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.
Hansen is CEO of the Hansen Group and Bill Hansen Catering in Miami, where he celebrated his 80th birthday in August. (“I’m not retired, but I’m refired,” he likes to say.) Dietel is CEO and owner of Puff ‘n Stuff Catering, with locations in Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville. Lacassin serves as president and CEO of Tampa’s Good Food Events + Catering and Delectables Fine Catering. Together, they gathered for a frank conversation moderated by CFE News Editor-in-Chief Sara Perez Webber, tackling the topics keeping operators up at night: staffing shortages, shrinking margins and the relentless pressure to deliver Instagram-worthy experiences.
Staffing Challenges
All three agreed that while part-time event staffing has improved since the pandemic, full-time hiring remains difficult. “Catering is very, very hard,” said Dietel, pointing out that a typical 10-hour shift often involves unloading massive 24-foot trucks, hauling equipment into venues, setting everything up, then reversing the process after guests leave. “So part of what our secret sauce is where we go to find these folks. A lot of them are at the schools—we need young, able-bodied individuals that can come in—and then we treat them with dignity.”
Hansen—who teaches at Florida International University’s hospitality school and recently opened the Bill Hansen Catering & Events Laboratory there—has hired many former students. He also offers generous referral bonuses. “The best source of staff are the people that already work for you,” Hansen said.
But pay alone isn’t enough. All three emphasized respect, clear communication and making every team member feel valued. “We have to make them feel safe, accepted and significant,” said Hansen. “And I think by doing that, it creates a caring atmosphere, and it creates a transparent atmosphere with our clients.”
Combating Increasing Costs
Rising costs—particularly for proteins—continue squeezing margins. “Proteins are through the roof,” Dietel said, though guests are more understanding now that inflation has hit everything. One strategy: subtly right-sizing portions. Dietel described serving six-ounce filets instead of eight-ounce cuts while elevating sides and presentation—which aligns with health-conscious trends and helps to protect margins.
Equipment rental companies have increased their prices dramatically, said Hansen, so his firm has engaged in some “really tight bidding.” Hansen—who authored the business lessons book Plating Up Profits—says this has resulted in discounts and year-end rebates.
Lacassin offered a reality check: Food often represents just 20 percent of total costs. “Our biggest cost is probably insurance,” he said, noting auto insurance alone runs into six figures annually, and property insurance is also sky-high. “A lot of clients don’t realize that the food cost is maybe 20 percent. Eighty percent is the remainder—the logistics, the insurance, the hard costs.”
Getting the Word Out
Despite digital marketing’s proliferation, catering remains a relationship business at its core. “We’re really going back to the basics,” Lacassin said. While Instagram and other social media channels are important marketing tools, “if you get back to the root of what we do as hospitality companies, it’s really all about relationships and being able to know that people trust you with their events year after year, and event planners will send you those referrals year after year…. There’s no secret sauce. It’s about word-of-mouth and referrals.”
Lacassin pointed to a repeat client who’s hired his company for the past 10 years to cater a 300-guest gala fundraiser. “And this all started from a phone call 11 years ago from a woman in Lake Wales who needed a private party, and it’s expanded from there,” he said. “That’s what makes it so special.”
Dietel called online reviews “the new word of mouth.” Puff ‘n Stuff rewards reviewers with creative incentives like a $100 credit toward future deliveries on the company’s new e-commerce site and—for large clients—surprise gifts, like its Thanksgiving meal. “I want to keep them coming back.”
But responding to negative reviews is also crucial, said Dietel: “When it doesn’t go as planned, you need to be accountable. Show that you care, show that you listen, and then take the necessary steps to correct it.”
Hansen suggested three marketing strategies that have paid off for his company:
- Giving $25 American Express gift cards as an incentive for clients to post Google reviews.
- Saturating social media with wedding content (“We’re all over Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Pinterest,” he said.)
- Cultivating relationships with event planners and venues, the sources of 80 percent of his company’s business.
Dietel agreed with the importance of being top-of-mind with venue managers when clients who are touring venues ask for caterer recommendations: “We feed the venue managers. They’re part of our [pre-event] family meal. We bring them extra cookies. It’s pay to play, my friends.”
Meeting Guest Expectations
Social media has driven client expectations “through the roof,” said Dietel, with many clients wanting to copy Instagram ideas yet having no concept of their expense. When clients are willing to pay for those sky-high expectations, preparation is key. For an upcoming tasting for “probably the most complex event we’ve ever produced,” Dietel is directing his team to present everything—and they’re having a dry run to make sure it goes off without a hitch: “We can’t risk not hitting the mark.”
Clients increasingly request fusion concepts blending multiple cultures. “For example, the groom’s from Turkey and the bride’s from Honduras, and they want a special menu that will reflect the taste of each one of those cultures,” Hansen said. “And quite frankly, we love doing that.”
To help match client expectations with their budgets, Hansen Group now has three catering brands: luxury (Bill Hansen Catering), midscale (Alexander Event Catering) and budget (Lovables Catering & Kitchen). “That helps us make everyone happy,” said Hansen.
Menu Trends
On the culinary front, showstopping visuals and comfort food are both in demand. Dietel mentioned dramatic tomahawk steak stations—often $50 per person—as interactive presentations that work both in person and on social media. “Everybody wants the ‘wow’ factor,” he said. “But execution is killer. It’s the most important part of the whole thing.”
Hansen pointed to a 30-year menu staple—a plantain wrapped in bacon with mango chutney—as proof that simple, well-balanced bites endure. Lacassin agreed: “No matter how cool a lot of these stations are, a lot of the old-school great food is continuously popular. Some of the things that have been on our menu since day one are still very, very popular.”
AI’s Role in Catering
Looking ahead, all three expect AI to play a larger role in catering, though none believe it will replace hospitality’s human side. Dietel described using AI to brainstorm concepts for a galactic-themed event, generating naming conventions, themed sauce ideas and plate-up images: “We are using it to tell the story.”
“Anyone that fails to take a hard look at AI and figure out how you can integrate it into your business” is going to be behind the curve, said Hansen. Yet he cautioned: “High tech will never replace high touch. But without high tech, you limit your potential for high touch.”
Q&A Takeaways
The panel wrapped with practical advice on everything from outsourcing pizza stations to coaching young staff—leaving the audience with both big-picture inspiration and concrete takeaways to bring back to their own operations.
When an audience member who’d launched a South Florida catering business 18 months earlier asked for advice, Dietel emphasized financial preparation: “Even when you have a great year, make sure you put a ton of cash away. You never want to get into a situation where you’re on the defense.”
In addition, Dietel advised, “don’t over-commit yourself, because that’s the curse of a caterer.”
Lacassin recommended taking time to understand your strengths and limitations. “Figure out who you want to be and spend all of your time being that person,” he said. “If you want to be the best cocktail party caterer, then put all your efforts in that. You can’t be all things to all people.”
As the three caterers left the stage, audience members lined up to continue conversations that—like Lacassin’s Lake Wales client—might still be going strong a decade from now. And the advice offered by the experts at the Florida Restaurant Show underscores the importance of ongoing learning in an industry that never stops evolving.
“This is not a business where you can sit back and rest on a reputation,” said Lacassin. “It’s a business that involves constant evolution, constant creativity and constant change. So that’s literally what we do. We’re reinventing ourselves every day.”
