For catering operators

The Catering Operations Playbook

What to fix first

The four things a catering operation runs on, and how to advance the one that matters most.

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The maturity grid From the Playbook
1. How the order reaches you
2. How the order reaches the kitchen
3. How the order becomes money
4. Who sets ordering rules

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 the one with the biggest upside.

ROW 1 How the order reaches you order intake The sign: 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 sign: 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 sign: Somebody retyping an order into an invoice.
ROW 4 Who sets ordering rules rules and internal communication The sign: 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 do with it

The grid shows where you are. The guide shows what to do next.

For every row at every stage, the Playbook gives the moves that take it up one. Most are simple: a rule written down, a named owner, a cutoff, a form. You can start on them tomorrow.

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 operation on the same four rows in about 90 seconds, gives you your stage on the spot, and emails you your result in writing.

Take the catering scorecard

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 catering operations, business and industry, campus, K-12 and venues. You mark it for one site, the one closest to your average, never all your sites at once.

What is App8?

The enterprise foodservice operations platform behind Rally Catering, Rally Schools and Rally Eats. This is one of our own playbooks, and it is what we give new clients.

Get the Catering Operations Playbook

What to fix first in catering operations. No sign-up, no email address.

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