In this episode of Restaurant Catering Smarts, Michael Attias sits down with Amanda Quinn, Director of Catering at Viva Chicken—one of the fastest-growing Peruvian rotisserie brands in the U.S.
Amanda brings years of experience building off-premise programs across hotels, franchise concepts, and now a multi-unit restaurant group. She shares how Viva Chicken has scaled catering by focusing on people, process, and good old-fashioned hustle.
From her early days taking catering orders with pen and paper to leading a modern off-premise program, Amanda breaks down the strategies that actually move the needle—like hiring for personality, reading the room, adapting your pitch on the fly, and building relationships one conversation at a time.
She also reveals how she's using AI tools to identify high-value catering prospects, map out sample-drop routes, and save hours of manual prospecting time—giving her team more time to sell.
Plus, hear Michael and Amanda dive into:
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Why great catering salespeople think on their feet
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How to approach offices where no one wants to talk to you
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What she learned selling catering without any marketing budget
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Why chasing the "big dogs" in your market (Chick-fil-A, Jason's Deli, Jimmy John's) leads to gold
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How AI and tools like GPT are accelerating catering growth
If you're looking for real-world strategies to build catering sales, strengthen relationships, and work smarter—not harder—this episode delivers gold bar after gold bar.
Restaurant Catering Smarts is sponsored by CaterZen Catering Software, the all-in-one system that saves restaurant teams time, increases sales, and brings sanity back to catering operations.
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