Catering Management
The Catering Product at Lunchbox was built to give our Restaurant Partners the ability to drive guests to their digital catering platform and own their customer relationships and experience. Much like online ordering for a single meal, catering orders can come from third-party marketplaces that can dilute catering profits.
Managing Catering Requests Process
Step 1: Start by logging into your dashboard and navigating to Catering > Orders from the menu pane.
This will load up a list of the twenty (20) catering orders, ordered by the date that the orders are to be fulfilled, with the date furthest into the future listed first. If you have a location selected from the top dropdown, this will filter the requests on this list by that Location.
Step 2: Selecting Filter will complete a search with the criteria you've given.
Step 3: Selecting the Reset button will reset all the search criteria you've provided and will return to the default list.
Step 4: The Catering Orders section displays various information about each catering order. The Status column, in particular, contains one of the following options:
Open: The order is open and has yet to be accepted or declined.
Accepted: An admin accepted the request and assigned it to a location that will fulfill it.
Decline: An admin rejected a request that was unable to be fulfilled.
Step 5: You can click on a line item in the Catering Orders section, which will display the Order Details page for the selected guest. From this view, you can see details on the guest and their order.
Individual Order (How To) Process
Accept Orders
Step 1: First, to accept an order, make sure the scheduled date/time is accurate and feasible to accommodate.
If applicable, verify the Tax Exempt ID status (IRS Tax Exempt Organization Lookup Page) and accept or decline Tax Exempt ID based on the results (Lunchbox does not verify tax exemptions for you).
Then, use the Assign To Location field to assign the catering order to a location of choice where the order will be prepared, and either picked up or delivered to the customer.
NOTE: Only Admins or location managers inspecting the catering request can make changes (if necessary) for open catering requests. Also, to ensure changes are implemented, always select the Save button.
Step 2: It is important to know that once you accept an order (i.e., selecting the Accept Catering Order button), you cannot change any of the information in the Order Details section, like checking the box for verifying tax-exempt ID. However, if you need to make an update after accepting the order, you must decline the order and follow the process documented here for how to place the order again with the updated information.
Step 3: When an order is accepted, the Admin, the Restaurant Manager, and the Customer will all receive an email notification and the guest will be charged the full amount due.
Decline Orders
When you decline a catering order (i.e., selecting the Decline Catering Order button), it will still show in your list of Catering Orders, but the status will change to Declined. If you accept an order, then decline the order, you'll have to perform a manual refund because the customer is charged when you accept an order.
Location Manager Exception
If you are a location manager and only have access to one location, you cannot reassign a catering order to another location.
Change Order Details
Step 1: From the Order Details page, you can alter any item BEFORE accepting the order. This includes the scheduled date and time, contact information, and assigned location, but not the contents of the order.
Refund Orders
Step 1: Orders must be refunded through the Standard Order page. The simplest way to find the order would be to copy the user’s email address and paste it into the Standard Order page. From there, refund the same way you would refund a standard order.
Firing Orders to the Lunchbox Admin Dashboard
Orders will be sent to the POS the morning that an order is set to be cooked in the kitchen at 5:30AM EST. This helps to ensure that sales will appear on the day that the labor was needed to produce the food.
Firing Orders to the Kitchen
Orders will fire to the kitchen at different times depending on how your POS is configured. It is very important to take note of SCHEDULED TIME on the Order Details screen to accurately ensure the food is prepared when the client or Delivery Partner are ready to pick the order up from the restaurant.
Catering Order Ticket Printing Schedules
When managing catering orders for delivery and pickup, understanding the timing of ticket printing in the kitchen is crucial for ensuring that orders are prepared and fulfilled on time.
Scheduled Catering Orders
For scheduled catering orders, the process of ticket printing is as follows:
The order is sent to the Point of Sale (POS) system on the day it is scheduled for fulfillment.
The actual printing of the ticket in the kitchen is determined by the settings configured in the Toast backend.
It is important to note that the specific timing of when the ticket is printed on the day of fulfillment is managed through the Toast POS system. Therefore, for detailed information on configuring the exact printing times, you should contact your Toast representative.
Additional Information
Lunchbox sends the prep time along with the order to the POS.
Lunchbox overwrites internal Toast Prep Time to send through additional minutes calculated in Lunchbox when using Subtotal Prep Time Rules.
For more details on printer settings and order transmission times, please refer to the following Lunchbox support article: 2m Prep Times, Order Throttling Times, Order Firing & Printing Behavior.
Catering Groups
The Catering Groups page is used for the configuration of locations, delivery zones, prep time, delivery time, minimum pricing, and hours. A restaurant may have a single catering group or a catering group for all locations depending on integration needs:
Single catering group:
Ordering page UI can display multiple location addresses.
All locations share time zone, prep time, delivery time estimate.
Availability applies to all locations in a single group.
Catering orders will all be sent to one email to accept or decline.
Multiple catering groups:
Locations may differ in time zone, prep time, delivery time estimate.
Availability is location-specific.
Catering orders will be sent to location-specific emails to accept or decline.
Viewing and Updating Catering Group Details
Step 1: To view your list of Catering Groups, navigate to Catering > Groups.
Step 2: The Catering Groups page appears, displaying the list of Catering Groups.
Step 3: You can use the search filters by inputting a catering group in the Name field and selecting the Filter button to provide results in the list below this section.
Step 4: On the Catering Group Details page, you can view/update the following fields:
Group Name
Contact Information
Delivery Zones
Acceptance Mode
Assignment Mode
Prep Times
Locations
Pickup and Delivery Operating Times/Details
Step 5: Be sure to click the Save button (located at the bottom of each dedicated section) to save any updated information.
How To Set Up Emails
Step 1: Set an email to receive catering notifications by clicking the Receipt Emails button; ensure that you are on the Catering tab.
Step 1a: Type in the email address and click Add. It should automatically save, but never a bad idea to save upon exiting the page.
Example of Pending Order Email
Example of Pending Order Email
Example of Order Prep Email
Example of Order Prep Email
Example of Accepted Order Email
Example of Accepted Order Email
Example of Order Invoice Email
Example of Order Invoice Email
NOTE: Order Invoiced Emails will contain all catering group orders set to be made that day.
Disable Email Confirmations for Catering Orders
If you are receiving email confirmations for accepted catering orders and wish to stop receiving them, you can easily turn them off through the Admin Dashboard. Here's how:
Access the Admin Dashboard: Log in to your account and navigate to the Admin Dashboard.
Navigate to Catering Settings: Click on the 'Catering' option.
Select Groups: Within the Catering section, find and click on 'Groups'.
Choose a Location: Select the specific location for which you want to change the email confirmation settings.
Edit Receipt Emails: Click on 'Receipt Emails' to view the current email settings.
Remove Email Address: Find the email address that is currently set to receive confirmations and remove it.
Save Changes: Make sure to save your changes to ensure that the email address is no longer associated with order confirmations.
Repeat these steps for each location if you manage multiple locations and wish to change the settings for each one.
How to Setup Delivery Fees in Toast
The configuration of Catering Delivery Fees in Toast (by distance, price, and percentage) are addressed in the following article link:
FAQ
Can orders be exported from this page?
No, however, a Standard Order Report will allow you to filter the platform column by catering.
Can an order be refunded from this section?
No, orders must be refunded through the Standard Order page. Reference the Individual Order (How To) Process section for details.
Can menu items be altered by the restaurant?
Not directly - but the restaurant’s account is capable of making a catering order and sending a link to a filled-out cart ready for a customer to pay. When the customer submits payment information, a new order will be sent to the admin page.
What is the process if you decline a catering order and want to place a new one for the customer?
Select the Decline Catering Order on the Catering Order page.
Then, an employee can log into the Catering site and place the customer’s order- you can use the Catering Order page where the declined order lives to place the same order again.
NOTE: The employee’s login for the Catering Order page must be set as an employee in the Guest section of the Admin Dashboard. Access the Guest section of the Admin Dashboard, then click on the Name of the employee. Next, select the Patron Options drop-down in the Guest Details section and toggle on Is Employee. If the employee logged into the Catering Order site to place the order prior to that toggle being turn on, have them log out and log back into the Catering Ordering site before continuing to place the order.
Once you’ve finished filling the cart, select Checkout.
Then, complete the Guest’s Information: Company, Address, Contact Name, and Phone Number, Number of Guests, Serving Utensils and/or Eating Utensils, Tax Exempt ID (If applicable), and any other information. Finally, click Confirm Details.
After you click Confirm Details, the Shareable Link will appear and you can email the link or text the link to the Guest for them to complete their payment method information.
How do you verify Tax Exempt ID?
If a Guest puts in a Tax Exempt ID, you must verify that they’re a tax-exempt organization on your own. You can easily look up the organization on the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Lookup page. Please note, Lunchbox does not verify tax exemptions for you. Once you’ve verified they’re tax-exempt, select the Valid Tax Exempt ID box, click Save, and then click Accept Catering Order. At that point, the tax will be removed from the Catering Order.
If you accept an order and then decide to decline it, what does that look like? What is the process after that?
You can definitely accept an order and then decline it, but if you do that, you'll also need to do a manual refund for the customer because by accepting the order the customer was charged.
If I'm a location manager, can I send an order to another location or does that need to be done by someone with admin (or multiple locations) permissions?
You can NOT assign to another location if you only have access to 1 location.
Can orders be exported from this page?
No, however, a standard order report will allow you to filter the platform column by catering (more on using the standard order page later)
Can an order be refunded from this section?
No, orders must be refunded through the standard order page. Reference the Individual Order (How To) Process section of the Catering Management article for details.
Can menu items be altered by the restaurant?
Not directly - but the restaurant’s account is capable of making a catering order and sending a link to a filled-out cart ready for a customer to pay. When the customer pays a new order will be sent to the admin page.
Is there minimum notice (like giving 4 hours notice) or a minimum amount for a catering order?
The restaurant can determine their minimum notice or minimum amount for a catering order. The minimum notice and minimum amount can be set differently for Pickup vs Delivery. The minimum amount will show up in the cart, not allowing you to check out if it is under the set minimum. If a minimum notice is given (e.g., 24-hour notice), there will not be slots available before 24-hours.
Glossary
Catering Order: refers to the orders placed on the catering platforms.
Catering Platform: The Lunchbox catering platform (https://catering.bareburger.com). It is a place where customers can place “Large Orders” (i.e., typically > $200). There is a different platform for catering because the workflow for catering is different (i.e., customers specify their time slot and delivery/pickup location, give packing instructions and notes, and then a catering manager approves or declines that catering request from the Lunchbox dashboard).