Catering - Do you use Square or a third party system?

[lilisalazar]

We're currently exploring setting up a catering order form, i've done some in the past using Jotform such as this one here - https://tierradelsolpdx.com/catering

Is anyone using Square's built in online ordering for catering orders? If so i'd love to see your setup/link! 

What i've found confusing is that the online ordering menus are all tied together with the main ordering page, there's no way to separate the categories, for example Regular Menu vs. Catering menu in separate ordering pages..unless i'm missing a work around..

TIA! 

[CinderBistro]

We currently have all of our catering items & services added to our Square library and use the built in estimating & invoicing features. We also rely heavily on the Square Online ordering capabilities for pickups & deliveries. I think I may have find a workaround by creating a new "Catering" page where I can add the appropriate categories and items but I haven't yet had the time to actually set it up. I sure hope this is a possibility. If not, we have to find a solution soon because our catering business is expected to grow exponentially this year.

[Donnie-M]

@lilisalazar Yes,  I’ve looked around quite a bit and I’m currently using Square for it, though I agree it’s not very clean out of the box.

You’re right about the limitation: online ordering menus are tied together, which makes separating regular vs catering awkward. You can make it work, but it takes some intentional structuring and restraint with categories.

That said, I’ve been thinking a lot about treating catering almost like a separate “location” within Square: same ecosystem, but isolated menus, pricing logic, and workflows. Square can get you most of the way there if you lean into how locations, menus, and fulfillment are designed, but it’s not obvious or well-documented.

Still exploring the cleanest way to do it, but I think there’s room to do catering better inside Square without bolting on a third party.

Just my 2c.  Wait we don't have those anymore..Here's a nickel, call someone who cares...

[CinderBistro]

Based on Square's current design limitations, I completely agree with you that treating catering services as a separate location is the best technical option. The only major downside is the additional cost and complexity involved with doing so.

[lilisalazar]

@CinderBistro you're right about adding more complexity, do you know if we can have 1 Plus (paid) subscription for 1 location and 1 free plan for the second (catering) location? 

[CinderBistro]

When I was forced to setup two distinct locations for another restaurant that offered both online ordering and catering services, Square charged for both locations.

[lilisalazar]

Hi Donnie!

I had tried that setup but was unable to show only one location's menu in one Online Ordering page and the other in a different one. From what I'm seeing we can only have 1 main online ordering pages despite having multiple locations per website... so maybe adding a separate site to that location may be a better option... 

That's my nickel (doesn't have the same ring to it lol)

[MAXSDELI · Accepted solution]

I’ve been looking into this for years and yes, the only viable way to setup a separate online Catering Menu seems to be, setting it up as a separate entity with a different site and url. 

Typically, catering requires a different set of parameters than our online ordering site such as lead times, pickup/delivery availability, fees & gratuities, etc., making our current online ordering site unusable for Catering orders. 

If anyone reading this thread has any ideas or suggestions, I’m all ears. 

@isabelle 

[lilisalazar]

Thanks for your feedback @MAXSDELI that's the way I'm advising the team as well! 🙂 

[TheArcticCircle]

Hey there, 

This isn't the best option, but it works fairly okay for what we do. We added a page to our site and then put a featured item list and selected the specific catering items from our catalog.

Here's the link to our catering page. CATERING | The Arctic Circle

We also did something similar for cake ordering. 

Here's the link for that. CAKES & PIES | The Arctic Circle

For fulfillment we have that set for people to pick their own pickup time so they can place orders ahead of time. Then we also in the items library under fulfillment methods we put a specific prep time for these items so people can't place them for pickup before they would be ready. For example, the cakes and pies have a 2-hour prep time so when ordering those it forces a 2-hour window. Doing this also allows us to make it so the orders show up on the KDS and print the ticket when we need to start preparing the order (this is another setting under fulfillment methods if you don't know where that is).

I'm always glad to answer any questions or help figure out specific issues you may be having.