Catering Quote Requests on WhatsApp by Headcount
This recipe takes a catering enquiry on WhatsApp, Instagram or web chat to a correct quote: the menu, the headcount, the date, the delivery time and address, the right price tier and the total. It checks the date against your catering calendar and hands off to the deposit workflow when the customer is ready. Part of the restaurant and caterer workflows.
What happens today
An office manager messages at 9.30pm: “hi, need a lunch buffet for 40 people next Friday, do you have halal options?”. The owner sees it at 6am while prepping. They reply with the menu PDF. The customer asks the price for 45 instead. The owner works it out between orders, forgets the delivery fee, and replies at 2pm. The customer has already confirmed with a caterer who answered at 10pm.
Catering customers usually message several caterers with the same request. The first correct quote has an advantage that is hard to win back.
The flow that works
- The customer describes the event in their own words. AeroChat works out the menu or set, headcount, date, time and address, and asks only for what is missing.
- It checks the date against your catering calendar. If it is full, it offers the nearest open dates.
- It quotes from your price tiers for that headcount, adds delivery and any minimum order rule, and shows the total.
- It asks whether any guests have allergies or dietary needs. Any allergy goes to the kitchen.
- When the customer is ready, it moves to the deposit. Orders above the size you set go to your team.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer asks about catering, follow these steps.
- Find out the menu or set they want, the number of guests, the date, the serving time, and the delivery address. If they are not sure which set, suggest one from our catering menu based on the event and budget they describe. Ask only for what they have not already given.
- Check the date in our catering calendar. If it is marked full, or the serving time is outside our catering hours, offer the nearest open dates. We need at least 3 days’ notice (example rule).
- Quote from our price tiers for that headcount. Example: Set A is US$14 a head for 20 to 39 guests and US$12.50 a head for 40 guests and above, minimum 20 guests, delivery US$40 within our delivery area (example prices). Show the price per head, the delivery fee and the total, before sales tax if that is how our price list shows it.
- Ask whether any guests have allergies or dietary needs, for example vegetarian or no beef. Note vegetarian and similar requests from our menu options. If they mention any allergy, say our kitchen will confirm directly and notify our team. Never say a dish is safe for an allergy.
- Add a row to our catering enquiries Sheet with the date, set, headcount, address, total quoted, dietary notes and the customer’s name and phone number.
- Ask whether they would like to hold the date. If yes, start our event deposit workflow.
Only quote sets and prices from our catering menu and price tiers. Never give a discount. Orders above 150 guests, events with live stations, or anything we do not list go to our team. If they ask about halal status, state our certification exactly as it appears in our knowledge base. Reply in the customer’s language.
Change the example prices, notice period, delivery fee and size limit to your own before you paste it.
What to connect
- Your catering menu and price tiers. Upload your sets, price per head by headcount, minimum order, delivery fees by area, setup options and halal certification details to the AeroChat knowledge base.
- Your catering calendar. Many caterers keep their event dates in a Google Calendar, with the dates and time slots they have taken or blocked. The recipe checks it before quoting. Connect your Google account when AeroChat asks, and approve the access.
- A catering enquiries Sheet. A Google Sheet with one row per quote, so your team can see what was quoted and follow up. It uses the same Google connection.
- If you take function dates in your reservation system. Restaurants that block private events in Eat App or ResDiary can check the date there instead. Both connect through their APIs: ask your provider to turn on API access and give you the API key, then paste it in when AeroChat asks.
This recipe takes no payment, so it runs on any plan. The deposit that follows needs payment links, included from the Growth plan.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
What you still decide
- Your price tiers, minimum order and delivery fees by area.
- How much notice you need, and how many events you take a day.
- Which orders are too large or too complex to quote in chat.
- How you handle dietary requests the menu does not cover.
AeroChat follows these as written. It does not quote a price, a set or a date your menu and calendar do not show.
The result to expect
Customers who message at night get a correct quote that night, while they are still comparing. Your owner or sales person stops working out totals between orders and spends the time on the large and unusual events.
Measure it with your own numbers: time from enquiry to quote, and the share of quotes that become orders, for a month before and after. In the first week, check a sample of quotes against your price list.
Next: event deposit payment and menu and dietary questions.
Quote your next catering order in chat
Upload your price tiers, connect your catering calendar, and ask your own number for a lunch buffet for 40 next Friday.
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