For years, catering was treated as an operational afterthought — a nice-to-have channel that ran alongside the "real" business. That era is over. The data is unambiguous: catering is growing faster than any other dining segment, and the brands that recognized this early are sitting on meaningful competitive advantages right now.

We just published The State of Catering 2026, a market report built on real transactional data from 100+ restaurant brands across the MONKEY network — 8,000+ locations, $1B+ in annual catering volume, and 2M+ annual orders. Not a survey. Not a projection. Actual program data from operators who've committed to catering as a business.

Here's a preview of what we found.

Catering outpaced the restaurant industry in 2025 — by a lot

The NRA reports overall restaurant growth at around 3% — barely above inflation. The catering market as a whole is forecast to grow at 5.3% annually through 2032. MONKEY brand partners? They grew at nearly 7.6% in 2025. That gap is not a rounding error.

The reason for that gap isn't mysterious. It's execution. Brands growing at this rate are running catering with dedicated infrastructure — purpose-built technology, proactive sales processes, and first-party ordering experiences designed to convert and retain guests. The brands still managing catering the same way they manage walk-in traffic are leaving significant revenue on the table.

"The window for being competitive in catering is still open — but the brands building infrastructure today will be very difficult to unseat."

2026 started softer — but top performers didn't feel it

Q1 2026 came in below 2025 levels for most of the industry. Harsh winter weather, softer consumer sentiment, and resistance to large-ticket orders all put pressure on order volumes. But look past the headline number and the story gets more interesting.

Order volume dropped, but average order values rose enough to offset it — resulting in nearly flat net sales across the network. More telling: top-performing brands in Q1 2026 still posted 10–20% year-over-year growth. A soft market didn't slow them down because they've built programs that don't depend on favorable conditions to perform.

AOV growth has stalled — the battleground is order counts

Average order values have climbed steadily since 2021, rising from $174 to around $416 in 2026. But that growth rate is now down to roughly 2% — the post-COVID pricing tailwind has faded, guests are price-aware, and pushing prices further risks eroding frequency.

For brands accustomed to watching revenue grow on the back of pricing alone, this is a meaningful shift. Winning in catering now means winning more orders: more occasions captured, more repeat buyers engaged, more moments where your brand shows up first.

Guests have more choice — and they're using it

There are now more than 100,000 restaurants listed on ezCater alone. The catering marketplace has expanded dramatically, and guests are cross-referencing multiple providers before committing to an order. That's raising the bar for what a great ordering experience needs to look like.

In 2025, MONKEY brand sites saw 12 million guest visits. More visits, more comparison, more abandonment — unless the experience is built to convert. The brands owning that experience aren't just winning orders today; they're building the guest relationships that drive repeat revenue tomorrow.

Your best customers are already in your database

One of the starkest findings in the report: catering revenue is remarkably concentrated. A small group of repeat buyers drives the vast majority of program volume. The implication is clear — finding and keeping those customers is the highest-ROI move available to most operators.

Marketplaces can drive discovery. But they don't give you the customer data that makes retention possible. Building a first-party ordering experience — with real CRM, branded communications, and direct relationships — is what turns a one-time buyer into a program anchor. That's where sustainable catering growth actually comes from.

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