what you do more efficient, more professional, and you can get more done andsave time, but it's not mandatory.
(16:26):
mean, it's definitely.
In today's day and age, you want to take advantage of technology, but not for technologysake, right?
But going back to the question, like, what separates the people who are players versus thepeople who say, oh, we cater and they have, you know, nice brochures and, but they're
more, you know, they don't really put in the resources, you know, what, what, what are youseeing out there?
(16:52):
What, you know,
Yeah, I think if you're truly going to go after it, you see people with five, six, sevenpercent of their business comes through catering, but you deal with the big players.
And they're knocking out 20, 30 percent of their business is catering.
(17:13):
And it's just amazing the effort and the energy that they put into uh catering.
It's really from the very top.
You have to have that buy-in you have to have that commitment towards catering and and yousee you see the the energy work its way through the team It's it's the the outreach the
(17:37):
the kind of the the cookie drops the kind going after people making the relationships inthe the local businesses Whereas the the people the the people that don't really get it
They're not doing that they put the catering sign up and expect orders to just flow in andyou're not gonna get
And you know shocks me is like.
I'm not the smartest guy in the world, admittedly, right?
(18:00):
And you've got people who running really successful chains and it's like, you'll spend25,000 on an ice maker, but you won't hire a catering sales rep, you know, and the amount
of money that you can bring to the bottom line, you can double the profits of an operationplus the free marketing.
just, there's a big disconnect for me and maybe it's just a heavy lift that people aren'tused to, you know,
(18:26):
I think it's easier, you I remember people would say, I was a waiter.
I have sales background.
Well, no, you're an order taker.
A salesperson knows how to knock on doors and form relationships.
And it's not the easiest thing in the world to make happen, right?
But if you figure it out.
It's amazing because you can amp sales.
(18:46):
I've always the franchises that I've worked with over the years.
I've said, look, I'm not in franchise sales, but if I were king for the day, so to speak,why aren't you recruiting people that have been in pharma sales, fortune 500 sales that
are outplaced and they're looking to replace that job with a business.
You can hire a sandwich maker.
(19:08):
You can hire a shift manager.
You can hire a guy that could go out in the community.
and generate a quarter of a million dollars, half a million dollars in catering sales.
And now all of a sudden you have these super unit economics because someone's out thereselling.
You can't tell me like, oh, I've got this cashier and she's really friendly and I'm goingto pay her $15 an hour to go knock on doors and generate catering and deliver catering
(19:34):
orders.
Like that's like, you know, you're not going to get anywhere, right?
I mean, you're not going to get anywhere with that.
Yeah, there are some incredible people out there that have such incredible skills that canform the relationships, which is so essential for catering.
And it's not just getting your foot in the door and kind of getting that first order.
(19:57):
It's the follow-up.
It's the dealing with the issues.
It's the, yeah, ensuring that you get on that catering rotation.
Because people aren't going to order the same thing every day of the week.
You want to have...
you know, one order every two weeks.
Yeah, that would be fantastic.
Regular business is fantastic.
and it's really about, I know that if I call you Terry to take care of me, you're takingcare of me, right?
(20:24):
And the buck stops with you if you have to get in your car, if you have to comp the order,I know that you're not gonna embarrass me and that's what I'm buying, right?
And so, you when you look at some of the marketplaces,
You know, I understand why the marketplaces exist, right?
I want the loyalty points for Amazon gift cards.
(20:45):
My company requires that my...
You know, um, expense accounting runs through there and we've got a national deal andwe're going to say 5%.
But at the end of the day, think truth be told, people would rather be dealing withsomebody and their backyard that they can pick up the phone and call at seven 30 in the
morning and go, Hey, my boss just laid this on me.
(21:08):
I need box lunches for 20.
Can you hook me up?
And you might say, look, I can't do box lunches, but I can get you a sandwich platter.
And they, know that they've got your back.
You're not getting that with an
hundred number you're not getting that with an app with door dash or uber you know sothere's a big advantage if you can build those relationships in the community you know and
(21:28):
some of my best
Relationships like you know running a restaurant's okay, but the catering like going outand working a factory a thousand people three shifts an hour and a half away Man, and
those people are so happy to see you and then you're out with your crew.
It's like a field trip So, you know I take them out to eat at a restaurant afterwards andwe're staying at a motel six Probably a motel five and a half where the hell we are uh You
(21:57):
know and eating at showny's for breakfast and you know the
guys are getting tipped.
I mean it's just like it's like a field trip you know when you get to go to do theseevents.
So I missed that part of it.
I don't know if you know this I had a bartending service in college.
I did not know that.
Yeah, so I had gone to some bar mitzvahs and weddings and noticed that all the bartenderswere the same.
(22:20):
They had these velvet bow ties and these ruffly shirts, which were outdated and they had achip coffee cup for scooping ice and they stirred every drink with the same stainless
steel spoon.
And I worked at a real bar and I was like, well, you know, if I got a
nice, you know, James Bond tuck shirt and bow tie and cummerbund.
(22:43):
And we'd had swizzle sticks and cocktail stirs and a scoop and all this.
We called it gentlemen bartenders and it really took off and you know, it was a fun littlebusiness to have in college.
It was a very fun.
So I guess I was in the business a long time ago.
And then I worked at a restaurant that the manager, he had experienced doing backstage.
(23:07):
Concert catering so you know like Aerosmith comes to town and they need all the back, youknow the green room Stuff and that was a big huge part of their business is having that
contract at the Mid-South Coliseum Oh my god, I think tickets were like probably 20 bucksto go see the Rolling Stones.
I'm dating myself Now you can't even buy a t-shirt for 20 bucks
(23:36):
But it was a big, it was a big thing.
um, anything else you want to add about restaurants and catering and, know, maybe somethings you see the successful versus the non successful, and then we can transition over
to, you know, to cater linked.
I definitely, um I mentioned it before, the people that take training um seriously, theorganizations that train their staff up.
(24:03):
um think we've seen that certainly through the catering institute, the work that we didwith the catering institute while I was at Monkey, um that supported the software so well.
um
and seeing people learn from the processes, the the tried and trusted m processes thathave been put together and the strategies that we've seen work with other organizations.
(24:37):
And it's out there.
The training is is there available, but I don't I don't see people uh really pushing theirstaff to to to work on that.
So that's that's actually going to be something that, you know, we're really focused onfor the for the next 12 months.
We're going to be really pushing that with our Academy that that we're kicking off withwith catering.
(25:03):
So so, yeah, that's that's the come.
That's the big news that I probably probably shouldn't share.
that's uh our launch is coming.
this, are you going to, are you going to announce it in Austin?
Well, this won't, this won't hit before Austin.
So I think, so, you know, I'm not going to leak it on social media coming soon.
(25:26):
So let's talk about cater linked, right?
So monkey sold.
Um, did you stay on a monkey?
when easy cater bought off.
the Easy Cater acquisition happened and I was there for about eight months during thatperiod, which was an interesting time because it felt like Easy Cater were just coming in
(25:49):
to kind of close monkey down.
um That's the feeling that I got.
um Certainly on the software development side, it kind of slowed down to a crawl andthen...
Yeah, the eight month point organization shifts happened and I was let go as part of that.
(26:12):
And the development of the monkey platform stopped at that point.
um So yeah, that was the big thing.
So yes, I was there during that easy cater period.
So it was an interesting time for sure.
Yeah, I don't know that I was told this directly, but I sort of surmise.
(26:33):
felt that easy cater bought monkey more as a defensive posture to keep somebody from likea new breeds or door dash buying it.
And then maybe having a leg up in the marketplace, having access to those enterpriseaccounts and you know, controlling the tech, maybe so, but you know, I guess it all worked
out.
So how did cater link come about?
(26:53):
Cause you know, I'm friends with our all.
I know he doesn't need, you know, I know he, he, can afford to eat tonight and ski.
So, you know, he's covered.
Uh, how did this come about and sort of what's the vision?
Like, where do you want to take it?
What do you want to do with it?
You know, explain it to everyone.
(27:14):
after I left Monkey, I did a stint at Onassis for a while um and COVID hit.
Then after that, I was with them for three years.
I then teamed up with Earl at Lunchbox.
So we did a short stint there, trying to bring catering to them.
um After that, we teamed up again.
(27:38):
And this time we moved out of the software world.
uh
focused on uh putting together the restaurant catering workshop with Networld Media, thefast casual guys.
So that was our big push last year and that happened in October um of last year.
(27:59):
What we saw was fantastic.
had the actual workshop itself, gave the keynote speech, great energy from that.
um
event.
I enjoyed speaking and being part of that and networking with all these people.
A lot of energy, a lot of good energy at that.
(28:20):
And I'm looking forward to going back.
Yeah, so yeah, that event, we had like 100,000 restaurant locations represented in theroom.
was a lot of energy, but you remember what it was like.
was like people that were brand new to the game, some people that were...
It's steeped in knowledge.
(28:41):
They've been doing catering for many, many years.
And the subject matter that we had, we had so much to go through and we just skimmed thesurface really during that session.
uh that was the feedback that we got from that was exactly that.
There's all sorts of different experiences in the room.
(29:01):
One day was just not enough to go through it all.
But the biggest bit of feedback that we got was from the people that couldn't attend.
It was too expensive or they couldn't afford, they couldn't get their companies to pay forhotel rooms, meals, travel, all of those things and they would have loved to have been
there.
But their organization just wasn't supportive.
(29:23):
that is shows so short-sighted.
So, you know, I tell people, do you know who Dan Kennedy is?
Jay Abraham, you know, those guys.
So Jay Abraham's a very high, high priced, uh, marketing consultant.
And in 1996.
I was reading success magazine and he had like a 20 page insert.
(29:44):
He partnered with the magazine.
was putting on a three day marketing workshop in LA.
It was $5,000.
Well, back in 1996, that's a shit ton of money plus travel.
And, you know, I won't, I won't tell you how a bag barred and steal to get into the room,but it got me down the path of direct marketing and using direct marketing to build
(30:04):
catering sales and niche marketing or whatever.
And as an impetus to that, I would
spend probably more money in a year on seminars, consulting, coaching groups, whatever,than I did to get a four year degree in university.
And it's like, all you need is one idea, right?
You go to Austin, you pick up one idea on a niche you didn't think about, and now youbring in $100,000 in sales for your brand.
(30:31):
How's it not worth that being in?
It's a it's residual.
It's not like I made the one sale and it's done right.
It's every single year if you figure something out, you can monetize that.
It's very short-sighted.
But you know, they'll buy some jingle that sounds good and won't show any ROI.
(30:53):
Where catering, you can show an ROI.
So.
Yeah, definitely, definitely.
But yeah, going back to your question, where did Caterlink come from?
It was exactly that conference.
The feeling that we got was, it was just amazing, the energy in the room, people justinteracting with other people, the need for that connection.
(31:16):
that personal connection and seeing people and being able to talk with people and buildingrelationships with people is fantastic and everyone learning from everyone.
So we decided people couldn't afford it so we were going to create that online and that'sreally where Caterlink came from.
And how's it going?
It's going fantastically.
(31:38):
The energy that we have within the community is great.
uh We've got just over 300 members now in the community.
You look at the...
The shows that we're putting together, got Kelly Grogan in there, we got Jennifer SaundersHaynes, we've got Moe Eskari, we got Eldaric, obviously, we got Erin Childs.
(32:04):
The list is kind of almost endless.
These shows that we're putting together, so much information that's happening in there.
And then Christina Clausen as well, bringing tech information as well as sales andmarketing.
So that's all these events that we're putting
together and that's on a monthly basis and it's I'm so grateful to these people.
(32:27):
We're a proud sponsor.
And I see all the content that's going out there.
Is there a charge to be part of catered linked?
For restaurant operators, it's absolutely free.
So that's it, free membership for restaurant operators.
need to go to caterlink.com to join.
this is, and this is what I'm gonna tell you, everybody watching is scrolling at least anhour a day on bullshit.
(32:55):
They're on Instagram, they're on Facebook, they're on LinkedIn, and you're gonna get moresharpening your saw.
learning how to sell more catering, whether you're an owner, you're a CEO, you're asalesperson, even if you're just an order taker, how can I make myself more valuable?
Because the more valuable I am, the more I can make.
(33:15):
You're crazy not to have your whole team participate in this.
Exactly.
It's absolutely free of charge.
One thing that we're setting up that we're super excited about right now is peer groups.
So we're just kicking off a new sales peer group.
we're looking for about six to eight people for this.
(33:37):
for it?
We've, no, this is a free service right now.
oh There are certain peer groups that are going to be extra, chargeable extra, but thisone's going to be run by a community leader within our space.
it's basically salespeople getting together, talking about sales, the issues that theyhave, and connecting.
(33:59):
And this is the heart of caterlinked.
That's really where people get together and it's recreating that whole restaurant cateringworkshop.
experience all over again.
So people can come together on a bi-weekly basis and talk with their peers about what'sgoing on in their lives.
And it's fantastic.
(34:20):
The other thing that complements that is our brand new app.
So we have an app.
So there's messaging within the app.
So you can connect with anyone in the community directly.
You get notifications on your phone.
You're there.
instantly through the app and the real time conversations is just wonderful.
(34:43):
It's wonderful to see.
you know, I look at the catering workshop is sort of like the appetizer.
Are you going to put on an entree type conference, you know, three days intense, you know,more heavy duty boot camp versus, you know, there's just not enough you can cover in a day
(35:04):
and a half.
Right.
Are you all thinking about doing something more, you know, more intense type of thing?
Yeah, so we're talking with Deliver That right now about putting on.
uh regional workshops and pulling in driver teams, for example, and that's doing in-personsessions.
(35:26):
I think that would be phenomenal.
Connecting people in real life, that's the best.
So that's going to happen for sure.
So yeah, super excited about that.
That's awesome.
That's really great.
Do you have any success stories from cater link?
(35:47):
I know it's it's very brand new in the grand scheme of life, you know, less than a yearold.
Any success stories that members of share you've heard?
Yeah, so one of the things, I was sharing this story the other day on LinkedIn.
Someone mentioned that they'd just been let go from a company.
(36:10):
Obviously, I won't mention any names, but I was saying, hey, come over to Caterlink totake a look at what's happening in here.
And there was a story in there, which was Lance Van Hemel.
He actually, he had the same experience, and he managed to
get a new position through catering and connecting with people.
(36:31):
And it was wonderful.
And he reached out to the community and immediately, you know, people were jumping in withsuggestions.
We connected him with some recruitment people and that were part of the community thatspecialized in the catering space.
And we connected them together and he has a new position.
And he's actually going to be leading uh our sales peer group.
(36:54):
as they he'll be.
Yeah, absolutely.
cool.
Well, you know, if you ever want me to do a webinar, jump on there and talk about stuff,I'm happy to
ah That would be an honor to have you on.
You mentioned already that you support the uh community through sponsorship with K2Zen.
(37:17):
We are super grateful for that.
Without your help, we wouldn't be able to put these things together.
Fantastic.
uh
look, ultimately it's symbiotic, right?
Because if you don't have educated successful caters, they don't need catering software,right?
And so, you know, it's a, it's a short, medium and long-term play to build an industry,right?
(37:43):
You know, you got some people who are accomplished and then you want to bring everybody upand raise the standards and the education and the best practices because, you know,
the more successful they are, more technology they need and the more education they need.
And it all works together, right?
And so, um and it's wonderful.
(38:04):
wonderful.
The community that we're bringing together, it warms my heart.
Some of the things, the experiences that are shared.
Yeah, it's just fantastic.
Jerome Dees shared an experience, shared a letter that he received from one of hiscustomers.
(38:24):
And it was uh a child that had had an experience in his restaurant.
And it was just wonderful to read that and the interactions.
And he's wonderful.
Jerome uh puts on a show called Cater Caffeine every month uh with Cater Links.
And it's phenomenal.
(38:45):
put together a playbook for sales reps and it's just jam-packed full of such incredibleinformation that people can use.
It's instantly there for them to use that day.
It's so practical.
I used to do a lot of speaking and stuff, and know, and that speaks to cater link because,you know, I Gabe is super pumped up and it's like the energy.
(39:10):
It's not like.
For y'all, I can tell it's a mission.
Like, I know you're not getting rich off of this, and if it's a long play to monetizethis, you know, it takes a long time to get the sponsors and get the community and build
all this stuff up.
But I can tell you like your heart's in it, right?
It's not, you're not doing it because it's like, I've got a job and this'll, you know,this is paying the bills.
(39:33):
Like.
Yeah.
oh
recreate that right?
There's a certain energy what we say it caters in is Culture fit is so important to us.
We need people drinking our Kool-Aid, right?
uh I don't put cyanide in mine, but I do have Kool-Aid and so you want everybody excitedabout what the company's doing and oh god We're working on this and we're working on that
(40:00):
and there's such value in that for the whole community like people really should be takingadvantage of this because honestly at free I Mean what you're stupid if you're not I mean,
you know, if you're gonna be a professional you gotta huh?
in there, give it a try.
It's free, it's not going to cost you anything.
(40:20):
So yeah, absolutely.
need to do is learn one thing a year and it it's worth the time, right?
And it all builds in.
OK, we're running out of time.
Anything else you want to talk about?
Cater link being successful in catering.
um
I guess, uh by the time this airs, we'll have had the restaurant catering workshop.
(40:44):
So it was wonderful meeting everyone there.
Yeah.
The time machine.
But definitely, we just want to see people join Caterlinked.
You can sign up at caterlinked.com, download the app for instant connection.
If you want to take a look at the events that we have, we publish everything on YouTube.
(41:08):
So take a look at the Caterlinked channel on YouTube.
Take a look at all the playlists on there as well for each of the shows so you can take alook at those.
And peer groups are coming up.
And I mentioned the thing that we are launching at the Restaurant Catering Workshop, orhave launched now, at the Restaurant Catering Workshop, is the Caterlinked Academy.
(41:33):
And that is the next level of education in the catering space.
oh So that is going to be phenomenal.
So really, really excited about that.
Looking forward to hearing more about that.
So I really appreciate you taking the time.
You know, you you you're your energy is so infectious, like really is.
(41:54):
You've got such good energy.
I always walk away with a smile after talking to you.
You just you know, I guess once upon a time I looked at you as an enemy because you wereat Monkey Media and it's like, you know, not everybody on the enemy is a bad guy.
You're just you know, you're you're what do they say?
You're a good chap.
Is that what they say in England?
Yes, absolutely.
(42:16):
Yeah, you too.
Michael, you.
Thank you so much for having me on the show.
It's been an absolute pleasure.
And as always, we are so grateful for your support.
No, of course.
Thanks.
I'm gonna count us out.
Hello again, I'm Michael Attias, your host of Restaurant Catering Smarts and today's guestis Terry Matthews, co-founder of Cater Linked with a wealth of experience in restaurant
and catering operations.
Terry has dedicated his career to helping operators build stronger, more profitablecatering programs through Cater Linked.
He connects restaurants with vetted service providers, resources and solutions designed tosimplify operations and drive growth.
(00:53):
Terry brings a deep understanding of the challenges caterers face along with practicalstrategies to overcome them.
And we're excited to have him on the show today.
But before we get started, let's take a minute to recognize our sponsor, CaterZen CateringSoftware.
They help restaurants turn their catering chaos into calm.
Discover why restaurants trust CaterZen to save them time and increase sales.
(01:15):
Go to caterzen.com and sign up for a walkthrough of the software.
Now let's dive into this episode of Restaurant Catering Smarts.
How are you doing today?
I'm doing wonderful.
Thank you, Michael.
You know what?
love your intro music.
It's absolutely fantastic.
Thank you.
Sorry, go ahead.
(01:37):
Now, I'm super excited to be on the show.
Yeah, I've watched many episodes.
I've seen the ones posted on case of links.
Yeah, very, very excited to join you.
Thank you for having me.
Yeah, and we've known each other for a little while, so it is nice to get you on here.
But before I get started with questions and talking catering and what not, I like anicebreaker question em to get started.
(01:59):
So give me a number between one and 300.
Okay, so it's gotta be 16, which is my shirt number for my soccer team.
So sweet 16.
okay.
If you could speak one language other than your native language, what would it be and why?
Oh, 100%.
It would be French.
And then I would understand my girlfriend properly.
(02:20):
Your friend speaks French?
Oui, elle parle français très bon.
I say, say, ma, je parle français, je suis né à Paris, je comprends très bien, mais jeparle comme si comme ça.
Did you understand what I said?
Let me tell you, if your girlfriend says something under her breath, they need to know,just send me the transcript and I'll translate for you.
(02:44):
I was born in Paris.
fantastic.
I did not realize you spoke French.
That's good.
Redneck French, yeah.
That's awesome.
but I understand and I can crack jokes with Uber drivers, so I'm accomplished enough.
Yeah, yeah, and I'm trying to get my French citizenship back.
My parents took it away from me when I was 10.
(03:05):
Yeah, we moved over when I was two and a half and we became naturalized citizens.
So, you know, when you're 10, you don't have any.
you know, they didn't keep the French citizenship and whatever.
And I'm like, you know, in today's day and age, it doesn't hurt to have two, three, fourpassports.
You never know when you got to bogey out and have a place to go.
it could be useful.
Yeah, I've got two sisters and ships, one with the UK and one with Canada, which is whereI'm living right now.
(03:32):
what's crazy, people don't know this.
My birth name is Mikael, M-I-C-K-A-E-L, and the A or the E has the two dots over it.
But when they came over, all my papers are Michael, right?
Because Michael's the English equivalent.
So if I do get French citizenship, I'll be, I'll really have two identities like JasonBourne.
(03:55):
You know, he's got all these passports with different names.
They won't know that I'm the same person.
So.
We're going down a rabbit hole, let's get back into this.
I guess at one point, I didn't really know you when you were with Monkey.
I wouldn't say we were competitors.
You took one of my biggest clients.
(04:16):
No, mean, y'all really dominated the enterprise space.
And I think it all started when you took, unfairly, and there was nothing unfair about it.
You took most Southwest Grill, because you were bigger, more capitalized.
organization and y'all really built a following in the enterprise space.
uh When did you get, you know, let's talk about your background.
(04:40):
Like how did you get into restaurant tech?
Were you in the restaurant world before the catering world?
Yeah, my background, yeah, I've been in construction accounting and with software.
I've always been in the software world, tech world, but did that, went into manufacturingsoftware for a bit.
(05:02):
But then when I came over to Canada, I met up with Moe Eskari and that was in the gamingindustry.
as we worked on...
and integration together back in 2004.
So I've known Mo for like many, many years.
And that was to integrate Paradise Poker with the platforms that we were putting together.
(05:26):
that's how I got to know Mo.
And then shortly, shortly-ish after that, I met up with Earl, monk media software in 2010,where Mo was there as well.
So we teamed up again.
media software.
that's where I joined.
That's where the monkey experience started.
(05:47):
And so I guess you were always a product manager.
Actually, no, you know, I've bounced bounced around between being a product manager andsorry project manager and And a developer software developer.
So it's I was I was in there with the with the code.
Hey, I love covering Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
(06:08):
Yeah, so that was my background So I bounced a bounce between coding and projectmanagement and I did that quite a bit join monkey media as a project manager and um
And I missed the coding.
So yeah, you look back on even today.
Yeah, exactly.
But even today, you look at Ruby Tuesday's catering site.
(06:33):
I actually put that together with Rado and Jeff, yeah, the developer there.
So yeah, we put that together.
But I found my happy space in product management, because that was kind of working withdevelopers, working with clients.
Talking about the software and what was needed and I loved that space.
(06:54):
Fantastic.
know, let's talk about this because to be a product manager or a software, if you're not,you know, the path like Earl and I took the founder of most people know who he is, but if
you don't Earl Dardick.
was a founder of Monkey Media and he had a deli, like I had a restaurant and he created aplatform based on what he needed.
(07:15):
So really some of the best software companies are birthed from people in the industry thatknow it intimately and know the pain points and know how to design it.
You know, if you're a developer and somebody comes to you and go, we need this, you takeit at face value because you don't know.
You know, you probably have to ask a lot of questions now.
Is this like something that's universally applicable or is this just this one person hassomething that they need and no one else is going to need it.
(07:43):
I'm building it for nothing.
And I think that's the value somebody in the industry has is you could quickly quicklyspot something go, my God, why didn't I think of that?
We knew this yesterday or hey, that's great.
You want it.
But like you have a very fringe case that I can't monetize.
you know, this investment.
(08:03):
How did you go about learning the catering industry?
Because obviously now with CaterLink, and we'll talk about CaterLink and how that cameabout.
How did you go about becoming sort of a catering nerd?
Because obviously there's far more to developing software than knowing how to code.
You need to understand workflows and why something is needed, right?
(08:26):
Absolutely.
I had huge benefit in being with Earl Dardick.
I learned so much and I'm still learning um from Earl.
It's amazing when you actually go into restaurants, actually there you witness itfirsthand.
It changes your perspective.
(08:47):
A lot of people...
You see them sat on the other side of a video conference call and they talk to people, butactually being there in person, that's a completely different experience.
um And learning the business, it's all about the relationships that you have with peopleand just following their journey, following the day in the life of certain people, the
(09:12):
stakeholders.
It's been wonderful, but I've had...
the benefit of learning from uh Tracy Volio as well.
She used to train us now with new catering connections like her.
The education that I was given at Monkey through these people that been involved in theindustry has been phenomenal.
(09:35):
But yeah, it's being out there, being involved in things and looking at the problemspeople face.
That's really uh where my first-hand learning.
came from.
Yeah, it's one.
oh
say you spend in the field?
Like if you had to say you spend 10 days, you know, a day a month going out and visitingwith clients, you know, what would you say?
(09:58):
It was never enough is the honest answer.
I loved being out there.
It was amazing.
Even spending time with call centers, that was incredible.
I've been to three or four call centers, even the first party call centers, third partycall centers.
(10:19):
It's incredible to actually see the calls coming through, the speed and the accuracythat...
those operators take orders and the suggestions that they come up, the upsells, it'sfantastic.
And it's incredible.
It's amazing when you actually develop software and you think it's like perfect, this isthe solution, but you go out and I have so many notes that I take from those interactions
(10:47):
with people, because you spot.
These little tiny things that would make, would improve their lives.
And I love that, I absolutely love that.
definitely geek out on.
problem solving, but you know, the advantage that you bring is a fresh set of eyes, right?
Cause you're not tainted.
Like, you know, if you had a deli or a barbecue restaurant, Italian restaurant, and youcater for 20 years, you're very myopic and it's based on your specific, you know, problems
(11:15):
that you've dealt with.
And so you're to look at through those eyes.
Well, you have a fresh set of eyes, right?
You're like a newborn and it's like, I haven't seen this before.
I understand, but let me bring something from the gaming industry or
or just from the software, the UX, or something else as a different perspective.
that adds, there's a value to bringing that.
(11:37):
And that's, you know, that's.
you bring the curiosity as well.
You know, I love finding out about what people do and why they do it.
And that curiosity has really seen me through.
It helps.
I think I've always been curious ever since I was a kid and even as an adult.
(11:58):
Like I like to interview people like.
How'd you get into what are you doing and what's it like and how do you get customers?
It's like I have this insatiable appetite like I hated school because school isregurgitation You're not really learning you're memorizing or regurgitating learning is
critical thinking it's problem solving It's not rote memorization because really anythingyou need to memorize you can pick up in a book You can go online ask chat GBT.
(12:25):
I mean a monkey can rote memorize right?
It's it's more how do you think critically?
How do you solve problems?
How do you learn how to deal with people?
How do you get the best out of people?
those are the things that pump me up.
And, you know, unfortunately, I don't have enough developers to get everything I want todone as quickly as I want to done.
(12:47):
Right.
That's that's always a challenge.
Right.
It's always a balancing act.
Yeah, there's so many things.
So many things that I've wanted to do in the past.
So many good features and whatever.
There's so many factors that you have to factor in, including especially limitedresources.
That's the biggest one.
tell everyone my main job is like, I don't know if you remember like on the Ed Sullivanshow, they had the guy, the Chinese acrobat spinning the plates.
(13:14):
You remember that?
And it's like, one starts to slow down you got to go over here.
I'm just a plate spinner.
I got to figure out where to put the attention on which plate and not have any of thembreak.
So it's, that's my job is to, you know, herd cats and spin plates.
That should be my title.
Cat herder, plate spinner.
(13:37):
um So, know, in Monkey you work with all sorts of brands, right?
What did you see, and you know, what I'm starting to learn as we get into the enterprisespace.
They're different levels of players, right?
So a most Southwest Grill, they require their franchisees to have catering salespeople intheir territories.
(14:00):
They push catering.
It's part of their ecosystem.
It's a big part of their sales.
And they're not just taking easy cater orders and saying, we're in the catering business.
They're hustling.
They're doing full service events, drop off events.
And then you've got other brands that
You know, frankly, they say they need catering software.
All they really need is an online ordering portal and maybe a light CRM.
(14:23):
They're you know, they're not doing anything heavy duty.
What separates, you know, not to be sexist, the men from the boys, right in that arena andwhat you saw.
You know, for Mo's Southwest Grill specifically, it blew me away because we went to theirannual conference, did a few of their annual conferences, m fantastic events.
(14:48):
But it's, I loved presenting to the team, it's great watching the presentations, that wasall well and good.
But the action actually happened during the breaks.
And that's what blew my mind.
It was the catering sales managers.
And they literally had their phones out and they were working on the orders, makingchanges, they were calling up, they were following up on things.
(15:15):
They were constantly working, working those relationships that they had.
And that's what blew me away with them.
You're so right.
People think about...
you know, it's software that they need.
Software is going to solve my problems.
it's really, it's not.
Software is going to help you for sure.
It's going to facilitate um a catering program, but it's not, it really isn't going tosubstitute for a lack of process, a lack of strategy.
(15:44):
And that's the key.
And if you've got clear direction and you know what processes actually work,
then the software is secondary to that.
I shouldn't be saying this to Kate's own mom.
but it's true.
It's true because I did a million a year out of 104 city restaurant.
(16:04):
And what I use, we use two part paper and we use Excel spreadsheets.
And I mean, you know, a little red book.
I mean, it was very rudimentary in what we did.
So you don't need it.
It just makes what you do more efficient, more professional, and you can get more done andsave time, but it's not mandatory.
(16:26):
mean, it's definitely.
In today's day and age, you want to take advantage of technology, but not for technologysake, right?
But going back to the question, like, what separates the people who are players versus thepeople who say, oh, we cater and they have, you know, nice brochures and, but they're
more, you know, they don't really put in the resources, you know, what, what, what are youseeing out there?
(16:52):
What, you know,
Yeah, I think if you're truly going to go after it, you see people with five, six, sevenpercent of their business comes through catering, but you deal with the big players.
And they're knocking out 20, 30 percent of their business is catering.
(17:13):
And it's just amazing the effort and the energy that they put into uh catering.
It's really from the very top.
You have to have that buy-in you have to have that commitment towards catering and and yousee you see the the energy work its way through the team It's it's the the outreach the
(17:37):
the kind of the the cookie drops the kind going after people making the relationships inthe the local businesses Whereas the the people the the people that don't really get it
They're not doing that they put the catering sign up and expect orders to just flow in andyou're not gonna get
And you know shocks me is like.
I'm not the smartest guy in the world, admittedly, right?
(18:00):
And you've got people who running really successful chains and it's like, you'll spend25,000 on an ice maker, but you won't hire a catering sales rep, you know, and the amount
of money that you can bring to the bottom line, you can double the profits of an operationplus the free marketing.
just, there's a big disconnect for me and maybe it's just a heavy lift that people aren'tused to, you know,
(18:26):
I think it's easier, you I remember people would say, I was a waiter.
I have sales background.
Well, no, you're an order taker.
A salesperson knows how to knock on doors and form relationships.
And it's not the easiest thing in the world to make happen, right?
But if you figure it out.
It's amazing because you can amp sales.
(18:46):
I've always the franchises that I've worked with over the years.
I've said, look, I'm not in franchise sales, but if I were king for the day, so to speak,why aren't you recruiting people that have been in pharma sales, fortune 500 sales that
are outplaced and they're looking to replace that job with a business.
You can hire a sandwich maker.
(19:08):
You can hire a shift manager.
You can hire a guy that could go out in the community.
and generate a quarter of a million dollars, half a million dollars in catering sales.
And now all of a sudden you have these super unit economics because someone's out thereselling.
You can't tell me like, oh, I've got this cashier and she's really friendly and I'm goingto pay her $15 an hour to go knock on doors and generate catering and deliver catering
(19:34):
orders.
Like that's like, you know, you're not going to get anywhere, right?
I mean, you're not going to get anywhere with that.
Yeah, there are some incredible people out there that have such incredible skills that canform the relationships, which is so essential for catering.
And it's not just getting your foot in the door and kind of getting that first order.
(19:57):
It's the follow-up.
It's the dealing with the issues.
It's the, yeah, ensuring that you get on that catering rotation.
Because people aren't going to order the same thing every day of the week.
You want to have...
you know, one order every two weeks.
Yeah, that would be fantastic.
Regular business is fantastic.
and it's really about, I know that if I call you Terry to take care of me, you're takingcare of me, right?
(20:24):
And the buck stops with you if you have to get in your car, if you have to comp the order,I know that you're not gonna embarrass me and that's what I'm buying, right?
And so, you when you look at some of the marketplaces,
You know, I understand why the marketplaces exist, right?
I want the loyalty points for Amazon gift cards.
(20:45):
My company requires that my...
You know, um, expense accounting runs through there and we've got a national deal andwe're going to say 5%.
But at the end of the day, think truth be told, people would rather be dealing withsomebody and their backyard that they can pick up the phone and call at seven 30 in the
morning and go, Hey, my boss just laid this on me.
(21:08):
I need box lunches for 20.
Can you hook me up?
And you might say, look, I can't do box lunches, but I can get you a sandwich platter.
And they, know that they've got your back.
You're not getting that with an
hundred number you're not getting that with an app with door dash or uber you know sothere's a big advantage if you can build those relationships in the community you know and
(21:28):
some of my best
Relationships like you know running a restaurant's okay, but the catering like going outand working a factory a thousand people three shifts an hour and a half away Man, and
those people are so happy to see you and then you're out with your crew.
It's like a field trip So, you know I take them out to eat at a restaurant afterwards andwe're staying at a motel six Probably a motel five and a half where the hell we are uh You
(21:57):
know and eating at showny's for breakfast and you know the
guys are getting tipped.
I mean it's just like it's like a field trip you know when you get to go to do theseevents.
So I missed that part of it.
I don't know if you know this I had a bartending service in college.
I did not know that.
Yeah, so I had gone to some bar mitzvahs and weddings and noticed that all the bartenderswere the same.
(22:20):
They had these velvet bow ties and these ruffly shirts, which were outdated and they had achip coffee cup for scooping ice and they stirred every drink with the same stainless
steel spoon.
And I worked at a real bar and I was like, well, you know, if I got a
nice, you know, James Bond tuck shirt and bow tie and cummerbund.
(22:43):
And we'd had swizzle sticks and cocktail stirs and a scoop and all this.
We called it gentlemen bartenders and it really took off and you know, it was a fun littlebusiness to have in college.
It was a very fun.
So I guess I was in the business a long time ago.
And then I worked at a restaurant that the manager, he had experienced doing backstage.
(23:07):
Concert catering so you know like Aerosmith comes to town and they need all the back, youknow the green room Stuff and that was a big huge part of their business is having that
contract at the Mid-South Coliseum Oh my god, I think tickets were like probably 20 bucksto go see the Rolling Stones.
I'm dating myself Now you can't even buy a t-shirt for 20 bucks
(23:36):
But it was a big, it was a big thing.
um, anything else you want to add about restaurants and catering and, know, maybe somethings you see the successful versus the non successful, and then we can transition over
to, you know, to cater linked.
I definitely, um I mentioned it before, the people that take training um seriously, theorganizations that train their staff up.
(24:03):
um think we've seen that certainly through the catering institute, the work that we didwith the catering institute while I was at Monkey, um that supported the software so well.
um
and seeing people learn from the processes, the the tried and trusted m processes thathave been put together and the strategies that we've seen work with other organizations.
(24:37):
And it's out there.
The training is is there available, but I don't I don't see people uh really pushing theirstaff to to to work on that.
So that's that's actually going to be something that, you know, we're really focused onfor the for the next 12 months.
We're going to be really pushing that with our Academy that that we're kicking off withwith catering.
(25:03):
So so, yeah, that's that's the come.
That's the big news that I probably probably shouldn't share.
that's uh our launch is coming.
this, are you going to, are you going to announce it in Austin?
Well, this won't, this won't hit before Austin.
So I think, so, you know, I'm not going to leak it on social media coming soon.
(25:26):
So let's talk about cater linked, right?
So monkey sold.
Um, did you stay on a monkey?
when easy cater bought off.
the Easy Cater acquisition happened and I was there for about eight months during thatperiod, which was an interesting time because it felt like Easy Cater were just coming in
(25:49):
to kind of close monkey down.
um That's the feeling that I got.
um Certainly on the software development side, it kind of slowed down to a crawl andthen...
Yeah, the eight month point organization shifts happened and I was let go as part of that.
(26:12):
And the development of the monkey platform stopped at that point.
um So yeah, that was the big thing.
So yes, I was there during that easy cater period.
So it was an interesting time for sure.
Yeah, I don't know that I was told this directly, but I sort of surmise.
(26:33):
felt that easy cater bought monkey more as a defensive posture to keep somebody from likea new breeds or door dash buying it.
And then maybe having a leg up in the marketplace, having access to those enterpriseaccounts and you know, controlling the tech, maybe so, but you know, I guess it all worked
out.
So how did cater link come about?
(26:53):
Cause you know, I'm friends with our all.
I know he doesn't need, you know, I know he, he, can afford to eat tonight and ski.
So, you know, he's covered.
Uh, how did this come about and sort of what's the vision?
Like, where do you want to take it?
What do you want to do with it?
You know, explain it to everyone.
(27:14):
after I left Monkey, I did a stint at Onassis for a while um and COVID hit.
Then after that, I was with them for three years.
I then teamed up with Earl at Lunchbox.
So we did a short stint there, trying to bring catering to them.
um After that, we teamed up again.
(27:38):
And this time we moved out of the software world.
uh
focused on uh putting together the restaurant catering workshop with Networld Media, thefast casual guys.
So that was our big push last year and that happened in October um of last year.
(27:59):
What we saw was fantastic.
had the actual workshop itself, gave the keynote speech, great energy from that.
um
event.
I enjoyed speaking and being part of that and networking with all these people.
A lot of energy, a lot of good energy at that.
(28:20):
And I'm looking forward to going back.
Yeah, so yeah, that event, we had like 100,000 restaurant locations represented in theroom.
was a lot of energy, but you remember what it was like.
was like people that were brand new to the game, some people that were...
It's steeped in knowledge.
(28:41):
They've been doing catering for many, many years.
And the subject matter that we had, we had so much to go through and we just skimmed thesurface really during that session.
uh that was the feedback that we got from that was exactly that.
There's all sorts of different experiences in the room.
(29:01):
One day was just not enough to go through it all.
But the biggest bit of feedback that we got was from the people that couldn't attend.
It was too expensive or they couldn't afford, they couldn't get their companies to pay forhotel rooms, meals, travel, all of those things and they would have loved to have been
there.
But their organization just wasn't supportive.
(29:23):
that is shows so short-sighted.
So, you know, I tell people, do you know who Dan Kennedy is?
Jay Abraham, you know, those guys.
So Jay Abraham's a very high, high priced, uh, marketing consultant.
And in 1996.
I was reading success magazine and he had like a 20 page insert.
(29:44):
He partnered with the magazine.
was putting on a three day marketing workshop in LA.
It was $5,000.
Well, back in 1996, that's a shit ton of money plus travel.
And, you know, I won't, I won't tell you how a bag barred and steal to get into the room,but it got me down the path of direct marketing and using direct marketing to build
(30:04):
catering sales and niche marketing or whatever.
And as an impetus to that, I would
spend probably more money in a year on seminars, consulting, coaching groups, whatever,than I did to get a four year degree in university.
And it's like, all you need is one idea, right?
You go to Austin, you pick up one idea on a niche you didn't think about, and now youbring in $100,000 in sales for your brand.
(30:31):
How's it not worth that being in?
It's a it's residual.
It's not like I made the one sale and it's done right.
It's every single year if you figure something out, you can monetize that.
It's very short-sighted.
But you know, they'll buy some jingle that sounds good and won't show any ROI.
(30:53):
Where catering, you can show an ROI.
So.
Yeah, definitely, definitely.
But yeah, going back to your question, where did Caterlink come from?
It was exactly that conference.
The feeling that we got was, it was just amazing, the energy in the room, people justinteracting with other people, the need for that connection.
(31:16):
that personal connection and seeing people and being able to talk with people and buildingrelationships with people is fantastic and everyone learning from everyone.
So we decided people couldn't afford it so we were going to create that online and that'sreally where Caterlink came from.
And how's it going?
It's going fantastically.
(31:38):
The energy that we have within the community is great.
uh We've got just over 300 members now in the community.
You look at the...
The shows that we're putting together, got Kelly Grogan in there, we got Jennifer SaundersHaynes, we've got Moe Eskari, we got Eldaric, obviously, we got Erin Childs.
(32:04):
The list is kind of almost endless.
These shows that we're putting together, so much information that's happening in there.
And then Christina Clausen as well, bringing tech information as well as sales andmarketing.
So that's all these events that we're putting
together and that's on a monthly basis and it's I'm so grateful to these people.
(32:27):
We're a proud sponsor.
And I see all the content that's going out there.
Is there a charge to be part of catered linked?
For restaurant operators, it's absolutely free.
So that's it, free membership for restaurant operators.
need to go to caterlink.com to join.
this is, and this is what I'm gonna tell you, everybody watching is scrolling at least anhour a day on bullshit.
(32:55):
They're on Instagram, they're on Facebook, they're on LinkedIn, and you're gonna get moresharpening your saw.
learning how to sell more catering, whether you're an owner, you're a CEO, you're asalesperson, even if you're just an order taker, how can I make myself more valuable?
Because the more valuable I am, the more I can make.
(33:15):
You're crazy not to have your whole team participate in this.
Exactly.
It's absolutely free of charge.
One thing that we're setting up that we're super excited about right now is peer groups.
So we're just kicking off a new sales peer group.
we're looking for about six to eight people for this.
(33:37):
for it?
We've, no, this is a free service right now.
oh There are certain peer groups that are going to be extra, chargeable extra, but thisone's going to be run by a community leader within our space.
it's basically salespeople getting together, talking about sales, the issues that theyhave, and connecting.
(33:59):
And this is the heart of caterlinked.
That's really where people get together and it's recreating that whole restaurant cateringworkshop.
experience all over again.
So people can come together on a bi-weekly basis and talk with their peers about what'sgoing on in their lives.
And it's fantastic.
(34:20):
The other thing that complements that is our brand new app.
So we have an app.
So there's messaging within the app.
So you can connect with anyone in the community directly.
You get notifications on your phone.
You're there.
instantly through the app and the real time conversations is just wonderful.
(34:43):
It's wonderful to see.
you know, I look at the catering workshop is sort of like the appetizer.
Are you going to put on an entree type conference, you know, three days intense, you know,more heavy duty boot camp versus, you know, there's just not enough you can cover in a day
(35:04):
and a half.
Right.
Are you all thinking about doing something more, you know, more intense type of thing?
Yeah, so we're talking with Deliver That right now about putting on.
uh regional workshops and pulling in driver teams, for example, and that's doing in-personsessions.
(35:26):
I think that would be phenomenal.
Connecting people in real life, that's the best.
So that's going to happen for sure.
So yeah, super excited about that.
That's awesome.
That's really great.
Do you have any success stories from cater link?
(35:47):
I know it's it's very brand new in the grand scheme of life, you know, less than a yearold.
Any success stories that members of share you've heard?
Yeah, so one of the things, I was sharing this story the other day on LinkedIn.
Someone mentioned that they'd just been let go from a company.
(36:10):
Obviously, I won't mention any names, but I was saying, hey, come over to Caterlink totake a look at what's happening in here.
And there was a story in there, which was Lance Van Hemel.
He actually, he had the same experience, and he managed to
get a new position through catering and connecting with people.
(36:31):
And it was wonderful.
And he reached out to the community and immediately, you know, people were jumping in withsuggestions.
We connected him with some recruitment people and that were part of the community thatspecialized in the catering space.
And we connected them together and he has a new position.
And he's actually going to be leading uh our sales peer group.
(36:54):
as they he'll be.
Yeah, absolutely.
cool.
Well, you know, if you ever want me to do a webinar, jump on there and talk about stuff,I'm happy to
ah That would be an honor to have you on.
You mentioned already that you support the uh community through sponsorship with K2Zen.
(37:17):
We are super grateful for that.
Without your help, we wouldn't be able to put these things together.
Fantastic.
uh
look, ultimately it's symbiotic, right?
Because if you don't have educated successful caters, they don't need catering software,right?
And so, you know, it's a, it's a short, medium and long-term play to build an industry,right?
(37:43):
You know, you got some people who are accomplished and then you want to bring everybody upand raise the standards and the education and the best practices because, you know,
the more successful they are, more technology they need and the more education they need.
And it all works together, right?
And so, um and it's wonderful.
(38:04):
wonderful.
The community that we're bringing together, it warms my heart.
Some of the things, the experiences that are shared.
Yeah, it's just fantastic.
Jerome Dees shared an experience, shared a letter that he received from one of hiscustomers.
(38:24):
And it was uh a child that had had an experience in his restaurant.
And it was just wonderful to read that and the interactions.
And he's wonderful.
Jerome uh puts on a show called Cater Caffeine every month uh with Cater Links.
And it's phenomenal.
(38:45):
put together a playbook for sales reps and it's just jam-packed full of such incredibleinformation that people can use.
It's instantly there for them to use that day.
It's so practical.
I used to do a lot of speaking and stuff, and know, and that speaks to cater link because,you know, I Gabe is super pumped up and it's like the energy.
(39:10):
It's not like.
For y'all, I can tell it's a mission.
Like, I know you're not getting rich off of this, and if it's a long play to monetizethis, you know, it takes a long time to get the sponsors and get the community and build
all this stuff up.
But I can tell you like your heart's in it, right?
It's not, you're not doing it because it's like, I've got a job and this'll, you know,this is paying the bills.
(39:33):
Like.
Yeah.
oh
recreate that right?
There's a certain energy what we say it caters in is Culture fit is so important to us.
We need people drinking our Kool-Aid, right?
uh I don't put cyanide in mine, but I do have Kool-Aid and so you want everybody excitedabout what the company's doing and oh god We're working on this and we're working on that
(40:00):
and there's such value in that for the whole community like people really should be takingadvantage of this because honestly at free I Mean what you're stupid if you're not I mean,
you know, if you're gonna be a professional you gotta huh?
in there, give it a try.
It's free, it's not going to cost you anything.
(40:20):
So yeah, absolutely.
need to do is learn one thing a year and it it's worth the time, right?
And it all builds in.
OK, we're running out of time.
Anything else you want to talk about?
Cater link being successful in catering.
um
I guess, uh by the time this airs, we'll have had the restaurant catering workshop.
(40:44):
So it was wonderful meeting everyone there.
Yeah.
The time machine.
But definitely, we just want to see people join Caterlinked.
You can sign up at caterlinked.com, download the app for instant connection.
If you want to take a look at the events that we have, we publish everything on YouTube.
(41:08):
So take a look at the Caterlinked channel on YouTube.
Take a look at all the playlists on there as well for each of the shows so you can take alook at those.
And peer groups are coming up.
And I mentioned the thing that we are launching at the Restaurant Catering Workshop, orhave launched now, at the Restaurant Catering Workshop, is the Caterlinked Academy.
(41:33):
And that is the next level of education in the catering space.
oh So that is going to be phenomenal.
So really, really excited about that.
Looking forward to hearing more about that.
So I really appreciate you taking the time.
You know, you you you're your energy is so infectious, like really is.
(41:54):
You've got such good energy.
I always walk away with a smile after talking to you.
You just you know, I guess once upon a time I looked at you as an enemy because you wereat Monkey Media and it's like, you know, not everybody on the enemy is a bad guy.
You're just you know, you're you're what do they say?
You're a good chap.
Is that what they say in England?
Yes, absolutely.
(42:16):
Yeah, you too.
Michael, you.
Thank you so much for having me on the show.
It's been an absolute pleasure.
And as always, we are so grateful for your support.
No, of course.
Thanks.
I'm gonna count us out.
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