Full service on site
Kitchen, staff, equipment, sometimes a site visit. She records what already exists on site and what you will have to bring.
Caterers
Delivering platters and staffing a wedding need different preparation. Your receptionist collects the guest count, location, timing and service requirements. You have the information to prepare a quote and can distinguish a new enquiry from a change to an event you have already priced.
$35 CAD / month · 50 Standard calls · 1 local number
When calls spikeDecemberWedding seasonCorporate conferences and after-work events
The details you need to price the event
The file reaches the project lead: date, address, sixty people announced, boxed format, no kitchen on site, service lift, stated budget to confirm. State: enquiry received, date not held. The callback sits in his calendar.
Read the full conversation
Wednesday, 10:20 a.m. The caterer is in production for a noon delivery. An assistant calls about her employer's office party.
ReceptionistBilodeau Catering, good morning. Let me take your name, your company and a callback number.
CallerSonia Leduc, 450 555-0173.
ReceptionistThank you. What date is it for, at what address, and for how many people?
CallerDecember 12, at our Boucherville offices, around sixty people. We were thinking individual boxes.
ReceptionistIs there a kitchen on site, or a service entrance? And do you have a set budget per head?
CallerNo kitchen, but there is a service lift. The budget is set, I will give it to your project lead.
ReceptionistRecorded. I am opening the file with the date, the address, the head count and the format, and booking you a call with our project lead this afternoon. The quote comes from him.
For the requests you receive
Delivered platters
Format, delivery time, address, access and number of portions. The enquiry closes quickly when every field is complete on the first call.
A change after the quote
Guest count climbs, the menu shifts. She opens a revision quoting the version the caller refers to, so your sales lead recalculates from the right basis.
Other requests you can delegate
The exact state of the date
Enquiry received, date held on option and confirmed booking are three separate states. A call produces the first; the other two need an action you authorised.
What she does for your events
The moves she makes on catering calls, from the first question through to a file ready for your project lead, then what stays with him. Every line is a call that lands while you are in production.
When a client calls about an event
She takes the name, company and callback number, then the date, place and announced head count.
An event cannot be priced from a date and a number alone; these fields open the file your sales lead will pick up.
She qualifies the format — delivered platters, full service, individual boxes — and the wanted service times.
Format decides the staffing and equipment needed; it gets collected on the first call, not at follow-up.
She records the wanted menu, options and dietary constraints word for word, without rephrasing them.
A constraint passed along verbatim leaves your kitchen lead to validate it, with no information lost.
She records the staffing, equipment and site access — kitchen, power, parking, service lift — the event needs.
What is missing stays marked as missing for the consultation, rather than being guessed at or forgotten.
When the date or the quote changes
She keeps an enquiry received, a date held on option and a confirmed booking apart, and does not present the first two as the third.
Those three states are not said the same way; only an action you authorised moves one into the other.
She opens a revision quoting the version the caller refers to when the head count or the menu shifts after a quote has gone out.
A revision your sales lead recalculates starts from the right basis, not from an outdated version.
She alerts the person in charge for an event or catering enquiry, on the rule you set.
A last-minute request or an already fixed budget stands out clearly, instead of blending into a standard file.
A file ready for your project lead
She books the consultation in your calendar, with the person who prices the event.
The file arrives complete in the app; pricing itself stays your sales lead’s call.
She records the stated budget and the quote version the caller refers to, without changing either herself.
What the client states is logged as given; final pricing stays a human decision.
Between events, with Quotes and events
Options added separately, when they are useful to you.
- Add-on
She assembles menus, options and a proposal from your approved rules, with every version dated and validated before it goes out.
Quotes and events option: capacity, staffing and equipment are carried in the file before any figure comes out. Quotes and events
- Add-on
She sends the deposit link from your payment provider and stops the reminder once payment lands.
Deposits and payments option: exceptions go to the person in charge, the rest tracks a real status. Deposits and payments
When a client writes, and if you already run HubSpot
- Channel
She continues by email the exchanges about guests, equipment and requested changes, without confirming a price over that channel.
Optional AI email inbox: pricing and versions stay inside Quotes and events, not scattered across an email thread.
- Software
With HubSpot, per-customer installation and scoped read and write rights are documented; authorization and your configuration still have to be proven on a real account.
Official documentation reviewed does not stand in for a real account tested end to end. HubSpot
- Software
With a qualified point-of-sale or events system, quote, invoice and collection have to exist on the vendor side; the exact operations still have to be discovered with them.
Nothing is blocked without it: the file then lives in the Zenvox app. My software is not in the list
What she does not do on your events
- She does not price an event: quote, extras and price exceptions come from your sales lead.
- She validates neither an allergen nor a production constraint: your kitchen lead does, with no food safety promised on the phone.
- She commits neither your capacity, nor your staff, nor your equipment to a date, and moves no enquiry to the booked state.
- She does not edit an approved quote: a change of head count or menu opens a revision, recalculated by your sales lead.
- She does not bend your deposit and cancellation rules, and confirms an operation only once the write has been validated in your system of record.
What you can ask her yourself
She answers from the files and calls you are allowed to access. A question about an option only applies once you have switched it on.
The questionWhich catering enquiries require service staff on site?
She retrieves the stated format, venue and requirements. She commits neither staff nor the event date.
Which files have a field missing since the first call?
She retrieves fields left blank and when the file opened. She does not fill them in on her own.
Which quotes are still waiting on a client answer?
Add-onWith Quotes and events: the version sent and its status. Without the option, she tracks no pricing.
What happens to the request
You write your formats and your rules
Your service formats, your delivery areas, your minimums and lead times, who approves a quote and who validates allergens. All of it changes from the app.
She opens the event file
She qualifies the call and fills the fields you defined. What is missing stays marked as missing, instead of being guessed at or forgotten.
Your sales lead prices it
The file arrives in the app and the consultation lands in your calendar. The quote and its versions come from your sales lead; follow-up tracks the real state of the file.
What the Restaurants and events base covers
She answers for you, in French and in English, opens the event file and arranges the consultation. You keep your number.
- Answers drawn from your hours, your formats and the information you approved
- An event file opened with the date, place, head count, format and stated budget
- A consultation placed in your calendar, with the person who prices it
- An alert to whoever is in charge for an event or catering enquiry, on your rule
She commits neither your capacity, nor your staff, nor your equipment to a date, and moves no enquiry to the booked state.
Decisions that stay with you
- She does not price an event: quote, extras and price exceptions come from your sales lead.
- She validates neither an allergen nor a production constraint: your kitchen lead does, and no food safety is promised on the phone.
- She does not edit an approved quote: a change of head count or menu opens a revision, recalculated by your sales lead.
- She does not bend your deposit and cancellation rules, and confirms an operation only once the write has been validated in your system of record.
Ask your receptionist, too
This is included in your base plan. She answers using the calls, requests and business information you are allowed to access.
Talk to your receptionistA question you can ask
Which catering enquiries require service staff on site?
She retrieves the stated format, venue and requirements. She commits neither staff nor the event date.
What else you can hand to her
Beyond the base plan. Each one is added separately from the base, and only if you choose it.
When your customers prefer to write
You can add a channel so she can continue the conversation with your customers. Any action she takes follows the same rules and the options you have chosen.
Optional customer channel
Your email inbox
Continue emails about guests, equipment and requested changes; pricing and versions remain in Quotes and events.
The transactional messages provided by your base plan and your own questions to the receptionist remain included.
Keeping your current software?
Check the actions supported, connection requirements and how to work when your software cannot perform the requested action.
Official documentation reviewed: per-customer installation, scoped read and write rights. Authorization and your configuration still have to be proven on a real account.
A family of requirements, not a certified product: quote, invoice and collection all have to exist on the vendor side, and the exact operations still have to be discovered with them.
A caterer's phone does not ring for a table
It rings for an event. And an event cannot be priced from a date and a number: you need the place, the format, the service times, the dietary constraints, the staffing, the equipment and the site access.
Those calls land mid-production, mid-delivery, on site. Your receptionist opens the file for you: she does not price anything, she collects what is missing before pricing, notes which quote version the caller refers to, and books the consultation.
In the same section
The other lines of work in this section run on the same engine, with their own requests and their own rules.
Restaurants & eventsTables, orders and events
Caterers — your questions
Does she quote a price on the phone?
Not for an event. She collects what is needed to price it; your sales lead produces the quote. With Quotes and events, the proposal is assembled from your approved rules and validated by him before it is sent.
How does she handle allergies for a group?
She records each constraint verbatim and passes it to your kitchen lead, who validates allergens and logistics. She does not confirm that a dish is safe.
Does she follow up on quotes and deposits?
Yes: Quotes and events for the quote, Deposits and payments for the deposit. Follow-up tracks the real state of the file and stops when payment lands.
December is our peak. What changes?
Adjust consultation availability, accepted event formats and the person alerted about event enquiries. Your base still includes 50 Standard calls. Receiving a request during a busy period does not confirm production capacity or an event date.
Your rules, before the first call
Start your free trial with your email. Your website can help prepare your business information, but it is optional. Confirm the facts, choose a first task and test your receptionist. You can try options too, starting with the ones you need.
Keep my phone numberCaterers