The ordering system for catering
Catering works differently from restaurant service: no spontaneous orders, but jobs with 3–14 days' lead time, individual requirements per person, and a kitchen that's prepping for the restaurant and 3 events at the same time. GastroSystem makes sure there's enough lead time, lets your customers pay online or on delivery, and helps the kitchen plan parallel jobs.
What catering businesses know well
- Last-minute orders are unplannable
A catering order for 50 people arriving with 4 hours' notice blows up the kitchen schedule. Without a minimum lead time enforced by the system, this keeps happening — and quality suffers.
- No-shows and cancellations without deposit
A confirmed order for a company event that gets cancelled on the day costs the full food cost. Without a deposit secured at booking, this risk falls entirely on you.
- Menu configuration for events is complex
Wedding buffet with 8 stations, corporate event with 3 menu choices, school lunch with allergen requirements — standard ordering systems can't represent this. Orders arrive by email, phone and WhatsApp and have to be collated manually.
- Kitchen planning relies on rough estimates
Without confirmed order data in the system, kitchen planning is based on experience and gut feeling. Over-ordering produces waste, under-ordering disappoints guests.
How GastroSystem helps catering businesses
Lead-time enforcement
Define the minimum lead time per category: standard catering = 48 hours, wedding buffet = 7 days, corporate event = 72 hours. Orders placed with less lead time are automatically rejected with a message about the earliest possible date. No more last-minute stress.
Deposit at booking
Set a deposit amount per order or per person — for example 30% of the order value. Customers pay this online when ordering. If they cancel after the deposit window, the deposit is retained. Your food cost risk is covered from the moment of booking.
Event menu configuration
Create event menu templates: buffet with stations (e.g. hot dishes, salad bar, desserts), set menu with multiple choices per course, or fixed package with a defined item list. Customers configure their order in the booking form — you receive the complete specification before production starts.
Kitchen planning from confirmed orders
The dashboard shows all confirmed catering orders for the next 7 days with quantities, delivery dates and menu configuration. You export the shopping list directly, plan kitchen capacity and allocate staff. No more spreadsheets, no more email chaos.
What catering businesses gain
A catering business with 10 events/month at an average order value of €800 has €8,000 monthly revenue at risk from cancellations. With a 30% deposit, €2,400 is secured at booking. Lead-time enforcement reduces last-minute orders by typically 90% — eliminating the main cause of quality problems and overtime costs.
Features for catering businesses
Lead-time rules
Define minimum notice periods per category — automatically enforced.
Read more →Deposit on booking
Online deposit payment at the time of order — risk covered from the start.
Read more →Event menu configurator
Buffet stations, set menus and fixed packages configurable by the customer.
Read more →Kitchen planning dashboard
All confirmed orders with quantities and delivery dates at a glance.
Read more →More Industries
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Common questions for catering businesses
Can I set a minimum lead time for catering orders?
Yes. You set the lead time, up to 30 days. Times that are too tight, your customer simply can't select. How far in advance a booking can be made, you also set, up to 90 days.
Can I limit how many jobs come in at once?
Yes. You set how many orders fit into a time slot. If it's full, your customer picks a different time.
Is there a deposit?
No, there's no deposit. Your customer can pay the full amount online when ordering, or on delivery.
Where do I see my upcoming jobs?
On your order board under Planned, sorted by day. When it's time for the kitchen, the job moves into preparation.
Does my customer get an invoice?
Yes. As soon as you accept, the receipt goes out as a PDF by email. At the till you can put the company name, address and VAT ID on the receipt, as a Bewirtungsbeleg (the receipt the tax office accepts for a deductible business meal) on request.