By Kelly Grogan, CRUMBS founder
Editor’s Note: The 2026 FIFA World Cup is now underway, but there is still time for caterers to capture business from watch parties, corporate gatherings and venue partnerships throughout the group stage, knockout rounds and July 19 final.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is underway and runs through July 19. For six weeks, 16 host cities across North America are welcoming 6.5 million fans in stadiums. And tens of millions more will be cheering on their teams from offices, breweries, event spaces and living rooms across the country. Every single one of those watch parties, corporate gatherings and fan meetups needs food.
Some $6.4 billion in tourist spending is expected to flow into the U.S. during the tournament, with nearly a third going to food and beverage. That’s not abstract potential—it’s a concentrated, time-limited flood of hungry people with money to spend. And it’s not just a host-city story. Whether you’re in Dallas or Duluth, your corporate clients are hosting watch parties, your brewery neighbors are scrambling for catering, and your community is gathering around this tournament.
If You Are in a Host City, There’s Big-League Opportunity
The 16 North American host cities—Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle in the U.S.; Toronto and Vancouver in Canada; and Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey in Mexico—represent a different scale of opportunity entirely. Hotels near stadiums and fan zones are hosting and booking group dining, team feeding and event catering contracts right now.
Reach out directly to the catering and events departments at hotels in your area. Introduce yourself, share your menu and capacity, and offer a tasting. A hotel that brings you in for a team dinner during the Group Stage is not a one-time order; it is a relationship that can generate consistent catering revenue through the knockout rounds and beyond.
Tap Into Fan Festivals
Fan festivals and official fan zones are another high-volume channel specific to host cities. These events run for weeks, drawing thousands of attendees per match day. And many have been sourcing local catering partners for hospitality tents, premium areas and sponsor activations. Although many major contracts are already set, opportunities remain for last-minute events, supplemental vendors and later-round programming.
International visitors represent a particularly high-value catering customer. Fans traveling from abroad want to experience American restaurants and local cuisine. Make sure your catering menu and packages reflect what makes your food distinctive.
The Easiest Catering Orders Are Already in Your Contact List
You do not need an outbound sales program to capture this revenue. The easiest orders come from people and businesses you already have a relationship with, and the approach begins with one simple question: What are you doing for the tournament? The answer is often “nothing yet”—and that is your opening.
Ask your regular corporate accounts whether their office is planning a watch event. Ask the event planners you have worked with whether their clients need catering. Ask the HR contacts who have ordered from you before.
Send a short, targeted email to every account you have delivered to in the past 12 months. Include a specific package, a price and a single clear call-to-action. One well-timed email to a warm list will outperform a month of cold outreach. The corporate client who already orders from you knows your food, trusts your execution and has a budget for catering. They just need a reason to place another order. The tournament is that reason.
Corporate Watch Party Catering Is the Fastest Win
HR managers and office administrators across the country are being asked by their employees what the company is doing for the tournament. Most of them have no answer yet. That is your opening. A pre-priced catering package built around a specific match window is an easy “yes” for any office that cares about the games.
The key is simplicity. Bundle food, delivery and setup into one per-person price. Give it a name that makes it feel like an event rather than a transaction—a Game Day Package, a Match Day Spread, a Group Stage Kit. Create versions tied to the tournament schedule so clients have a reason to book more than once: a Group Stage Bundle, a Knockout Round Package, a Finals Delivery.
When the structure is clear and the ordering is simple, the decision becomes easy. Reach out immediately to office managers and HR contacts.
Breweries and Venues Are Your Best Catering Partners This Summer
Most craft breweries and taprooms operate without a full kitchen. Every match-day watch event they host is a catering opportunity sitting unclaimed. You supply the food, they sell more beer, their customers stay longer—the incentive is mutual.
Walk in on a slow weekday morning and ask for the owner or events manager. Come with a one-page menu and a clear proposal: you cover the food for their match-day programming, they promote your catering to their audience, and you have exclusivity for their specific match windows. Bring a tasting tray instead of a sales deck. Let the food make the case.
One strong venue partnership can generate 20 or more orders across the tournament. Extend that same approach to sports bars, taprooms, golf clubs and entertainment venues—any space that will be showing the games without kitchen capacity. These are relationships worth building now that could pay off for months and years to come.
If They Cannot Find You Online, You Are Already Behind
Right now, people in your market are searching for catering to feed their tournament watch groups. Open your phone this week and search “catering near me” and “watch party catering” with your city name. Look at who shows up and how they are positioned. If it is not you, that is a gap you can close while games are still being played.
Updating your Google Business Profile is the highest-impact thing you can do this week. Add tournament and watch party catering language to your business description and post an update with your package details and pricing. It takes minutes and directly affects your visibility in local searches. Update your catering platform listings the same way. Expand your delivery radius for the tournament window and ask current clients for reviews now, so potential clients will see them when they’re searching for game-day catering.
Your Network Will Spread the Word Faster Than Any Ad
Your Chamber of Commerce is one of the most underused assets in local catering marketing, and this is exactly the kind of moment it exists for. Call them this week and ask if they are featuring member businesses in any tournament-related communications. A single mention in their member email newsletter can reach hundreds of local business owners at once—who may already be thinking about what to do for the tournament and have no answer yet.
Local Facebook groups are another direct channel worth activating. Most cities with any soccer culture—including youth and adult recreational leagues—have groups forming right now around watch parties and event planning. Join them, post your packages with clear details, and respond quickly when people ask questions. Venue and brewery partnerships serve a dual purpose here. When a partner promotes your catering to their audience as part of their match-day programming, you are reaching an audience that already trusts that venue. Ask for cross-promotion as part of any exclusivity arrangement you negotiate.
Every Catering Order Is the Beginning of a Longer Relationship
Every delivery you make during the tournament introduces your food to a room full of people who have never had it before. A corporate watch party for 25 people is not a $450 order; it is 25 people forming an opinion about your restaurant or your catering operation, any one of whom could place the next order for a company event, a client lunch or a holiday party.
The follow-up after delivery is where most operators leave the most money. Send a message the same day. Ask what they would change. Then ask about the next occasion—not as a hard sell, but as a natural next step. That question, asked consistently after every delivery, turns a one-time tournament order into an account that books four times a year—or more.
The tournament runs for six weeks. The catering relationships you build during it can last for years.
About the Author
Kelly Grogan is the founder of CRUMBS, a firm specializing in delivering high-volume incremental revenue within the hospitality space. Kelly’s expertise includes launching and managing catering programs, optimizing marketing efforts for growth, and building incremental revenue channels. Known for a hands-on approach and creative problem-solving, Kelly has successfully collaborated with major restaurant brands to enhance their visibility and profitability.
Kelly is hosting a Restaurant Catering Workshop in Arlington, Texas, on Oct. 6-7, 2026. Click here for more information and to register.
