Restaurant Catering Booking System

A catering booking system lets customers schedule and place catering orders online — instead of calling your restaurant during business hours and hoping someone is available to take their order.

For restaurants, this means orders come in 24/7, are recorded accurately (no telephone game), and include payment upfront. For customers, it means the convenience of booking catering on their own schedule.

FlashCater is a catering booking system built for restaurants — online ordering, advance scheduling, and order management in one platform.

What a catering booking system does

For your customers

• Browse your catering menu — with photos, descriptions, and clear pricing
• Select a date and time — for delivery or pickup, with your availability and lead times enforced
• Customize their order — headcount, dietary options, special instructions
• Pay securely — credit card at checkout
• Get instant confirmation — automated email with all order details

No waiting for a callback. No email chains. No ambiguity about whether the order was received.

For your restaurant

• Orders arrive complete — items, quantities, date, time, address, payment — all entered by the customer
• Calendar view — see all upcoming catering bookings in one place
• Availability control — set lead times, blackout dates, and daily order limits
• Automated reminders — confirmations and reminders sent automatically to you and the customer
• Packing lists — auto-generated for each order

Why you need one

Your phone isn't a booking system

When a customer calls to place a catering order, someone on your team has to:

1. Answer the phone (during a busy lunch rush?)
2. Discuss menu options and pricing
3. Write down order details
4. Confirm date and time
5. Collect payment separately
6. Enter the order into whatever system you use

That's 15-20 minutes per order — and every step is a chance for error. Multiply by 10 orders per week and that's 3+ hours of phone time that could be automated.

Customers expect online booking

According to Toast's restaurant data, the majority of corporate catering orders are now researched and placed online. Office managers compare options on their computers, not by calling five restaurants during lunch.

If your competitors have online booking and you don't, you lose orders to convenience — not to better food.

After-hours orders

Corporate catering decisions often happen in the evening — an office manager planning tomorrow's meeting at 8pm, or scheduling next week's team lunch on Sunday night. Without online booking, those orders wait until your restaurant opens — if the customer remembers to call at all.

How FlashCater's booking system works

1. Customer visits your ordering page

A branded page on your website (or a direct link you share) showing your catering menu with packages, per-person pricing, and photos.

2. Customer builds their order

They select items, enter their headcount, choose dietary options, and add extras. The system enforces your minimums and shows accurate pricing.

3. Customer picks a date and time

A calendar shows available dates based on your settings:

• Lead time — orders must be placed 24-72 hours in advance (you configure)
• Blackout dates — holidays, fully booked days, or closed days are blocked
• Time slots — available delivery/pickup windows

4. Customer pays and confirms

Credit card payment at checkout. The customer receives an instant confirmation email with full order details, delivery info, and your contact number for questions.

5. You manage from the dashboard

The order appears in your management dashboard — on the calendar, in the order list, with all details. Your team gets a notification. Reminders are scheduled automatically.

How it compares

What you need to set up

Getting your catering booking system live takes less than a week:

1. Your catering menu — items, packages, pricing, photos
2. Your availability settings — lead times, blackout dates, delivery hours
3. Your branding — logo, colors, restaurant info
4. Payment processing — connect your payment account

FlashCater handles the technical setup. You provide the menu content and preferences. Follow our step-by-step setup guide for the full process.

Pricing

$79/month. Zero commissions. No setup fees. No contracts.

Your catering booking system pays for itself with one additional order per month.