Dashboard: Catering, requests, quotes, deposits and the calendar

Catering is its own group in the sidebar, with Requests, Calendar, Regular orders, Companies, Catering menu, Pricing rules, Settings and Analytics. A customer sends a request from the app, you answer with a quote, they accept or ask for changes, and a deposit holds the date. Mosey takes 3% of a catering job. You need the manage catering permission, which owners and managers have by default and staff do not, because a quote sets a price.

How do you switch catering on?

Open Account, then Enable features, and switch on Catering. Mark the dishes you will cater for on your Catering menu, and say how many each serves. Then fill in Settings with your lead time, your area and your deposit, and set up payouts so the deposit can reach you. Settings tells you which of these is still missing. Once the menu and payouts are in, your business appears to customers who are looking for catering. Only list what you can do well at volume, because a customer who gets a poor tray tells everyone.

What are pricing rules?

Pricing rules are your own working sums, such as a delivery charge or a minimum order, that pre-fill your quote. They are internal by default, so a customer never sees a rule or its label. The customer sees only the lines you put on the quote. Keep rules honest, so a quote can be built in minutes at the same standard each time.

How do you answer a request?

Open Requests, read the date, numbers and any dietary needs, and build the quote from your menu and rules. Send it. The customer can accept, ask for changes or decline. A new quote replaces an unanswered one, so you never have two competing prices live. Reply quickly; a quote the same day wins more jobs than a cheaper one in three. Allergens matter here: ask for them in writing and pass them to the kitchen.

How do deposits and payment work?

Once the customer accepts, they pay the deposit through the app, and the balance is collected as you set it. All payments pass through your own Stripe account. If the customer cancels, your cancellation terms apply, and you decide any refund. State your terms in Settings so nobody is surprised. The policy side is in write a cancellation and deposit policy guests accept.

What are Regular orders and Companies?

Regular orders are repeating jobs, such as a weekly lunch for an office. Companies lists the businesses you cater for, and works with Mosey for Teams, where a company can order for staff; see win company orders with Mosey for Teams.

How do you price a job you have not done before?

Cost it from the kitchen out. Add food, labour, packaging, transport and a margin, then compare with the per head price you would be happy to say aloud. Keep a note of what each job really took, and adjust your rules when reality differs. Over a few jobs your pricing rules become the best record of what catering costs you. See food cost and gross profit explained.

How do you plan the day?

The Calendar shows booked jobs, so you can see capacity before accepting another. Check it against your rota and your kitchen. The larger picture is in private hire and large group bookings.