MonkeyMedia Software, a provider of turnkey catering solutions for restaurant operators, has announced the launch of its MMS Catering Institute, an education and certification institute for restaurants implementing or improving catering and off-premise operations.

The MMS Catering Institute will ensure that executive, management, leadership, and all other team members are focused on the common goal of ensuring their catering programs are a success and that programs maintain scalability for future growth.

All of MonkeyMedia Software’s strategy and education services will now be offered by the Catering Institute.

Services of the Catering Institute include:

• Regional Catering Certification Workshops: These one-day regional workshops offer certification in the areas of sales, marketing, operations, delivery programs, and centralized services for catering operations. The workshops are open to restaurant executive teams, management teams, and front-line catering team members looking to further develop their catering opportunities. The first workshop, Catering Sales Management Certification, will be held June 6, 2013, in Chicago and is open to restaurant operators, franchisees, general managers, and catering sales managers.
• Catering Strategy and Consulting Services:Strategy and consulting services are provided at the company level to help restaurant brands develop a successful catering and off-premise business. Services include the development of a brand-specific catering program that covers everything from establishing a catering business model and specific menu to catering sales, marketing, and execution plans.
• Catering Education Curriculum: These customized, daylong sessions focus on training for all members of the catering team, including catering sales managers, store operators, delivery drivers, catering service representatives, and local store marketing managers. These modules are designed to enable restaurant companies to offer their catering customers a consistent, predictable, and scalable catering experience across all assets of the brand. This certification process is supported by educational manuals, regular training classes, and ongoing assessment.
• Industry Affiliate Certification:These daylong certifications are geared towards restaurant industry service providers who wish to provide their products and services to restaurants exploring the catering sales channel. By gaining a better understanding of the restaurant catering space, industry affiliates will be able to offer their services to a broader market. The MMS Catering Institute certifies industry partners in The Five Pillars of Catering: Leadership, Centralized Services, Sales and Marketing, Operations, and Delivery Services.
• Catering Speaking Engagements:These seminars are available for franchise conventions, corporate engagements, and industry conferences. These sessions focus on how restaurant concepts can build their catering and off-premise business channel, as well as best practices for improving existing catering operations. Our speakers are experienced and seasoned experts in the restaurant catering space.
• Catering Webinars: These webinars are a valuable resource to the restaurant and vendor community, often featuring successful operators, vendors, and professional service providers who have shown exceptional leadership in the industry.

“With the launch of our MMS Catering Institute, restaurant leaders will get the best strategy available in the marketplace to execute their catering business in and out of their four walls,” says Lisa DeFeo-Bass, vice president of the MMS Catering Institute.

“In order to offer a consistent customer service experience, there needs to be alignment throughout the entire organization,” she adds. “We bring teams together so every perspective is accounted for in the overall business strategy, because catering touches every single department. Once the strategy is understood, the restaurant companies can then execute a catering program efficiently and successfully.”

The MMS Catering Institute is complementary to the services of the company’s software division, which provides its proprietary Web-based enterprise software platform, MonkeyCatering, to restaurant operators.

“The impetus of the Catering Institute is deeply connected to our work in the restaurant industry over the last 15 years,” says Erle Dardick, MonkeyMedia Software founder and CEO. “To facilitate long-term change in our industry, it takes an incredible amount of intellectual energy, so education has become a really important part of the work we are doing. We are thinking about the catering space in restaurants 24/7/365.”

In addition to the Catering Institute workshops and services, MonkeyMedia Software’s Catering Institute Team will provide restaurant operators and their staff with access to valuable resources and experience.

A series of workshops, webinars, seminars, and on-site training sessions are all part of the certification process, and will provide ongoing educational training for all staff.