In this episode of Restaurant Catering Smarts, Michael Attias sits down with John Geyerman, Chief Strategy Officer at WOWorks, the parent company behind better-for-you brands like Saladworks, Frutta Bowls, and The Simple Greek.
John brings a wealth of experience from his days at Schlotzsky's and Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, and he dives into the complexities and opportunities of running catering operations across multiple fast-casual brands. From managing brand identities to streamlining logistics, John unpacks how WOWorks approaches growth, guest experience, and operational excellence—all while keeping catering front and center.
You’ll learn how they:
Whether you operate one brand or many, this episode is full of smart, strategic takeaways for scaling your catering game without sacrificing quality.
Restaurant Catering Smarts is sponsored by CaterZen Catering Software.
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✅ Catering as a Brand Builder: WOWorks uses catering not just as a revenue stream, but as a tool for brand exposure and customer acquisition.
✅ Multi-Brand, One Standard: Creating unified operational procedures across brands keeps execution consistent and scalable.
✅ Investing in Cross-Training: Shared kitchens and overlapping staff get more efficient when everyone is trained to support catering across all brands.
✅ Start Simple, Then Scale: For smaller operators, John advises starting with a narrow catering offering that can be consistently delivered.
✅ Integrated Tech Is a Must: POS, kitchen display systems, and online ordering must talk to each other—especially for catering success.
✅ Culture of Yes: Their “say yes” mentality when it comes to guest requests creates long-term catering relationships.
🔹 “Catering gives you the chance to introduce your brand to 20, 30, 40 people at a time.”
🔹 “It doesn’t have to be complicated to start catering. Just make sure it’s consistently executed.”
🔹 “In catering, you’re not just serving food. You’re managing an experience that reflects your brand.”
🔹 “Multi-brand catering works when you build operational simplicity into your systems.”
🔹 “I’d rather a franchisee do a small number of catering orders really well, than try to do everything and fail.”
🔹 “Every catering drop is a marketing event—it’s a tasting for future customers.”
🔹 “It’s not about selling food. It’s about building trust, so they order again and again.”
