Catering orders from email, phone, and forms in one prep list
Catering orders arrive by email, phone, the website form, and Square, and in a busy kitchen they end up on a whiteboard. We connect those channels so every order lands in one sheet, with a prep list for the kitchen each morning. We work with a six-person cafe with a catering arm that had no missed orders in its first two months on the new set-up. Phone orders are still typed in by staff.
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Connections that matter for venues and caterers
Orders into one sheet
Email orders from Gmail, website form orders, and Square orders gathered into one Google Sheet.
Daily prep list
Each morning, the sheet becomes a prep list by item and pickup time for the kitchen.
Enquiries into your CRM
Event enquiries from your website and Instagram added to HubSpot or Airtable, so none sit in an inbox.
Payments into the accounts
Square and Stripe takings and deposits land in Xero, matched to the event or order.
Where orders slip through
A cafe with a catering arm takes orders every way possible. An office emails a platter order for Thursday. Someone rings during the lunch rush. A website form arrives overnight. A regular orders at the counter through Square. Someone copies each one onto the whiteboard, unless they’re busy, in which case it waits in an inbox. The order that slips through is the one that turns into an awkward phone call at 8am.
How the tools get connected
Connecting your tools (the industry calls it data pipelines) means moving information between the apps you already use, so it lands in one place without anyone copying it. For a cafe or caterer, we gather orders from Gmail, your website form, and Square into one Google Sheet. An AI helper reads each email order and fills in the item, quantity, pickup time, and any notes. Each morning the sheet becomes a prep list for the kitchen.
What it did for a cafe
We work with a six-person cafe with a catering arm. Catering orders came by email, phone, and form, and were copied onto a whiteboard. Now they’re gathered into one sheet with a daily prep list. There were no missed orders in the first two months. Phone orders are still typed in by staff, because a phone call needs a person on the other end.
Where the connection stops
A connection moves what’s written down. A customer who changes their order by text to a staff member’s phone won’t show up until someone enters it. Email orders that are vague, like “the usual for twenty”, need a person to check. And any note about allergies is passed on as written, for your kitchen to read and decide on.
If your catering orders live on a whiteboard, get your AI Starter Plan and tell it where orders come from.
Related
Read about our Connecting your tools service, and how we help small teams in hospitality and events.
Small teams we work with
How a six-person cafe gathered its catering orders into one sheet and missed none in two months
How a solo business coach gathers enquiries from three places into one list each morning
How Still Water Day Spa lifted its rebooking rate from 31% to 44% in three months
Common questions
What about phone orders?
Will it replace our POS?
Can the prep list include dietary notes?
What does it cost?
What still needs a person?
Get every order onto one list
Tell us every way orders and enquiries reach you. Get your AI Starter Plan and you'll see which connection to make first.
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