Latest / The Local Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Small Business, Google Maps, and Local SEO / How a Bakery Uses Google Maps to Capture Catering Orders
Transcript
- Lucas: If you run a bakery, a deli, or any food business that serves both walk-ins and bulk orders, there's a good chance your Google Maps listing is leaving a ton of catering revenue on the table. Luna: Yeah, most small food businesses treat their Google profile as just a digital storefront — hours, directions, maybe some menu photos. But the catering buyer is a completely different customer. Lucas: Exactly. The person looking for a dozen bagels for a Tuesday morning meeting is not the same person walking in for a single croissant on a Saturday. And Google Maps has specific tools to capture that higher-value order. Luna: So today, let's look at a real example. Which business are we talking about? Lucas: There's a bakery in Portland, Oregon, called Tabor Bread. They're a small artisan bakery — wood-fired ovens, sourdough, the whole thing. They've been around for about a decade, but their catering business was basically nonexistent. A few months ago, they decided to overhaul their Google Business Profile specifically to drive catering orders. Luna: What was the first thing they changed? Lucas: They added the 'catering' service attribute. It sounds obvious, but most bakeries don't check that box. Google has a whole set of attributes beyond just 'offer delivery' or 'has outdoor seating.' For food businesses, there's 'catering,' 'event space,' 'takeout,' 'curbside pickup.' Tabor Bread checked 'catering' and also added 'no-contact delivery' and 'staff wears masks' — which isn't catering-specific but builds trust. Luna: Right, and those attributes show up prominently on mobile. If I'm searching 'bakery near me' on my phone, I immediately see those little badges. If I need a party platter, I'm more likely to click on the one that says 'catering' in green. Lucas: Exactly. But they didn't stop there. They restructured their entire photo strategy. Before, their Google photos were mostly close-ups of individual pastries — beautiful, but useless for someone ordering for a group. So they uploaded photos of full catering spreads: a table with bagels, cream cheese, fruit, coffee carafes. They also added a photo of their catering menu as a clear, readable image. Luna: And they did something smart with the Q&A section. Lucas: Yeah, this is key. Most businesses leave Q&A blank. Tabor Bread proactively added questions and answers. Things like 'Do you offer gluten-free options for catering?' — answer: 'Yes, we can accommodate dietary restrictions with 48-hour notice.' And 'What's the minimum order for delivery?' — answer: '$50 for orders within five miles.' They basically wrote the FAQ that every catering buyer is thinking. Luna: That preempts the back and forth emails. Someone can get their question answered at 11 PM on a Sunday and place an order the next morning. Lucas: Right. And they also enabled Google Messaging. That's the chat feature where customers can message the business directly from the search result. Tabor Bread set up automated replies — within seconds, a potential catering customer gets a message saying 'Thanks for reaching out! We'll respond within 30 minutes during business hours. For urgent orders, call us at...' It sets expectations and keeps the conversation moving. Luna: Let's talk numbers. Did it actually move the needle? Lucas: According to the owner, within six weeks of making these changes, they went from roughly one catering inquiry per week to about five per week. And more importantly, the close rate improved because the leads were pre-qualified — people coming in via Google already knew the basics because of the Q&A and photos. Their average catering order is around $120. Luna: So that's roughly $600 a week in new revenue from just a few profile tweaks. Over a year, that's over $30,000. Lucas: And that's conservative. They also started posting weekly Google Posts specifically about catering. Instead of their regular posts featuring the 'croissant of the day,' they'd post 'Need 50 muffins for your board meeting? Order by 3 PM for next-day pickup.' That targeted language attracts the corporate buyer, not the casual walk-in. Luna: One thing I wonder about: if you're a very small shop, does this split your marketing focus? You're trying to appeal to two different audiences on the same profile. Lucas: It's a valid concern. But the key is to use Google's own segmentation tools. You can have posts that target 'catering' and posts that target 'daily specials' — they coexist. And the attributes and Q&A are always visible, so the catering buyer self-selects. The walk-in customer doesn't care about catering, so they just ignore those parts. Luna: I think the bigger lesson here is that most small businesses underutilize the Google Business Profile. They set it up once and forget it. Tabor Bread treated it like a living marketing asset. Lucas: Exactly. And I'd add one more thing they did: they uploaded a PDF of their full catering menu. Google now allows you to add menus as PDFs or images in the 'Products' section. That PDF is indexed and can appear in search results. So if someone Googles 'portland bakery catering menu PDF,' Tabor Bread's menu could be the first result. Luna: That's a smart SEO play. And it's free. Lucas: If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used in your own business, that's exactly why we do this. The way these episodes stay ad-free is listener support — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a simple way to keep the conversation going without sponsors. Luna: Yeah, and we really appreciate it. It lets us focus on the specific tactics that actually work, not on selling ad time. Lucas: So back to Tabor Bread — one last tactic that's easy to overlook. They added 'catering' as a service in the 'Services' section of their profile. That's separate from attributes. Google lets you list specific services like 'catering,' 'event planning,' 'wedding cakes.' When you add it, your business may show up in specialized search filters. Luna: I didn't realize that was a separate field. So attributes are the badges, services are more like a list of what you offer. Lucas: Exactly. And combined, they signal to Google that your business is relevant for catering queries. The algorithm sees the keyword density, the photos, the Q&A, the posts — and it ranks you higher when someone searches 'catering near me' even if your primary category is 'bakery.' Luna: So for a small food business listening right now, what's the one action they should take this week? Lucas: Check your Google Business Profile today. Go to the 'Services' section and see if 'catering' is listed. If not, add it. Then go to 'Attributes' and toggle on 'catering.' That's ten minutes of work, and it could unlock a whole new revenue stream. Luna: I like that. Small changes, measurable impact. And for the businesses that already have those basics set up, the next step is to audit your photos and Q&A through the lens of a catering buyer. Lucas: Right. Do your photos show group-sized portions? Do your Q&A answers address common catering hesitations? If not, you're leaving money on the table. Luna: Alright, let's wrap with a practical checklist for our listeners. Lucas, give us the top three things to do this week. Lucas: Sure. One: Add the 'catering' attribute and service. Two: Upload at least three photos of catering setups — platters, boxes, tables of food. Three: Write and post five Q&A entries that answer common catering questions, like minimum order, delivery radius, and dietary options. Luna: And if you do those three things, you're already ahead of 90% of local food businesses. Lucas: Next week, we'll look at how a local florist uses Google Maps to capture wedding and event orders — a similar playbook but with its own twists. Luna: Looking forward to it. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. See you next time.