Case study, enterprise foodservice
513% growth in catering orders at one downtown corporate cafe
A workplace cafe run by one of North America’s largest foodservice operators replaced a manual PDF-and-phone process with Rally Catering. In twelve months it turned one-off catering into a repeat-order engine.
Business and industry catering
Measured outcomes
- +513% catering order volume
- +526% revenue, dollars processed
- 70% of orders are repeat orders
- 67 hrs of manual work eliminated
- +33% order momentum, second half
- +46% multi-order buyers
Year over year, January 2025 to January 2026.
These are business and industry catering results at a single corporate cafe, reported by the operator.
What changed
From manual work to one connected flow
Before App8
- A static PDF menu, ordered by phone
- Card details read out and keyed by hand
- 67 hours a year lost to manual intake
With App8
- A branded menu, ordered online in minutes
- Payment captured online, by card or invoice
- Orders flow straight to invoicing, no re-keying
The challenge
Every catering order at the cafe started as manual work. Buyers browsed a static one-page PDF menu with no photos and little detail, then called in. Staff took card numbers over the phone, keyed each order into the POS by hand, built itemized receipts, and sent confirmations one at a time.
At about five minutes an order across 800 catering orders, intake alone ran to 67 hours of manual work. The process held, but it could not scale. Manual intake had become the ceiling on both capacity and repeat business.
People would open up a one-page PDF, no photos, no nothing. I have to literally manually take their credit card info… manually input their credit card number, expiry and CVV.
The solution
The operator moved ordering onto Rally Catering. Orders that used to mean a phone call and hand-keyed payment could now be placed online in minutes, then flow straight to invoicing with no manual reconciliation.
They don’t phone me, they get their delivery… I click complete, and they get a receipt.
The results
Between January 2025 and January 2026, the growth came from repeat buyers rather than bigger orders. Order volume rose 513% and revenue 526%, and seven in ten orders were placed by returning buyers.
How the operator drove repeat orders
Technology made the change possible, but the growth came from how the team used it. The principle was simple: make the first order easy, and the next one routine.
After a buyer’s first order, their account, preferences, and payment were saved for the next one. The team put the ordering link in email signatures, on QR codes, and on building signage, so reordering was always one tap away. Digital ordering did not replace the team’s follow-up calls. It gave them the time back to make them. And buyers could settle by card or by invoice without picking up the phone.
If they dropped App8 right now… it would change my life drastically.