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Catering software development

For caterers who run events from a first enquiry to the van coming back, and who need the quote, the tasting, the dietary sheet, the staffing plan and the payment schedule to live in one system instead of a sales inbox, a spreadsheet and a chef's notebook.

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The problem

What goes wrong today

Where it usually starts

Catering sells a future event, and everything about it changes between the enquiry and the day.

  • The enquiry arrives through a website form that asks for a name and a message, so the sales person spends the first call extracting the date, the guest count, the venue, whether there is a kitchen on site and how many vegans are coming.
  • The quote is a document built by hand from last year's version, with per-head prices retyped and a line forgotten.
  • The client asks for a change; a second quote goes out; nobody is sure which version was agreed when the deposit arrives three weeks later.

Where it gets harder

Dietary requirements come in dribs and drabs by email, then as a seating plan with asterisks, and the chef turns it into a handwritten matrix the night before.

  • A tasting is booked in a diary that the kitchen does not see, so the samples are not prepared.
  • Staffing is a group chat: how many waiting staff, which chef, who drives, and whether the event clashes with the other one on the Saturday.
  • The balance is invoiced from memory, the final guest count was never confirmed in writing, and when the client disputes the number the only record is a phone call.
  • The owner cannot see the pipeline of enquiries, which quotes are waiting on a decision, or how much deposit money is held against events that have not happened yet.

Scope of the service

What the build covers

A custom catering build normally covers:

  • An enquiry form that captures date Guest count, venue, service style and a first dietary breakdown so the first call is about food rather than facts
  • A menu package library With per-head prices that the caterer sets and changes
  • A quote builder with line items Package choices, service charges, versions and an accept-online step that records which version was agreed
  • Tasting appointment booking that the kitchen can see
  • An event record that carries the schedule The venue notes, the final dietary and allergen matrix and the staffing requirement
  • A staffing plan With roles per event and a check for clashes across the calendar
  • A deposit and balance schedule with reminders
  • A delivery-only or on-site service flag That changes what the event record asks for

How discovery works

Discovery works through a real event with you, from the enquiry to the wash-up: how enquiries arrive and who answers them, whether quotes are built from fixed packages or from scratch each time, when a tasting is offered, how dietary information is collected and when it is frozen, who decides staffing and when, what the payment schedule looks like for a wedding against a corporate lunch, and what the chef needs printed on the morning. Each answer becomes a named workflow stage in the scope document.

  1. Enquiry
  2. Quote
  3. Tasting
  4. Confirmation and deposit
  5. Event plan
  6. Balance
  7. Delivered

Deliberately out of scope

  • Recipe costing and stock purchasing, payroll for event staff, and accounting itself. Those stay in their own tools and we connect to them where the link is worth it

When the scope grows

Scoping scenario

A contract caterer with twelve corporate sites and an events arm wants one system where the sites raise standing weekly orders against a fixed menu cycle while the events team runs enquiry-to-quote, with staffing drawn from one pool and a weekly view of who is where. That is a materially different build from a wedding caterer handling forty events a year, and the scope document says which one is being built.

Deliverables

What you receive

  • Discovery notes from following one event from enquiry to wash-up
  • A written scope document naming each stage from enquiry to delivered, with what is out of scope
  • Design of the enquiry form, the quote builder, the event record and the kitchen day sheet, on desktop for the office and a phone for the van
  • The build, deployed to your hosting or ours
  • Migration of menu packages, open quotes and future events from your spreadsheets or current tool, where relevant
  • Training for sales, chefs and operations, with a short written guide for the quote builder
  • Handover material and full ownership of the source code and your data

Process

How a project runs

Each stage maps onto the project view in your client panel. Durations are set in your proposal, never on this page.

  1. Onboarding

    Access, contacts, your current quote documents, package menus and a look at how events are tracked today.

    Project stage: Onboarding

  2. Planning

    Discovery with the owner, the person who answers enquiries and the head chef; the scope document and milestone plan are agreed.

    Project stage: Planning

  3. Design

    Clickable designs of the quote builder, the client-facing quote page, the event record and the day sheet, reviewed with the kitchen.

    Project stage: Design

  4. Development

    Built in stages: enquiries and packages first, then quotes and acceptance, then events, dietary matrices, staffing and payments.

    Project stage: Development

  5. Client review

    The team runs two real upcoming events through the system alongside the old spreadsheets and tells us where the quote or the day sheet is wrong.

    Project stage: Client review

  6. Revisions

    Quote layout, dietary matrix format and staffing rules are adjusted from the review and re-checked against the scope.

    Project stage: Revisions

  7. Ready for launch

    Packages and future events loaded, deposit reminders tested on addresses you control, checklist signed off.

    Project stage: Ready for launch

  8. Delivered

    The caterer runs enquiries and events on the new system; optional maintenance and hosting continue under their own agreement.

    Project stage: Delivered

Integrations

Commonly integrated

Systems this kind of business usually asks us to connect. Each integration is confirmed during discovery; none is assumed.

  • Card payment and bank transfer providers for deposits and balances
  • Accounting software for invoices, deposits held and balance reconciliation
  • Email and SMS providers for quote notifications, tasting confirmations and payment reminders
  • Calendar feeds so chefs and operations see events on their own devices
  • Document signing services where contracts accompany the quote
  • Staff scheduling tools the caterer already uses for casual event staff

How we would approach it

Worked example

Concept demo

A wedding caterer with a dietary freeze date

The situation

A caterer doing sixty weddings a season wanted an end to dietary requirements arriving by text the night before.

Why it is a custom build

This needs a custom build rather than a generic CRM because the dietary matrix is a first-class object with its own timeline, not a notes field, and because the guest count drives the kitchen order, the staffing plan and the final invoice at once.

The scope we would propose

  • Each event carries a dietary freeze date set from the event date
  • The couple get a link where guests\' requirements are entered against a guest list, with a count that the chef sees live
  • After the freeze date the matrix locks and any late change is recorded as an exception with who asked for it
  • The day sheet prints the matrix by table alongside the service schedule
  • The balance invoice uses the frozen guest count unless the caterer overrides it

Concept demo: a scoping scenario written to show how we would approach the work. It is not a delivered client project.

Pricing

What affects the price

Every proposal is priced on scope. These are the factors that move it most for this kind of build.

  • Event volume and whether quotes are built from fixed packages or from scratch
  • Client-facing quote acceptance and how many versions are typical
  • Tasting bookings and whether the kitchen needs them on a shared calendar
  • Dietary and allergen matrix complexity and the guest-entry link
  • Staffing planning across events and whether casual staff log in
  • Deposit and balance schedules and the payment provider involved
  • Contract catering sites with standing orders alongside events
  • Migration of open quotes and future events
  • Hosting choice: your own hosting or ours

Start from a package

Catering enquiry package

Structured event enquiries, menu packages with your per-head prices, versioned quotes accepted online, tasting bookings, a dietary matrix per event, staffing plans and a deposit-and-balance schedule for caterers.

Custom build
View the package

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Would the package do, or do we need a custom build?

A caterer that quotes from a set of packages, offers tastings and takes a deposit and balance is usually covered by the catering enquiry package through configuration. A custom build is the honest answer for contract sites with standing orders, complex staffing across a pool, or dietary workflows that need their own timeline. Discovery is where we tell you which.

Can clients accept the quote online?

Yes. Each quote version has a client page where the client reviews it and accepts; the system records which version was accepted, when and by whom, and asks for the deposit at the same step if your schedule requires it.

How do you handle allergen information?

The system records what the client and their guests tell you and what your kitchen tags against each dish, then presents that as a matrix per event. It is a way to collect and print the venue's own records; checking them and deciding what is safe to serve remains the caterer's responsibility.

Who owns the system afterwards?

You do. Source code and your data, including quote history and event records, are handed over at delivery; hosting and maintenance are optional and separately agreed.

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