Event chaos is eating your profits.
Juggling event orders, client details, and last-minute changes with spreadsheets is a recipe for disaster. It’s almost impossible to keep everything straight.
This disorganization leads to costly mistakes and missed opportunities, preventing you from scaling your business and maximizing revenue from every single event.
With research from Lunchbox.io showing that 80% of companies order catering monthly, the operational pressure is truly immense. This constant demand strains outdated systems.
The right platform transforms these operational headaches into a streamlined, profitable process. It puts you back in control of your business.
Speaking of streamlining operations, my guide on best food service management software can help you reduce waste and boost margins.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the best catering management software to centralize your entire operation, from initial proposal to final invoice.
You will discover tools that help you manage complex events, track orders in real-time, and gain the transparency needed to grow with confidence.
Let’s get started.
Quick Summary:
| # | Software | Rating | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pxier → | Operations managers & founders | |
| 2 | Connecteam → | Multi-event catering teams | |
| 3 | Total Party Planner → | Small to mid-size businesses | |
| 4 | Curate → | Businesses replacing outdated tools | |
| 5 | Better Cater → | Small catering businesses |
1. Pxier
Are manual catering processes slowing your business down?
Pxier offers a comprehensive cloud-based catering software designed to streamline operations from inquiry to payment. This means you can manage leads, customers, and contracts efficiently.
Their solution helps you manage every aspect of your catering business, ensuring no details are missed and reducing wasted time. You can easily manage pickup, delivery, and full-service catering.
Here’s how to simplify your event management.
Pxier’s system introduces an all-in-one platform for event management, catering, and online reservations. It handles everything from proposals and contracts to invoicing and payments, centralizing your event data.
Additionally, you get robust recipe and inventory management, allowing you to control costs and track ingredients. You can also manage dietary, nutrition, and allergen information seamlessly.
Plus, the online catering ordering system captures leads and orders 24/7 directly from your website, increasing your reach. The system is accessible from any browser-enabled device with internet access, providing flexibility for your team whether they are in the office or on-site.
The result: increased client satisfaction and profitability.
Key features:
- Proposals and Contracts: Generate detailed proposals, manage contracts, and utilize e-signatures to expedite client agreements for catering services.
- Recipe and Inventory Management: Maintain firm control over your inventory, track ingredient costs, and easily manage recipes with dietary and allergen information.
- Online Catering Ordering System: Capture leads and orders directly from your website 24/7, providing customers with a seamless booking experience and expanding your reach.
Pxier features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: For operations managers and catering company founders seeking to replace manual processes and scale their businesses, Pxier stands out as a strong contender for the best catering management software. Its integrated capabilities, from lead management to inventory control, provide a robust solution for efficient, profitable catering operations.
2. Connecteam
Struggling to manage your catering business across multiple events?
Connecteam offers features like efficient staff scheduling and real-time task management to help you streamline daily operations. This means you can easily plan and distribute schedules, ensuring the right team members are assigned when and where they’re needed.
This is key to eliminating logistical headaches and makes it much easier to coordinate staff across different catering gigs. Plus, you get smart time tracking and automated timesheets.
Here’s how you can simplify your daily work.
Connecteam provides digital forms, checklists, and tasks to ensure quality work and give you real-time visibility into your catering operations. This allows you to create instant field reports with live results and insights, which is incredibly useful for managing client needs and tracking progress on site.
You can also leverage their communication tools, including secure business messaging and company newsfeeds, to keep your entire workforce informed and engaged from anywhere. This centralized communication hub helps overcome the challenges of scattered information, making sure your team is always on the same page. Additionally, HR management features like interactive training courses and time-off management simplify administrative tasks, helping you build a skilled and compliant workforce.
The result is a unified platform that cuts costs, boosts productivity, and ensures compliance.
Key features:
- Employee Scheduling: Automate scheduling and prevent mistakes, ensuring you have the right people assigned precisely when and where they’re needed for every catering event.
- Forms & Checklists: Digitize field reporting with live results and insights, allowing for immediate quality checks and progress tracking across multiple locations or events.
- Internal Communication: Keep your entire workforce connected with instant messaging, company updates, and a searchable directory, improving coordination for complex catering operations.
Connecteam features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Connecteam’s comprehensive suite of operational, communication, and HR tools makes it an ideal choice if you’re seeking the best catering management software. Its ability to centralize scheduling, tasks, and communication, along with features like payroll integration and compliance management, helps you enhance client satisfaction, achieve scalable growth, and increase profitability.
3. Total Party Planner
Struggling with event chaos and spreadsheet overload?
Total Party Planner is an all-in-one catering software built by caterers themselves, ensuring it understands your specific challenges. This means you can create flawless events and manage operations with tools designed for your industry.
It addresses the lack of integration and real-time tracking, helping you ditch the “spreadsheet circus” for a more organized, efficient, and profitable approach. This means you’re moving towards streamlined operations.
Here’s how Total Party Planner directly tackles these issues.
The software streamlines event and back-of-house management, allowing you to create invoices and BEOs with features specifically for caterers. Additionally, it offers effortless payment processing through TPP Pay, capturing leads and managing client communication all in one place.
You can also achieve staffing success with smarter scheduling and real-time team coordination, ensuring seamless integrations. Furthermore, the platform helps you make more money by providing instant menu costing, profit tracking, and expense management, directly addressing your need for financial transparency. Plus, Total Party Planner operates anywhere with Wi-Fi, making event management easy from Australia to Alaska.
Your catering business will finally thrive.
Key features:
- All-in-one event management: Create flawless events, manage invoices, and generate BEOs with features specifically designed for caterers, reducing manual work and errors.
- Effortless payments and financial tracking: Capture leads, manage client communication, accept payments via TPP Pay, get instant menu costing, track profits, and manage expenses seamlessly.
- Staffing and operational efficiency: Achieve smarter scheduling, enjoy seamless integrations, and coordinate your team in real-time for improved efficiency and reduced operational costs.
Total Party Planner features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Total Party Planner stands out as the best catering management software for small to mid-size food service businesses because it centralizes event management, streamlines payments, and optimizes staffing, all while ensuring profitability. Built by caterers, for caterers, it truly transforms operations, helping you achieve organized, efficient, and profitable growth.
4. Curate
Struggling with complex catering event management?
Curate offers an easy-to-use solution that streamlines proposals, recipes, and shopping lists. This helps you escape overwhelming manual processes.
It helps you avoid over-ordering, wasteful spending, and paperwork pile-ups, ensuring you charge enough and remember every detail. This means your catering business can improve profitability.
How can you boost your closing rate?
Curate helps your business manage events effortlessly, letting you create stunning proposals with just a few clicks. This simplifies tasks like organizing contacts, locations, timelines, contracts, recipes, and private notes.
The one-screen signing and payment system makes getting paid a breeze, improving your client’s experience. You’ll impress clients by delivering amazing proposals in record time, ensuring you can book more clients and increase revenue.
The result is increased efficiency and a seamless process from start to finish, freeing you to focus on growth.
While we’re discussing systems for operational efficiency, my article on laboratory information management system covers a different field.
Key features:
- Automated Proposal Generation: Quickly create and send impressive proposals, accelerating your sales cycle and leading to a significant jump in your close rate.
- Streamlined Production Management: Simplify recipe planning, create accurate shopping lists, and manage wholesale orders efficiently to reduce errors and prevent over-ordering.
- Comprehensive Event Organization: Keep track of all event details, including contacts, locations, timelines, contracts, and private notes, centralizing information for better oversight.
Curate features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Curate is a strong contender for best catering management software, especially if you’re aiming to replace outdated tools. Users like John Paul from Catering Concepts NWA saw a 20% jump in their close rate, demonstrating its power to accelerate proposal delivery and enhance client experiences.
5. Better Cater
Struggling to keep your catering business organized?
Better Cater helps you manage events, create automatic packing lists, and generate reports, all from one central platform.
This means you can say goodbye to manual processes and spreadsheets, because Better Cater provides the tools to streamline your entire operation.
Ready to transform your catering workflow?
Better Cater introduces a simple, integrated credit card processing solution, allowing you to effortlessly send payment links and receive secure payments instantly. This enhances your cash flow and provides ultimate convenience for clients. Additionally, you can create unlimited BEO and proposal templates, helping you turn around professional-looking proposals in minutes. Plus, the handy event calendar syncs with major platforms like Google Calendar, ensuring you always stay updated on upcoming events. The result is a substantial time-saver, freeing you to focus on growing your business.
While we’re discussing business management, understanding effective PTO tracking is also vital for your team’s productivity.
Key features:
- Professional Proposals: Quickly generate stunning, customizable proposals and quotes that impress clients, helping you win more catering business.
- Integrated Payments: Accept all major debit/credit cards online with a fully integrated payment processing solution, ensuring instant, secure payments.
- Comprehensive Reports: Generate detailed reports for food sales, staff, and inventory, providing insights to help you manage and organize your business for growth.
Better Cater features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: If you’re a catering business looking to replace outdated tools and streamline operations, Better Cater is the best catering management software for you. Its focus on easy-to-use event management, quick proposal generation, and online payment processing directly addresses core pain points, enabling improved client satisfaction and higher profitability.
6. FoodStorm
Struggling to manage your catering orders and grow?
FoodStorm provides an order management system built for food service, centralizing all your order channels.
This means you can automate processes and streamline daily workflows, preventing costly mistakes and freeing up your valuable time. The result is better operational transparency and scalable growth.
Here’s how FoodStorm helps.
FoodStorm centralizes orders, menus, and production management across all your order channels. This allows your specific users and departments to easily access their orders and production reports, making production and fulfillment smoother.
You can streamline everything from grocery catering and holiday orders to everyday catering and made-to-order items, including deli, bakery, and custom cakes. The software helps you manage multiple inquiries, quotes, and pricing all from one system, leading to immense productivity gains. Additionally, FoodStorm offers robust features like weighted item support and real-time ordering for immediate fulfillment, ensuring you can cater to any lead time for your menu items. This truly simplifies managing complex client needs.
This is a logistical dream come true.
If you’re also looking into other specialized systems, my article on best blood bank management software covers complex inventory and tracking solutions.
Key features:
- Omnichannel ordering: Centralizes orders from various channels like your e-commerce site, in-store kiosks, and the Instacart app, ensuring no order is missed.
- Automated workflow management: Simplifies daily operations, from managing quotes and menus to tracking production, reducing administrative burden and errors.
- Integrated customer marketing: Provides tools to engage your customers and drive sales, allowing you to focus on growth instead of spreadsheets.
FoodStorm features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: FoodStorm stands out as a strong candidate for the best catering management software because it centralizes operations and automates workflows, allowing businesses to double sales and manage multiple locations from one platform, as evidenced by users like Russell McVeigh. It helps you focus on growth, not spreadsheets.
7. CaterZen
Are your catering operations stuck in chaos?
CaterZen addresses this by centralizing your drop-off, full-service, and event space business, moving you away from disjointed spreadsheets and paper.
This means you can manage everything from sales to operations and marketing in one powerful place, freeing you from tracking down staff for every detail. The result is a streamlined system that transforms your daily grind into calm, boosting efficiency.
Here’s how to supercharge your catering business.
CaterZen eliminates operational headaches, allowing you to increase efficiency effortlessly. It handles sales, operations, and marketing, letting your team save time, grow sales, and boost profits with its web-based software.
Its robust CRM anchors all your sales, operations, and marketing activities, helping you track emails, calls, meetings, orders, quotes, and proposals in one place. Additionally, the Delivery Manager routes deliveries and empowers drivers with on-the-road client communication from their smartphones. Plus, the BEO template tool and kitchen production reports turn your kitchen into a powerhouse with order-specific or aggregated daily reports.
The built-in online ordering system lets clients place orders 24/7 via a custom-branded, mobile-friendly interface. Customizable proposal templates help you wow prospects into booking, and automated inquiry web forms capture leads directly into your CRM, converting them into profits with integrated automated emails.
You’ll definitely build repeat clients with ease.
Key features:
- Centralized Catering CRM: Manages all sales, operations, and marketing data, consolidating client interactions, orders, and proposals for improved organization and client retention.
- Integrated Sales & Marketing: Offers online ordering, customizable proposals, and automated email marketing with pre-written templates to attract new clients and nurture repeat business effortlessly.
- Streamlined Operations Management: Provides a Delivery Manager, BEO template tool, and kitchen production reports to automate workflows, reduce manual tasks, and increase overall efficiency.
CaterZen features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: For small to mid-size food service businesses looking to replace manual processes and outdated tools, CaterZen stands out as a strong contender for the best catering management software. Its comprehensive features, from centralized CRM to automated sales and marketing tools, help fuel profitability by addressing the pain points of scaling operations and managing complex client needs.
8. Caterease
Struggling to manage your catering events efficiently?
Caterease helps you take control of your entire catering business, from initial inquiry to final payment, even when you’re out of the office. This means you can book, update, and track payments on the go directly from your phone.
Here’s how Caterease offers a complete solution to address your operational challenges, letting you focus on growing your catering business with confidence. You can access client details, track inquiries, and view past and upcoming bookings instantly.
This helps you stay connected.
Caterease streamlines your operations by providing real-time tracking, automated receipts, and flexible payment options through its integrated payment processing. You can also efficiently manage staff shifts and assignments for any event, selecting from available personnel to fill each position.
Additionally, its smart menu management allows you to make instant menu updates and adjustments that sync across your entire system, including custom options for clients and events. Plus, you can craft detailed 2D, 3D, or 360-degree Photosphere layouts to share your spatial vision, and automatically generate packing lists for equipment associated with menu items. The result is improved client satisfaction and operational transparency.
You can truly simplify your busy workday.
Beyond catering operations, safeguarding your business from evolving threats is crucial. My guide on best antivirus software can help protect your digital assets.
Key features:
- Complete mobile management: Book, update, and track payments, and review event details including menus and staffing from any mobile device, ensuring you stay organized.
- Integrated client and staff portals: Empower clients to view event details, sign contracts, and make payments, while providing tools for easy shift and role assignments for staff.
- Flexible menu and reporting tools: Effortlessly manage custom menus with cost/profit details and generate flexible reports to instantly track all important business information.
Caterease features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Caterease is a robust and user-friendly platform that centralizes event management and streamlines operations, making it an excellent candidate for the best catering management software. Its comprehensive features, from mobile accessibility to integrated client and staff management, address core pain points, enabling scalable growth and higher profitability for your business.
Conclusion
Ready to end event chaos?
Juggling orders, clients, and last-minute changes with outdated tools is a recipe for disaster. It makes scaling your catering business and maintaining profitability nearly impossible.
A Planet Money report highlights recent productivity surges in restaurants thanks to major operational upgrades. This sets a new efficiency standard that your growing business simply can’t afford to ignore.
So, what’s my top pick?
After evaluating all these tools, I believe Pxier is the strongest choice. It’s built specifically to streamline your entire operation from initial inquiry to final payment.
Its all-in-one platform truly centralizes event data, from proposals to payments, reducing manual work. Choosing the best catering management software like Pxier eliminates costly mistakes.
I suggest you book a free demo of Pxier and see for yourself how it can organize your entire business.
Your profitability will thank you.
