How To Become A Catering Sales Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a catering sales manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Bill Thorne

The duty of a catering sales manager usually focuses on executing research and evaluations to recognize business chances. This is to improve the merchandising performance of the enterprise. You are expected to organize catering workers, mediate with prospective customers, and negotiate with dealers and outside parties. Also, you would be required to plan menus, perform catering sales presentations, and employ new workers. Your duties further involve selling, booking, planning, and handling all unique social occasions while ensuring high-quality client services. Furthermore, you have to monitor booking space, perform catering merchandising phone calls, take care of stock control, monetary strategies, budgets, and structuring shifts.

To be suited for this job, you must have excellent communication, organization, and leadership skills. You must also be able to operate in a team setting and be cheerful while operating. Additionally, you must obtain a bachelor's degree in business, hospitality management, or health care administration. An associate degree can also be used as an alternative depending on the employer's choice. You will earn a yearly average salary of $52,663 or $25.33 an hour.

What general advice would you give to a Catering Sales Manager?

Bill Thorne

Executive Director of the NRF Foundation and Senior Vice President of Communication and Public Affairs of NRF, National Retail Federation

Retail is the largest private-sector employer in the country, directly employing 32 million people and supporting 52 million jobs overall - roughly one-quarter of the U.S. workforce. While COVID-19 has presented new and unexpected challenges, retailers have continued to showcase the industry's resilience and adaptability time and again. The safety and security of customers and employees remains our greatest priority. It is no doubt that the professional environment has changed this year, but retail continues to offer a plethora of career opportunities for graduates and seasoned veterans alike.

ScoreCatering Sales ManagerUS Average

Salary

4.1

Avg. Salary $53,086

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.4

Growth Rate 5%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.24%

Asian 4.07%

Black or African American 3.24%

Hispanic or Latino 9.82%

Unknown 4.41%

White 78.23%

Gender

female 81.16%

male 18.84%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress Level

6.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.7

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

4.4

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a catering sales manager

Explore catering sales manager education requirements

Most common catering sales manager degrees

Bachelor's

70.9 %

Associate

16.9 %

Master's

4.5 %

Start to develop specific catering sales manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	8.92%
Booking	7.88%
Event Planning	4.90%
Wine	3.87%
Culinary	3.22%

Complete relevant catering sales manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New catering sales managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a catering sales manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real catering sales manager resumes.

Research catering sales manager duties and responsibilities

Leverage other sales office resources and administrative/support staff to achieve personal and team relate revenue goals.
Generate revenue, monitor booking pace and book repeat business while keeping quality consistently high.
Maintain efficient data activity in Delphi.
Maintain reports that evaluate revenue management performance including source of business, booking pace and geographical analysis.

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