Catering and event food orders: what to ask on the phone and how to follow up
Sado AI team · · 4 min read
In short
On a catering call, first find out eight things: what event, date and time, how many guests, the format (buffet, banquet, coffee break, plov cooked on site), venue and address, what the venue has, menu and budget per person, and whether waiters are needed. Don’t invent a price on the phone: have a manager send a quote the same day, and call the customer back the next day. Customers compare several caterers, and the fastest clear answer wins. An AI operator can take them too, in Uzbek and Russian.
How a catering call differs from an ordinary order
This isn’t one bowl of lagman: the amount is large, the decision takes days, and the customer usually compares two or three caterers. Nothing is settled on the first call, but that call shows who answers faster and more precisely.
Many requests come in the evening: an office worker at home remembers the boss’s task, or a family discusses the wedding plans. If nobody answers then, the customer dials another number in the morning.
8 questions for the first call
| Question | Sample answer |
|---|---|
| What event? | Company anniversary, birthday, morning plov, seminar |
| Date and time? | 15 December, 18:00 |
| How many guests? | About 80 |
| Which format? | Buffet, banquet, coffee break, plov cooked on site |
| Where? | Office, third floor, lift available; or a courtyard |
| What’s at the venue? | Tables and chairs, power, water, a kitchen |
| Menu and budget? | For example, about 150,000 so‘m per person |
| Service needed? | Waiters, tableware, table decoration |
At the end, take the name, phone and where to send the quote: Telegram, email or a callback. The answers in the table are only examples.
A sample call: a buffet for an office
Sado: Assalomu alaykum, Dasturxon catering, this is Shohruh.
Caller: Good evening. We want a year-end buffet at our office, and I’d like to know the price.
Sado: Of course. Which date, and how many people?
Caller: The twenty-seventh of December, at six. About sixty people.
Sado: Where is the office, and are there tables? Will you need waiters?
Caller: In Mirobod, there are tables. We need two waiters.
Sado: Roughly what budget per person do you have in mind? Our manager will build the menu around it.
Caller: About a hundred and fifty thousand. Send the quote on Telegram.
The operator didn’t invent a price: it gathered what was needed and left it for the manager, who will send a quote with a specific menu.
After the call: turning a request into an order
- Send the quote the same day. If your price list has a “from” price, say it on the phone and give the exact amount in the quote.
- Call the customer the next day: “Have you seen the quote? What shall we change in the menu?”
- If the customer says “I’ll discuss it with my manager”, agree when to call back, and make sure you call that day.
- Never ask for card details on the phone for a deposit: a staff member sends the contract and payment details separately.
- Two or three days before the event, confirm the final number of guests and how to get into the venue.
Handing catering requests to an AI operator
An AI operator for incoming calls answers at night and at weekends and asks the eight questions above. The answers sit in the portal’s Requests section in separate fields, with the recording and transcript. If you use Bitrix24, a lead or deal is created; our team connects amoCRM. When a customer wants to discuss the menu in detail, the operator transfers the call to the manager by your rule.
Customers who got a quote but didn’t reply are called back on the agreed day with AI outbound calls: the operator notes their question or sets a meeting time. Try it live or call 78 778 01 23.
Questions
Does the AI operator work out the catering price itself?
No. It quotes the prices you gave it, such as “buffet from … so‘m per person”, and the manager does the exact quote. It never makes things up: it leaves a task for the manager to call back.
What happens if a customer calls at night?
The AI operator works 24/7. In the morning the request is in Requests with every answer, so the manager knows what to price before calling.
Are the questions the same for a wedding morning plov?
Almost: the details change, such as how many guests, whether a cauldron and cook are needed, space in the courtyard and the start time. The operator takes these questions from the list you give at setup.