“A wedding in December, about 150. Can you send something?”
Put it in as an inquiry. Keep the proposal, agreement and booking on that event, then confirm its kitchen order when you are ready to plan the work.
Founding offer open now: 15 days free, then $49/month per kitchen, locked in for life. Limited to the first 20 kitchens. Regular price $99/month per kitchen; unlimited crew. Prices plus tax. Card required; $0 today. Cancel before day 16 in Settings → Billing, no call required. What to prepare · Plan and team limits
Save the inquiry before the stock comes off.
Tap + New inquiry mid-prep. No date yet? Tick Date not decided yet. Then name who follows up and when.
- Needs attention
- Booked · coming up
- In pipeline
- Past & closed
Then set the menu and service from your costed recipes, a saved menu or a past event. The food cost sits right beside it while you build.
Next: Proposal.
They decide on their phone, at their own pace.
Look it over exactly as the client will see it, pick how long the link stays open, and send it.
They open it with no login and press Accept proposal or Ask for changes.
While you wait you can Send a reminder, Extend link or Withdraw offer. If they ask for changes, update the offer.
Their yes is not a booking. Book the event checks the agreement and deposit, or records why you proceeded without them.
Next: Agreement.
The agreement and the deposit stay on the event.
Start from your own saved contract template. The accepted proposal goes on as Schedule A. Send the agreement for e-signature, or keep a copy signed on paper.
The client pays by card from an email link, or you record it by hand, as a check, cash, a transfer or your own card processor, and the event shows what you asked for and what came in.
Next: Booked.
Book it when the agreement is signed and the deposit is in.
Book the event tells you what is still missing. Book anyway asks why, and keeps your reason on the event. You can prepare a kitchen draft after the client accepts. Booking records the event commitment; the draft stays tentative until you press Confirm order, which locks quantities and prices for shopping, prep and pack.
Confirm order locks quantities and prices, and the shopping, prep and pack lists become checklists.
The calendar counts each day’s orders and vans against the limits you set, and an order tells you whether its day has room.
Type the client once.
A client saved from the inquiry lands in Clients, with contacts, venues and access notes like a gate code. Their events and orders are grouped as Upcoming, No date yet and Past.
When they call again, Start an order for this client carries those details onto the new order.
Where it stops, and how the client pays.
- A kitchen draft holds one service, so an event with a lunch and a dinner is booked by hand for now.
- Confirm order checks the day’s room, not whether the agreement is signed or the deposit has arrived.
- An invoice comes from an accepted proposal, so an online order has none.
- Nothing is tracked after Packed: no delivery step, no drivers and no staffing roster.
- Clients is for owners and managers, and a client’s page shows no money.
Payments
Card payment for event deposits and balances
The client pays the deposit and the balance by card, from a link in an email. You send the balance request whenever you choose. If it is still owed three days before it is due, they get a reminder with a pay link.
Invoice
An invoice from the proposal they accepted
Issue invoice, on the order’s Money tab, makes a numbered invoice from the accepted proposal: the total they signed, less what they’ve already paid. Send invoice emails them a link that doesn’t expire. It shows a Pay button for what’s due next if you take cards through CostCook, or the payment instructions you saved if you collect it yourself. They can print it or save it as a PDF.
Bring the next real inquiry.
Put it in as an inquiry during the trial and take it as far as Confirm order.