Today we’d like to introduce you to Alan Sweitzer.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Royal Catering was started way back in 1985 and while it was somewhat successful, it stayed small. In 2002, we purchased the business, as I saw so much potential for growth. We had good food and committed people. Over the years we have made so many menu additions and improvements and added a bunch of great employees that are the true stars at Royal Catering.
Although we have grown quite a bit over the years thanks to our loyal client base and constant referrals, Royal Catering remains a family owned business competing with large chains and even multi-national corporations. We believe that it is our culture and family values that allow for us to attract and keep the best employees and offer our clients a high-touch level of service that those giant companies just cannot duplicate.
While you have surely heard companies proudly stating that their customers come first, we at Royal believe that to best serve our clients, we must first take care of our employees. Happy, well-trained, engaged and long-term employees are our biggest point of difference from any competitors.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
While growing any business presents more challenges than one can imagine, a few specific obstacles come to mind. First off, we are in a very cash centric business with lots of payroll, overhead and taxes. I found out early that even if your sales are growing, it is still very easy to run out of cash. Early on there were many times where I had to put personal money into the business last minute to make payroll. Fortunately, that hasn’t happened in some time.
Additionally, when starting out, a business owner must fill roles for which they lack skills and struggle with daily until they are able to hire the right people to take on these arduous tasks. It’s sort of like having an org chart where your name fills most of the positions, which is tough!
Economic challenges will also test your mentality to a great extent. 2008-2009 were very tough as many of our clients scaled back their catering substantially and some of our clients even just vanished. However, recessions can also be great learning experiences as we really stepped up our sales efforts and retained the additional market share acquired over the recession into the recovery period.
Please tell us about Royal Catering.
At Royal Catering, we are not a restaurant. We are strictly catering and we service our clients all over the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex.
Our primary focus is on serving the needs of companies, colleges, universities and government organizations with regular catering needs.
Our position is that there is a big difference between “restaurant catering” (where by food is merely dropped off) and “real catering,” which includes complete, visually appealing set ups with the proper serving equipment and knowledgeable, service oriented Service Ambassadors.
With Royal Catering you get “real catering” that also includes:
• Dependability (peace of mind that our Service Ambassadors will arrive on time to set up your events and return to clean up as scheduled with your facilities left as they were found)
• Support (our Client Services Consultants will work with you to develop menu packages that best serve your needs and budgets)
• Selection & Variety (a large selection of delicious menu options)
• Flexibility (available for you any day / any time – 365 days per year)
• Special Dietary Needs (offering menu options for special dietary requirements)
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over the first thing that I would do would be to develop a strong support peer group, as being a business owner can get pretty lonely. Very few people know what it’s like to run a business, so surrounding yourself with other business owners is crucial. I am currently a member of Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) and this has helped me immensely.
Additionally, I did a poor job of goal setting for the first few years and as a result, growth over that time period suffered a bit. Aggressive goal setting or “company visioning” is a game changer as you create a vision for everyone of what the company will look like once the goals have been achieved from the context of having already achieved them.
Contact Info:
- Address: 800 S. Central Expressway
Richardson, TX 75080 - Website: www.royalcateringdfw.com/
- Phone: (972) 437-1466
- Email: royalcatering@sbcglobal.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/royalcateringdfw/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/royalcateringdfw/?ref=bookmarks
- Other: https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=jWJiWtniAtCMtgWJ7qLQCQ&q=royal+catering&oq=royal+catering&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l10.1220.5352.0.5487.20.14.2.3.3.0.241.1521.6j6j1.13.0….0…1c.1.64.psy-ab..2.18.1641…46j0i131k1j0i46k1j0i10k1j0i22i30k1j0i22i10i30k1.0.Gfy_QB0RqPg#lrd=0x864c1f81c619d303:0x780298b5d88dfb8b,1,,,
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
