I’m not sure if this is the exact spot to post this but we are trying to replace our current Catering software and we already use Shopify which I think has most of what we need.
Bottom line. We need to be able to create an “order” or proposal, send it to the customer, and they pay.
The customers contact us, lets just say via phone for this to keep it simple.
My vision would be to create a page(s) that have our products and have it only visible to us via locksmith or something similar where we can add our items “products” to the order as needed. Pesto Chicken X 20, Oven Roasted Potatos x 20, Staff x 3, Bartender x 1, etc..
Once the order is created, (part of the creation is add the customer information as well) we can send them a link basically to the “cart” that would show what we put together. They Customer should NOT be able to edit this, of course we can.
Once they agree, they can use the “Checkout” button.
This is just a basic off-the-top-of-my-head idea of how it could work based on our workflow.
Has anyone done this already, are there any recommended tools/apps, I see some gothcha spots like now allowing them to edit the cart. But I’m thinking this can work.
Looking for the community mind for ideas to make this happen. (and yes I can modify code as needed too).
You’re describing Shopify Draft Orders almost exactly, and it’s already native, no Locksmith and no app needed.
Build the order in admin (line items can be your real products plus custom items typed in for “Staff x 3”, “Bartender”, “Travel fee” etc), attach the customer, then send the invoice from the draft. Shopify emails them a payment link. They click, see the line items you built, and pay through normal checkout. They can’t edit because it’s not a regular cart, it’s a payment page tied to your draft. Want revisions? They call you, you edit the draft, send a new invoice email.
A few things worth knowing for catering specifically:
Custom line items work fine for service charges with no SKU behind them
Discounts apply at draft level, so contract pricing is easy
Once paid, it auto-converts to a normal order and flows into normal fulfillment
For deposit + balance, split into two drafts or handle balance via a second invoice
Where you’d outgrow this is if you need a polished proposal PDF with your branding that the customer sees before paying. There are a few quote/proposal apps in the store for that, but for the workflow you described, Draft Orders covers it.
there is an option is to allow potential customers to browse your products and add them to cart but instead of going to checkout, the cart will be converted to the draft order for you to finalize it and send back to customer.
This can be done (for example) by using Mechanic app (which is made by the same people who made Locksmith).
Mechanic also can create and send PDF invoices if needed.
(! You’d probably need a dev to configure these tasks with Mechanic)
Thank you, we absolutely do NOT want customers involved in the process. Yeah, that sounds wierd. We don’t have menu options like a restaurant; we are a custom caterer. What a customer sees as a “meal” we see as a Protein, maybe another Protein, a side, another side, servers, rental items, delivery charges, service charges, beverage(s), etc etc.. and that’s how Catering Proposals are put together. Then the client gets the proposal that looks like a menu with the extra stuff like staff, linen rental, beverages, and other things as line items.
Catering Software is designed for this, but of the few major contenders in the field, they just aren’t cost effective anymore for us. We’ve been using one for over 10 years, we’re even beta testers for them, but they’ve grown (as they should) toward larger (think Event Centers/Stadium) catering and we’re only using about 5% or less of the options in the software because the other parts just don’t apply.
We already use Shopify for a separate business unit that has online ordering, so it seems like while not a “perfect” fit… it’s darn close and certainly more cost effective.
Just a followup… we are experimenting and “creating an order” seems like it will work, but the invoice doesn’t contain things:
The delivery address from the user we created which is kindof important.
We have some legal speak that must be included, both the highlights from Terms of Service and “contract” language. Not sure exactly how to “attach” those to the invoice.