Catering Inventory Software: Events to a Shopping List

Catering inventory software has to start where a caterer's week starts: with events. Each event is an order with a date, a guest count and a menu, and the software's first job is to turn the week's events into what to cook and what to buy, through recipes scaled by the guest, counting what's already in the walk-in. Its second job is to say what each event really cost, from what the food was bought for and what came back unused, so the price per guest stays honest. Disposables, chafing fuel and packaging need reorder points like anything else, and the walk-in needs counting. In the example below, three events in one week, 260 guests in all, become 52 kg of raw pork, 390 taro rolls and 273 pieces of butter mochi to buy and make, and the wedding's food comes in at $8.70 a guest against the $8.20 in the price. Below is what the software has to do, the week worked through, a test week for any trial, and how TaroStack does it.

The short version

• Each event is an order: date, guest count, menu, and service style.
• Recipes per guest, scaled to the count, with sub-recipes for sauces and marinades.
• The week's events added up into what to make, what to buy and by when, less what's on hand.
• Each event's real food cost, from what was bought and what came back.
• Leftovers and waste recorded with a reason, so over-catering has a number.
• Disposables, fuel and packaging on a reorder list.
• TaroStack turns events into sales orders, recipes into batches, and plans the buying on Standard. More below.

What catering inventory software has to do

What a caterer packs and counts back for each event is in catering inventory checklist, and the business behind it is in catering business plan.

A week, worked through

Windward Roots, the made-up taro business I use in these examples, has three events this week:

The menu's recipes are per guest: 200 g of raw pork shoulder, which cooks down to 120 g of kalua pork; one and a half taro rolls; one piece of butter mochi, plus 5% for a buffer.

The pork for Monday has to be bought by Friday and cooked on Sunday; Wednesday's by Monday. Planning it by event rather than by week is what keeps the walk-in from holding a week's pork at once. After the wedding, the food actually used and the trays that came back put its food cost at $8.70 a guest, 50 cents over the $8.20 in the price, mostly pork bought at a higher price than the quote assumed and a tray of rolls that came back untouched. How food cost per guest is judged is in what is a good food cost percentage.

A test week for any trial

1. Enter three real events as orders, with dates, guest counts and menus.
2. Write two recipes per guest, with a sauce as a sub-recipe, and check that a guest count scales them.
3. Ask what to make and buy for the week, and check it subtracts what's in the walk-in.
4. Receive a delivery at a new price, with its lot and use-by date.
5. Record the cooking for one event and see what it cost per guest.
6. Record what came back, with a reason, and see where it shows up.
7. Count the walk-in on a phone, where the signal is poor.

Where this stops working

The spreadsheet holds the menu and a rough cost per guest. The week holds three events with counts that change on Thursday, a pork order placed on Tuesday for a number that's now wrong, chafing fuel counted by looking in the box, and trays of food that come back and go in the bin unrecorded. By the end of the month, the cost per guest in the price and the cost per guest in reality have drifted apart, and nobody can say by how much.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack treats each event as a sales order and each dish as a recipe, so the week's events become the week's work.

Events in, a plan out. An event is a sales order for its date, with the dishes and portions on it. Each dish is a recipe, with sub-recipes for sauces and marinades, and units convert: buy pork by the case, cook by the kilogram. Planning, on Standard, works out what to make and what to buy, and by when, across every event, counting what's already in the walk-in, and checks the week against your kitchen's hours.

Every event, costed. Food cooked for an event is recorded as a batch, taking ingredients off stock from the lots used at what you paid, so each event's real food cost sits beside the price. Food that comes back unused is recorded with its reason, so the losses report shows what over-catering costs. Margins are reported by product and by customer, so the client whose events always run lean is visible.

And the supplies, in stock. Disposables, chafing fuel and packaging are items with reorder points, shown in days of cover against each supplier's lead time. Counting works on a phone with no signal, in the walk-in or at a venue.

Recipes, batches, sales orders, counting, the reorder list and margins are on every plan, from $49 a month; planning is on Standard at $99. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

What should catering inventory software do?

Turn events into what to cook and buy through recipes scaled by guest, cost each event's food from what you paid, record leftovers and waste, keep disposables and fuel on a reorder list, and count the walk-in.

How do caterers keep track of inventory?

Event by event: a pack list and count-back for each event, recipes scaled to the guest count, the walk-in counted regularly, and what comes back recorded rather than thrown away unrecorded.

How do you calculate food for a catering event?

Write each dish per guest, multiply by the guest count, add a small buffer, and subtract what's already on hand. In the example, 260 guests at 200 g of raw pork each is 52 kg, less 6 kg on hand.

Can catering inventory software track food cost per event?

It can when the food cooked for each event is recorded against it at what the ingredients cost. In the example, the wedding's food came in at $8.70 a guest against $8.20 in the price.