Order taking for a caterer is the moment when a request (a call, an email, a form, an online cart) becomes a confirmed order that the kitchen can produce and accounting can invoice. Every re-entry between these steps is a possible error: a forgotten allergy, a miscopied quantity, an outdated delivery address. Here is how to move from the phone to the web without losing the customers who still prefer to call.
Three channels, one file
Most caterers receive their orders through three channels:
- **The phone**, for regulars and last-minute orders.
- **Email and forms**, for corporate requests and events to prepare.
- **The online store**, for boxed lunches, platters and recurring menus.
The problem is not the channel, it's what happens next: if the phone order ends up on a notepad, the email order in an inbox and the web order in a separate tool, the kitchen gets three formats, and someone copies everything into billing. The goal is a single order file, whatever the entry channel.
What online ordering changes
- **Available at all times.** The customer orders in the evening or on Sunday, without waiting for you to call back.
- **Less time on the phone.** Choices, quantities and allergies are entered by the customer, just once.
- **Fewer errors.** No transcription, no "I thought you said twenty."
- **A bigger basket.** Combos, sides and suggestions appear at the right moment.
- **Payment at the time of ordering**, or a deposit, depending on the type of customer.
What to look for in a catering store
A catering store is not a product store: it sells meals for a date, a time and a place. Make sure it handles:
- **time slots** and order lead times per product;
- **cyclic menus** for recurring customers (schools, daycares, residences, businesses);
- **pickup or delivery**, with fees by postal code or by kilometre;
- **online payment or payment on invoice**, depending on the customer;
- **multiple stores** if you serve several brands or several sites, with a single production;
- transmission **directly to production and billing**, with no re-entry.
Keep the phone, lose the notepad
Phone orders are not going away, and that's fine: a three-minute call with a loyal customer is often worth one more sale. What matters is that the person who answers enters the order in the same tool as the store, with the same products and the same prices. The order then reaches the kitchen in the same format as all the others.
How CM does it
The Online ordering module of Caterer Manager offers a store that reflects your brand, with or without payment (Stripe, Moneris, Global Payments), cyclic menus, time slots, multi-pickup, multi-store, tools for schools and daycares, dynamic combos and delivery by postal code or by kilometre. Every order goes directly to production and billing. For calls, quick order (Professionnel plan) enters a phone order in the same file. The GT-Photo app puts a photo of a dish in the store from your mobile phone.
Where to start
Put online first what is ordered most often and changes least: boxed lunches and platters. Keep events on proposals. After a month, compare the time spent on the phone: it's the first number to move.
