Pranzi Catering

When Nicole “Nick” Mattiello originally began catering from his family’s modest Providence, RI, cafe, he took all kinds of clients. But even in tough times, Nicole has found it is more profitable to specialize in corporate clients, who place more value on his reliably superior food and dependable timing than on finding a cheaper price!

Originally, Nicole took on a variety of catering accounts, including providing lunch to several private schools. But he quickly found that what he was best at (and what paid best) was putting together and delivering upscale meals on very short notice. As a result, he walked away from larger, more price-sensitive type customers to focus exclusively on “rapid response” catering.

Even with the soft economy, Nicole’s business has continued growing via word of mouth from satisfied customers. Typical clients include nearby corporate offices ordering gourmet entrées for business luncheons and pharmaceutical reps needing upscale box lunches to be dependably delivered to a number of different doctors’ offices at specific times.

While many restaurants dislike “emergency” type requests, Nicole sees each last minute order as another opportunity to prove his dependability. Said another way, because he always finds a way to come through in a pinch, his regular clients come to rely on him for all of their catering, not just the emergencies!

Specializing in last-minute orders requires a “can do” attitude. For example, Nicole has trained his employees to never put clients on hold who are calling with last minute orders, and to always tell them, “No problem, we can do it!” without first checking with him. It also requires carefully limiting his menu to items which are especially flavorful, easily and rapidly prepared, and attractive after delivery.

To facilitate easy ordering by clients, Nicole has created a number of simple, easy to describe meal “packages” which offer a limited number of interchangeable options. (Of course, he can always customize meals if needed to accommodate special requirements.)

To ensure on-time dependability, Nicole’s team never takes the accuracy of a delivery address for granted. So if food is scheduled for delivery to a third party (e.g., a pharmaceutical rep buying lunch for a medical office), they call the intended recipient that morning. That way, they make sure the recipient is expecting the delivery and ask for details necessary to find the exact location within the medical complex before attempting the delivery (not after becoming late and lost).

The bottom line is that by providing reliably great food, promptly and to the right customers, Nicole’s business is both profitable and growing, despite tough times!