Catering-Manager.com incOur history
WHO AM I TO SAY I CAN HELP YOU?
Here's my story ...
Before starting my own business, I was the director of a catering service which, despite its strong growth, had an internal management system that caused us to lose several sales opportunities.
My irritants:
Using Excel files
Sylvain DupontPresident
We had to manage our customers’ orders and organize all the proposals, contracts and invoices in several Excel documents, so that each department had access to the ones that concerned them.This led to many errors, omissions, confusion and changes to orders. For example, we once had to go to the grocery store to buy products we’d forgotten on an order! We’ve also often had to change all the information in the Excel files for four different departments (kitchen, delivery, service and sales) simultaneously, at the last minute.
I was dismayed to see my team spending so much time planning events or transcribing information, rather than focusing on customers, supervising, creating and controlling food and labor costs. Unable to meet our deadlines for responding to requests for quotations, Excel caused us to lose several sales.
The lack of communication between departments
We also suffered from endless meetings with the kitchen and logistics teams, who had to pass on information about upcoming events to each other, due to a lack of communication between departments. What’s more, only the sales department had the information!
I was annoyed at not being able to anticipate work or provide clear answers to the various teams (chef, delivery drivers, waiters, etc.), and at having to constantly call on the sales department staff to check the status of upcoming orders.
Wasted time and money
When we hired new sales or delivery resources, it took at least two to three months before they were up and running on their own. We also spent long hours making calculations to establish our sales forecasts. This time spent training our resources and establishing our assumptions amounted to high costs. As a manager, it was my duty to reduce them and maximize the company’s profitability.
Unexpected events
As you can see, I was faced with a large number of problems, to which were added unforeseen circumstances beyond my control. For example, I had to :
- handle the high volume of orders
- deal with their many changes
- respond positively to the requests of very demanding customers
- maintain service quality despite staff shortages
All this worried me to no end, because I felt I had no right to make a mistake: a customer’s trust is hard to earn, but also very easy to lose.
Implementing Caterer-Manager
How can we put an end to this chaotic mess?
The trigger to introduce a technological solution to remove my irritants came when I signed a contract for a major international congress, where I tripled our usual orders in just 10 days! I have to admit, I was seriously wondering how we were going to meet this challenge.
So I started looking for software that would allow me to automate all our operations internally. A few existed, but alas, none of them offered a satisfactory French-language service, nor did they provide a specialized service for caterers, nor did they meet the need for flexibility and the level of complexity inherent in our operations.
So I thought I’d develop a tailor-made solution. But the time and energy involved was too costly. Through perseverance and intensive research, I came across the founder of “Caterer-Manager”, a solution in development, in beta version, affordable and payable monthly. So not only did I decide to implement the Caterer-Manager functionalities in our in-house system, I also had the honor of participating in its development.
The benefits of Caterer-Manager
- Reduce stress on my team members by freeing up their time to better manage and control costs.
- Improve workflow.
- Make the organization of tasks more harmonious, particularly in terms of structure and standard.
These actions have enabled me to continue to respond effectively to our customers’ needs, while offering the best possible service. I’ve been able to relieve myself of the incessant fear that an employee might forget to carry out an important task due to work overload, and get rid of the endless checks to make sure everything is in order.
Implementation challenges
I’ve encountered no insurmountable obstacles to implementing these improvements, which have enabled me to perfect our operations, fully satisfy my team members and offer them better working conditions so as to optimize our results and increase our performance.
This installation was a small challenge.
- We lacked human resources.
- We lacked the free time to properly integrate this solution into all our operations.
- I encountered a certain amount of resistance from our various teams, who were reluctant to make such changes.
But I persevered. I saw the potential of “Caterer-Manager”, and the advantages and benefits it could bring us in the long term. I was aware that implementing the solution and adapting the staff would take time and patience. In any case, I really needed it, in order to be capable of honoring the orders and deliveries of the congress.
In fact, I have to admit that these ten days of events were among the best and most successful of my entire professional life as a caterer!
A successful implementation!
The most exhilarating part of this story is that, despite the considerable extra work required by the convention, everything went off perfectly, without a hitch. Everyone knew what they had to do, and my chef was able to spend more time in the dining room supervising. The outcome of this congress was more than conclusive: no delays in orders and no errors!
I can therefore confirm that Caterer-Manager’s functionalities have had a considerable impact on our operations, right from the very first days after its implementation. “Caterer-Manager » has enabled us to :
- Reduce the stress suffered by our team by giving everyone the opportunity to better organize their work.
- Simplify our overall operations.
- Provide teams and managers with valuable savings in energy, resources and money.
- Save time on creativity, planning, improving customer service, optimizing employee control and supervision.
Caterer-Manager’s services are so efficient that they have saved me from having to hire an additional part-time employee in the sales department.
And to tell you just how much Caterer-Manager has helped me, in 2016, I decided to take over its management, with a view to propelling it into the market and bringing help to as many caterers as possible. I’d like to help them reduce their stress, save them time, money and energy, make their job easier and more enjoyable, and give them a little more time to live…