Whether you run a bar, restaurant or catering operation, the challenge is fundamentally the same: deliver a great guest experience repeatedly, even when the staff, venue, volume and pressure change.
When you invite staff members to help drive the outcome, you create a culture where people want to do better. When they know their opinions matter, they will proactively initiate ideas.
When times are tough, it’s natural to default to what feels safe, seems productive or has worked before. Sometimes, those instincts can keep us stuck.
Here’s a fresh look at the most common mistakes made by operators—and what stand-out hospitality businesses do instead.
Most catering operators treat packaging as someone else’s problem. You hand off specs to your supplier, they negotiate prices, and you move on to things that feel more exciting.
But packaging plays more of a role in a catering business than operators tend to realize. It directly affects your reorder rates, client acquisition costs and average order value. When you approach it strategically, it stops being a line item to minimize and starts generating measurable returns.
With the Rocky Mountains as its backdrop, the upcoming MIBE Summit—taking place Jan. 25-27 in Denver—is embracing a theme that feels especially fitting.
“It’s called ‘Unleash Potential,’ and it’s the idea that we’re all summiting our own mountain,” says Anthony Lambatos, the founder of MIBE (Make It Better Every Day), a culture-building and training organization for business leaders. “We all have our own challenges. How are we going to get to the top?”
As catering evolves, packaging continues to play a critical role in the customer experience. From food safety and performance to waste reduction and circularity, packaging is a way foodservice establishments can elevate their catering offerings. In 2025, we saw several innovations in food packaging, and we anticipate these trends will continue to expand in 2026.
Between them, they’ve catered everything from papal visits to intimate backyard weddings. But when Warren Dietel, Bill Hansen and Kevin Lacassin took the stage at the Florida Restaurant Show in Orlando in November, they came ready to talk about something more universal than their most glamorous gigs: the nitty-gritty of running a catering business in 2025.
Football season is in full swing, then there’s “Drinksgiving,” then New Year’s Eve, followed by the Super Bowl! The fall/holiday
By Allison Freeman, Element Event Solutions When it comes to holiday events, if you build it, they will come—and leave
By Ben Johnston, chief operating officer of Kapitus Critical issues continue to challenge small businesses in the hospitality sector, from
