Give catering its own front door
A request to feed forty people needs more detail than a lunch order, and it should not arrive the same way. Put catering on its own page with a short form:
- event date and time
- number of people
- address, or pickup
- budget, or the menu or package they have in mind
- the best way to reach them
Link that page from your Google profile, your Instagram bio, your website menu and your receipts. Every place a customer might ask about catering should point to the same form.
Answer before the next place does
A catering customer is usually comparing options. An alert on your phone the moment a request arrives lets you reply between tickets instead of at closing. If you can't quote yet, a same-day message that says you got it and when the quote will come keeps you in the running.
A request is not a booking. Check the date and your capacity before you confirm anything.
Quote from a template
Write the quote once and reuse it: packages or per-person options, minimums, delivery area and fee, how much notice you need, and what a deposit holds if you take one. A template turns a quote into ten minutes of work instead of an evening.
Follow up, then close the loop
Most quotes that go quiet were never followed up. Check back two or three days after the quote with a question, not a sales line: "Did the menu options work for your group?" If there's still no answer, send one last note a week later that makes it easy to say not this time. Either way, you know where it stands.
Keep ordering direct and visible
Your order link should be on your website and your Google profile, next to your hours and menu. Delivery apps can be one channel, but their commissions come out of every order, so a direct link you control is worth putting first where customers look.
Questions
Can PMI take catering deposits?
No. Payments stay with your point-of-sale or invoicing tool. PMI builds the page and the form, sends the alerts and runs the follow-up.
Should catering prices be on the page?
A starting price per person or a package minimum helps customers decide before they ask, and saves you quoting events that don't fit. It's your call.
Does PMI build an online ordering system?
No. You keep the ordering provider you use, and we link to it from your site and your Google profile.