You can set a min headcount for a catering order and set the required "Prep Time" based on headcount. These can be configured to whatever makes sense for your restaurant.
When a customer places the order they enter the headcount for the order on the 1st screen and then this hides/displays the available order days/times based on the prep time settings above.
For any Catering item you can set a # of people the item will feed and a max quantity of the item per order.
This means that the price per person will display as a note on the item when ordering.
Catering Orders can be Pickup or Delivery. For Delivery you can set order minimum values and set the delivery fees by zone.
Best Practices when creating a Catering Menu:
1. Create a Tag called "Catering". Tags are not required but make it easier to manage the creation and editing of Catering Categories and Items as you can filter on Tags.
2. Create the Catering Categories. Toggle on "catering" in the Catering Category and assign the tag "catering". Categories should not be shared across regular online ordering and catering menus.
3. Create any unique Catering Modifiers. You can use the regular online ordering modifiers for the catering items.
4. Create the Catering Items - toggle on Catering at the bottom of each item and assign the headcount and Max order #. (Default to 100 if none specified). Assign the Catering Tag to each item. Assign the common modifiers to the first item you create and you can then clone that item to create the others, updating the name/price/headcount as applicable.
5. Assign any unique modifiers to catering items.
6. Create the Catering Menu, assign location(s) as applicable, set the availability and assign the catering categories.
7. Toggle on Catering for the location(s) and configure the settings for pickup and delivery.