NEXT Foodservice Expo, Calgary

You have four catering problems. Only one is worth a quarter.

The Catering Operations Playbook What to fix first

This is how App8 works out what to fix first in catering operations: the four things a catering program runs on, five stages each, and the moves that take a row up one.

Get the Playbook

No sign-up. It opens straight away.

The maturity grid Instrument one

1. How the order reaches you

2. How the order reaches the kitchen

3. How the order becomes money

4. Who sets ordering rules

Five stages on each row. The marked one is stage 3, where a single site tops out.

The model

The four things catering runs on

Score them separately. An average hides the one that is holding you down, and the row you fix first is worth more than the other three put together.

ROW 1 How the order reaches you order intake The tell: Catering orders arriving as a text on somebody's cell phone, and nobody thinking that is unusual.

ROW 2 How the order reaches the kitchen order fulfillment The tell: The change that came in by phone on Friday and never reached the kitchen.

ROW 3 How the order becomes money order to cash The tell: Somebody retyping an order into an invoice.

ROW 4 Who sets ordering rules rules and internal communication The tell: One person everybody calls to ask whether an order can still go in. When that person is away, the answer changes.

Inside the Playbook

Find your stage on each row

Pick one site, the one closest to your average. In each row, find the one box that describes how it runs today. If you are torn between two stages, mark the lower one.

STAGE 1 Manual intake

STAGE 2 Digital but siloed

STAGE 3 Integrated workflow

STAGE 4 Multi-site control

STAGE 5 Enterprise operating layer

1. How the order reaches you order intake

Phone, email and walk-ups, written down by a person

An order form exists, but orders still arrive other ways

Every order arrives one way, with what the kitchen needs on it

Same channel, fields and questions at every site

Ordering accounts with approvers, budgets and cost centers

2. How the order reaches the kitchen order fulfillment

The kitchen works from notes, texts and memory

A production list exists, but it is typed from the orders

Every order flows to the production sheet and labels, changes included

Same production sheets, labels and packing at every site

Every site's fulfillment is measured against the order, in one view

3. How the order becomes money order to cash

Invoices built by hand from the order

Invoices built in a system, typed in from the order

Each order goes into your accounting system with no retyping

Same posting rules and cost centers at every site

Catering receivables reconcile into your finance system on their own

4. Who sets ordering rules rules and internal communication

Ordering rules live in people's heads

They are written down, but an order can still break them

The system refuses an order that breaks a rule

One place sets the rules and every site runs them

Every exception goes to one owner and is counted across sites

Stages 1 to 3 apply to every operation. Stages 4 and 5 are for operations with several sites, so a single site tops out at stage 3.

What you get

The instruments, and the moves that go with them

The maturity grid Four things catering runs on, five stages each. Mark one site in a few minutes.

The priority check Which row to fix first, from one question: at 10 times your volume, what breaks first?

The maturity guide For every row at every stage, the moves that take it up one. Most cost nothing.

The note to your catering clients Send it as written when the ordering link changes.

The kitchen check One week, one site, and you can count where order information is being lost.

The brief for IT and finance What to ask for, in the words those teams answer to.

The rules card Lead times, minimums, cutoffs and who approves an exception, written down once.

One enterprise workplace site cut 67 hours of manual work and grew catering orders 513% in twelve months by digitizing intake through fulfillment.

Where to start

Not sure which row is yours?

The catering scorecard scores your program on the same four rows in about 90 seconds, gives you your stage on the spot, and emails you the Playbook moves for the row you scored lowest.

Take the catering scorecard

At the show

Where to find us in Calgary

Sunday 13 September, 2:15 pm MT From Chaos to Control: Building a More Mature Catering Operation Workshop, Palo E

Monday 14 September, 1:15 pm MT Technology in Canadian Foodservice Main stage keynote

Monday 14 September, 3:00 pm MT From Chaos to Control, the encore Workshop, Palo E

Or come to booth 437 and we will walk you through the grid in person.

Before you ask

Do I have to sign up?

No. The Playbook downloads with no form and no email address.

Who is it for?

Catering and dining-services operators: contract caterers, business and industry, campus, K-12 and venues. You mark it for one site, the one you know best, never the whole estate.

What is App8?

The enterprise foodservice operations platform behind Rally Catering, Rally Schools and Rally Eats.