Your catering order carries the approved menu, the closing count and the plates added at the hall.
Catering Management Software runs a caterer’s order book from the first enquiry to the night of settlement. Each event holds its date, venue, session, head count and menu, and every menu change is saved as a version the family approves. Quantities come off your own recipes and the closing count. Cooks, servers and vessels are booked against the event, hire items are marked out and back, and extra plates reach the bill.
- Your menus, recipes and per-plate rates entered before the first event
- Running orders, advances and vessel lists carried over from your registers
- One team in Bengaluru sets it up and picks up the phone after
What goes wrong before the software.
The count moved on the morning of the event
Eight hundred became eight hundred and eighty at nine in the morning. The purchase was done on Thursday, the rice is short, and somebody is sent to the market in a wedding shirt.
The last menu change never reached the kitchen
The last change came as a voice note at half past eleven at night. The printout in the kitchen was two versions old. The bride’s mother spotted the missing sweet before the first row was served.
Nobody wrote down the eighty extra plates
Guests kept coming, the counters kept serving. At settlement the family says the count was eight hundred, and you have nothing on paper to say otherwise.
We never know the real cost of a plate
Groceries for three events are bought in one trip at the APMC yard. Which wedding paid for itself and which one quietly did not, nobody can say. That is guesswork, not costing.
The vessels came back short
Handis, chafing dishes and a gas bhatti went to the hall. Some came back, some went to the next event straight from there, and two are missing. You find out weeks later.
The same cook was promised to two halls
One auspicious Sunday, two receptions. Both families booked months ago. The head cook, four servers and the big vessels were booked twice over, and the second client is told at the last minute.
How the work flows through it, step by step.
- 01
The enquiry and the tasting
A relative, a hall manager or a JustDial call brings the enquiry. The date, venue, session and rough count go in, menus are suggested, and a per-plate quotation goes out on WhatsApp.
- 02
Booked, with an advance
The advance is receipted and the date is blocked against that venue and session. Each menu change after that saves as a new version, and the family’s approval is recorded against the one they said yes to.
- 03
The count closes
Three days out, the family gives a final figure. Rice, dal, vegetables, oil, paneer and sweets are worked from your own recipes at that count, and the week’s events combine into one purchase list.
- 04
Kitchen, staff and vessels
Cooks, servers, cleaners and drivers are put against the event, and a double booking is flagged early enough to fix. Vessels, chafing sets and gas go out on a loading list with a return date.
- 05
The day at the hall
The head cook opens the approved menu and the quantities on a phone. The supervisor records plates added, counters opened late and anything the family asked for on the spot. Nothing waits for the drive home.
- 06
Settlement
The bill is built from the closing count and the additions, with the advance already knocked off. Vessels are ticked back in, and the event shows what it cost against what it earned.
What is inside.
Every module can be switched on, left out or changed to match how your team already works.
Event order book
Every event with its date, venue, session, guest count, menu and the family or company behind it. Two functions on one day sit side by side rather than in two diaries.
Menus with versions
Breakfast, lunch, reception and dinner menus built item by item, with each revision saved and the approved version marked. The kitchen only ever opens the approved one.
Per-plate costing
Your recipes give the ingredient cost per plate, with staff, transport, gas and vessel charges added on. The price you quote sits next to what the plate costs you.
Quotation and advance
Per-plate rates by session, counters and live stalls priced separately, the advance received and the balance still standing.
Quantity and purchase planning
Ingredient quantities worked from the closing count, then combined across the week into one list for the APMC yard and your regular suppliers.
Purchases and supplier bills
What was bought, at what rate, against which events, so the cost lands on the right function instead of the whole week.
Kitchen and staff roster
Cooks, servers, cleaners and drivers assigned to each event and session, with a warning raised when the same person or team is promised twice.
Vessels and hire items
Handis, chafing dishes, gas bhattis, counters and hired items marked out to an event and ticked back in on return. Anything not back is on a list with its date.
Plates added at the hall
The supervisor records extra plates, a late counter or an added sweet from his phone, with the time and who asked for it. Settlement then starts from a record.
Contract meals
Daily head counts for office canteens and hostel contracts, gathered by site and billed monthly with GST and the TDS your client deducts.
Settlement and receipts
Advances, part payments and the closing balance against each event, by cash, UPI, cheque or bank transfer, with a reminder while the family is still in a good mood.
Logins and permissions
The order desk, the head cook, the supervisor and accounts each see their own screens. Costing and margins stay with the people you choose.
One system, each person sees their part.
Owner
This week’s events, counts still open, cost against price for each function, balances to collect and vessels not yet back.
Order desk
Takes the enquiry, builds the menu, sends the quotation and records the advance, with the booking calendar in front of her.
Head cook
The approved menu and the quantities for the day, on a phone, with nothing to type.
Site supervisor
The loading list, the staff who reported, plates added at the hall and the vessels going back to the godown.
Accounts assistant
Advances, balances, supplier bills, contract invoices with GST, and the month end file for the books.
The numbers the owner asks for.
- Events by date, with counts and approved menus
- Cost per plate against the rate quoted
- Purchase list for the week, across all events
- Staff and vessel bookings, with clashes marked
- Hire items out and not yet returned
- Advances received and balances outstanding
- Contract invoices and GST summary for the month
Who this is built for.
- Wedding caterers working kalyana mantapas and convention halls
- Caterers running office canteen and hostel contracts on daily counts
- Outdoor caterers who carry their own vessels, counters and gas
- Caterers who take two or three functions on the same auspicious day
- Cooks turned contractors whose costing lives on a notebook page
- Catering firms billing corporate clients with GST and TDS
When it is not the right choice.
- Restaurants and cloud kitchens billing table by table. A restaurant POS fits that work better and costs less.
- A home cook taking a few orders a month. A diary and a calculator are honestly enough.
- It has no view on your food licence or your hygiene checks. Those stay with you and whoever advises you on them.
Adapted to your business before it goes live.
You are not handed a login and left to it. The product is set up around your records, your people and the tools you already use.
Your menus and recipes
Your standard menus, item names as your kitchen says them, and the quantities you use per hundred plates are entered first. Recipes are corrected after the first few events, because that is how they settle.
Your rates and counters
Per-plate rates by session and menu grade, live counters, service and transport charges are set up the way your quotations already read.
The vessel register
Handis, chafing sets, counters, gas equipment and hired items are listed with their numbers, so the out and back list is real from day one. Nothing starts from an empty page.
Running events moved across
Booked functions, advances taken, menus agreed and contract clients are typed in from your register before go-live.
Phones for the kitchen and the hall
The head cook’s screen and the supervisor’s screen are tried on the phones they actually carry, in a real hall, before anyone depends on them.
Training, hosting and support
The order desk, kitchen and accounts are taught their own parts. Hosting, backups and later changes stay with our team.
Works alongside
- Tally
- SMS
- UPI and payment gateways
- Google Calendar
Questions owners ask before a demo.
How do we stop the kitchen cooking an old menu?
Every change saves as a new version, and the family’s approval is recorded against the version they agreed. Only that version opens on the kitchen screen. Older versions stay in the file for anyone who asks what changed.
Can it work out quantities for a thousand plates?
It works them from your own recipes and the closing count, not from a standard table. Your first recipes will be rough, and they get corrected after two or three events until the purchase list matches what the kitchen really uses.
Can the supervisor record extra plates at the hall?
Yes. Plates added, a counter opened late and any last-minute item go in from his phone with the time against them. That record is what the settlement conversation rests on.
What does catering software like this cost?
No price is published. It turns on how many events you run, whether contracts are included and whether kitchen planning is part of it. You watch one of your own weddings run through it first, and the cost follows in a written proposal.
Does it track our vessels and hired items?
Each vessel, counter and chafing set goes out against an event and is ticked back on return. What has not come back is listed with the event and the date it left, which is usually enough to find it.
Does it fit with Tally?
Event bills, contract invoices, supplier purchases and receipts download for your accountant to bring into his Tally company. A live connection can be built on top of that, and it is quoted on its own.
Can our running bookings and advances be moved in?
Yes. Booked events, advances, agreed menus and contract clients are carried over from your booking register or a spreadsheet, so nothing in the season is lost.
Will it run on a phone in the kitchen?
Yes. The cook and the supervisor work on ordinary Android phones, and the screens are large and mostly read-only. Quotations and costing are easier on a laptop at the office.
Who owns our menus, recipes and client records?
You do. Recipes and rates are your trade knowledge, not ours. Taking a full copy away, at any time, is part of what the written proposal covers.
We do ten weddings a season. Is this too much for us?
It may well be. At that size a disciplined register and one careful person can hold it together. Send one real event, enquiry to settlement. The free technology audit then answers whether software would earn its keep in your kitchen.
Businesses that use this.
Related products.
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