Run Your Catering Business From Your Phone

The back office doesn't stay at the office.

You answer enquiries in the van. You check who has paid at the kitchen table. You find out a shift is short when someone texts at six in the morning. The work follows you, but the business itself lives somewhere else: an inbox, a spreadsheet, a calendar, a notes app and your memory.

So the phone becomes a way to worry, not a way to work.

This guide covers why that happens, four habits that fix it, and how an assistant on your phone can do most of the digging for you.

Why the back office follows you home

Catering admin comes in small pieces at bad times. An enquiry arrives during service. A client replies about dietary needs while you're at a venue. A supplier runs short the day before a big lunch.

Each piece is quick. Finding the information to deal with it is not. Which event was that? What did we quote? Did the deposit come in? The answer is usually in a different app from the question.

That's the real cost. Not the replying, but the searching.

Four habits that fix it

1. Start the day with one brief

Before you open the inbox, answer five questions: who is waiting on a reply, what is due today, what is coming this week, what is low in stock, and who still owes you money.

On paper that takes a while. The point is the habit: one look at the whole business, then decide what needs you.

2. Ask, don't search

If a question takes more than a minute to answer, the information is in the wrong place. "When is the Herrera dinner?" "How many guests at the Northbay lunch?" "Who still owes us money?" These should be questions you ask, not files you open.

3. Let it draft, you approve

The first draft is the slow part of most admin: the follow-up, the quote, the task list for the crew. Let software write the first version. You read it, change what's wrong, and decide.

The rule that matters: nothing that sends an email or money should go without you.

4. Only turn on the alerts that matter

A phone that pings for everything gets ignored. Keep alerts for the moments that cost you if you miss them: a new lead, a client message, an event change, a shift reply, an overdue invoice, low stock, a document about to expire.

What this looks like with an assistant

Collaborative Kitchens AI puts the whole business into one assistant you can reach from your phone.

• Add it to your home screen. There's no app store. On iPhone you use Share, then Add to Home Screen. On Android you tap Install. It opens straight on the assistant.
• Tap "Brief me on today". You get one card: what needs you now, what's on today, what's coming this week, and what's low in stock.
• Ask anything, typed or by voice. "Who still owes us money?" lists unpaid invoices by client.
• Move between Assistant, Inbox, Pipeline and Dashboard with the tabs at the bottom. The pipeline shows events by stage and flags quotes that have gone quiet.
• It drafts, you decide. It asks before it saves anything. Anything that sends an email or money waits for your Send button.
• Notifications for what matters: new leads, client messages, event changes, shift replies, overdue invoices, low stock and expiring documents.

"I don't want AI doing things without me"

That's a fair worry, and it's how we built it. The assistant does the digging and the first draft. You make the calls. It asks before it changes anything, and nothing goes out until you press Send.

Try it

Start with the morning brief. If it saves you the first half hour of digging, keep going.

The 14-day free trial needs no card, and you can add it to your phone on day one. Starter is $99 a month and Pro is $149 a month, with every feature on both plans.