Episode 23: Scrappy, Smart & Scaling — Catering Growth with Amanda Quinn of Viva Chicken
Description
In this episode of Restaurant Catering Smarts, Michael Attias sits down with Amanda Quinn, Director of Catering at Viva Chicken—one of the fastest-growing Peruvian rotisserie brands in the U.S.
Amanda brings years of experience building off-premise programs across hotels, franchise concepts, and now a multi-unit restaurant group. She shares how Viva Chicken has scaled catering by focusing on people, process, and good old-fashioned hustle.
From her early days taking catering orders with pen and paper to leading a modern off-premise program, Amanda breaks down the strategies that actually move the needle—like hiring for personality, reading the room, adapting your pitch on the fly, and building relationships one conversation at a time.
She also reveals how she's using AI tools to identify high-value catering prospects, map out sample-drop routes, and save hours of manual prospecting time—giving her team more time to sell.
Plus, hear Michael and Amanda dive into:
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Why great catering salespeople think on their feet
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How to approach offices where no one wants to talk to you
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What she learned selling catering without any marketing budget
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Why chasing the "big dogs" in your market (Chick-fil-A, Jason's Deli, Jimmy John's) leads to gold
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How AI and tools like GPT are accelerating catering growth
If you're looking for real-world strategies to build catering sales, strengthen relationships, and work smarter—not harder—this episode delivers gold bar after gold bar.
Restaurant Catering Smarts is sponsored by CaterZen Catering Software, the all-in-one system that saves restaurant teams time, increases sales, and brings sanity back to catering operations.
United States
