Caterease

Enhance your Inhouse System by using Caterease

Comentários: Software has enabled me to double my business without adding extra support staff. It forces me to answer questions about my events ahead of time so when the event date arrives, I am fully prepared.

Vantagens:

Well thought out! Software can be customized to do just about anything. It is easy to use - learning curve is approximately 6 weeks to become very comfortable with it. A myriad of reports to choose from and customize. Absolutely the best customer service of any software I've purchased. Very quick and clear response time, Questions are answered within a day. Phone and email support unrivaled. Developer is willing to work with End user.

Desvantagens:

1. Mouse scroll! I use this program at least 6 hours/day; finding those hiding scroll bars and scrolling is continually frustrating and annoying, especially when the detail grids are expanded. The program looks like Outlook and acts like Outlook with the exception of this feature. 2. Recommendation for data entry: In some places 'tab' gets you to the next column, and in some places it's 'down/up' arrow. Often frustrating to remember which to use. It's a waste of time to use your mouse when the 'tab' would do. I would recommend that this feature be streamlined so it's always either 'tab' or 'arrow' key (mouse still available, of course).

The name says it all! Caterease has put the Ease into our Catering Operations

Comentários: One of the biggest benefits to Caterease is all there integrations. From credit card processing with Vantiv to event staff scheduling and communication with Nowsta to EASY, STRESS FREE online ordering setup through Zuppler, Caterease has centralized multiple outside operations of our catering company into one place. This alone has cut our time it takes to prepare, schedule and collect payment for every event we create in half, if not more. Caterease has boosted our business operations and continues to help in our growth on a daily basis.

Vantagens:

The customization of EVERY ASPECT of Caterease is one of the reasons why we love it so much. Everything can be made to suit your individual businesses needs. You can use their basic templates for prints such as contracts, receipts, billing statements and more or create your own with whatever information you would like. Every single bit of information can be displayed or removed from prints. Anything!! You can even customize your screen views. We have 6 different users linked to our Caterease and each users desktop/window views are customized down to the theme color. We have 2 divisions to our catering company, one is rather simple and the other is very complex. We have one user set up for the simple division and have cut out 80% of the features Caterease offers from that users display because we do not use them with that division so now, those features that we use for the complex catering side don't clutter up or confuse our simple home meal delivery user. The reports and query features are amazing. You can pull a report or query for literally any piece of information the you want. Want a query of all events that had more than 20 peoples worth of rice pilaf in the month of June 2 years ago, its one click away with Caterease. I've been in the catering business for 10+ years and Caterease is hands down the best Catering Software out there if you want to make things your own and customized to your business. I could go on for days about why I love Caterease!

Desvantagens:

Because it is so big and customizable, it does take a while to set up. You can come into it new and work off templates and be just fine but if you want to really take advantage of all the great features Caterease has, be ready to spend some time setting it up. Although it may take some time to setup, once you do, you are all set! With the endless video tutorials and help center articles, you have everything you will need to set things up your way.

To use Caterease or not to use Caterease

Comentários: My hotel used Caterease for many years and were very content with the final product

Vantagens:

It was very user friendly and easy to navigate

Desvantagens:

The Inability to make changes to a Banquet Event Order

Cheap for the program but you get what you pay for

Comentários: Worst customer service experience I have worked with in regard to fixing the issues we had. As a customer service company who handles clients everyday this program was to be utilized to help that process. In turn it didnt do much of that at all and was an antiquated system that required a connection server that made issues arise everyday. It impeded days of business where i couldn't retrieve my BEOs because the citrix system was down or inoperable. When i would call or email I would generally get sent to more than one individual to try and solve the problem. Functions of the program that where said to integrate, did not and when asked when they would be live again they told me "we're working on it" and it still hasn't been resolved to my knowledge. Even for the money the program is basically a days worth of formula tracking away from being an excel spreadsheet

Vantagens:

The ease of understanding of the windows based screens and exec function of the program

Desvantagens:

Customer service, the third party integrations, the antequated system boot

Very Powerful, can do a lot, but too much for my needs

Comentários: Caterease kept all of my work schedule running smoothly, it was a bit of a pain for inventory tracking but it can be done.

Vantagens:

Caterease has a ton of options and easy to get information out of it as long as you are a subscriber. The Subscription is pretty steep but if you are doing 6 and 7 figures in sales it is worth it. I am a small shop it was too much for what i needed.

Desvantagens:

The Price is too steep for my shop. I have found other software providers but there are some short comings i have to deal with.

Outdated and not worth the money

Comentários: I found over my two years with Caterease, the very tool I purchased had become more of a chore than a tool. Nothing about the application made my job easier. I spent more time inputting ingredients, menus, recipes, events, emails, and clients than I'd ever like to admit, and at the end of two years nothing ingredients didn't calculate on menus correctly, menus didn't calculate recipes correctly, and all of their templates for emails/prints/reports look like garbage.

Vantagens:

Not much, really. Other than than storing contacts, there was not a single facet in Caterease that made the system easy to use for the end user what-so-ever. I would have been better off tracking events, ingredients, and inventory in Google Sheets for free instead of paying $1800 a year for Caterease.

Desvantagens:

From the top: Logging in and lack of mobile availability: From a PC, you have to log into a citrix client before accessing your application. You can have the fastest PC on the planet and still have to rely on the speed of their Citrix server to get anything done (which isn't the best.) There is also a VERY bare-bones mobile "companion" app that is almost useless. You cannot add clients or events, adjust the calendar, etc. The only thing you can do is view your current calendar and contact list. And to make it worse, it doesn't store your password AND they have a forced password reset EVERY TWO WEEKS. The application itself: It's very dated and not user friendly. What should take minutes takes upwards of an hour. Want to copy and paste inside the app? That's going to cost you $600 more a year for the "professional" version. Yes, you cannot copy, duplicate, or paste an event without paying for premium service. I already was paying $1800 a year, that's an insane markup for basic functionality. Everything looks like it was made in the Windows 98 era, and hasn't been updated since. Reporting: Reporting is a joke. Very limited, very complicated, and overall useless. Again, unless you pay more! Printing and emailing: Because the application runs through Citrix, printing is very complicated (even worse with wireless printing). Emails, you can create emails directly from Caterease, but it's a gamble if the email sends the caterease-generated attachment.

Caterease Use and Implementation

Comentários: Overall, my experience was positive. It does have many capabilities. However, we were ready for a change.

Vantagens:

It was fairly easy to use from a brand new user standpoint. Our back of house staff liked it for recipe and menu complilation.

Desvantagens:

Sometimes it began to feel clunky and antiquated.

Caterease is powerful and there's a lot to it.

Vantagens:

The sheer amount of features with Caterease is astounding. There is so much it can do from scheduling and pricing events to inputting menu items, and much more! The integrated tutorials are helpful.

Desvantagens:

The interface isn't as intuitive as I would like. It seems like it's in need of a facelift. I feel like we maybe use 20% of all the features we're able to use.

Caterease is customizable and easy to use on the go!

Vantagens:

How customizable it is! We were really able to take the software and use it how it best suited and helped our company. And each of our Sales Team can customize their screens and views to how it best suits their day-to-day needs. The Caterease team constantly provides updates and strives to better fit everyone's needs. We recently switched to the web-based server and it makes a huge difference for our Sales Team.

Desvantagens:

As with any software, there are bugs/glitches, etc. but the support teams works quick to fix them and update the software with changes.

Buyer Beware! Deceptive Pricing & Salespeople

Comentários: It's been absolutely horrible.

Vantagens:

Caterease seems to be a very full featured program... unfortunately we never really got the opportunity to use it

Desvantagens:

Their sales reps and pitches are extremely deceptive! - They advertise a monthly price, but that is for 1 user with a fairly limited feature set. If you were one user, there would be no need for a program like this. - They have "teaser" pricing -- give you a discount in year 1 (which they make up for with an implementation fee) -- and then scale it up in subsequent years. They're not stupid -- they know that this platform would be very hard to transition away from. - They will say anything (including lie right to you, over email) to get you to sign up. When you call them out on their lie on day 1 of implementation, sorry, no refunds. STAY FAR AWAY

Buyer Beware

Comentários: The sales team did not really describe the complexity in setting up this program. Basically you get a complete catering program that must be built up from ground floor by the client. I spent months trying to switching from my current catering software program and never was able to get the program to work. Finally after a few months we took a loss on the money and abandoned the program all together. I could only see the program working for a large company with an IT department that could handle programming the systems to fit the organization. NOT for any form of a small business.

Vantagens:

Caterease has a ton of options. But all must be programmed by the client. High level of computer knowledge and time required.

Desvantagens:

Everything is very complex and must be programmed. Our team went from spending hours booking clients to hours learning and programming Caterease. Very very complex and requires a ton of hours to set-up. We even started losing money because all our time was spent setting-up the program. Nothing with this program is "Ready To GO". Very bloated. Many systems are listed in different areas creating a very congested and bloated feel to the UI

Good Event Management Tool

Vantagens:

Easy to enter prospects, create proposals and manage clients.

Desvantagens:

Some of the reporting tools are lacking, email blasts to groups are limited and the software doesn't seem to be able to evolve as quickly as it should.

Have used Caterease in various positions with 2 employers. Have used one other catering system

Vantagens:

Ease of use across systems (adding an event, account or client is all done with the same + / - icon )

Desvantagens:

Unable to batch print or email documents as one attachment Unable to view the content of sent emails from within Caterease Unable to pull up an "outstanding invoice list" across accounts

Caterease

Vantagens:

I really like the ability to customize the program for your unique needs. I like that I am not relying on the IT department and I can make changes myself. It is user-friendly and has streamlined our operations improving our overall efficiency.

Desvantagens:

Because I use the prints templates, I am limited to the customization of them. I know I could make my own prints so this is a very small inconvenience.

Great User Interface

Vantagens:

It was easy to use but was customizable to our needs

Desvantagens:

Some features weren't super intuitive and took many steps to get what we needed

We love Caterease

Comentários: We have used Caterease for over 10 years. We couldn't run our business without it. Thank you for your support.

Vantagens:

The software is easy to use. It keeps track of all of my events. The support team is always great to help me with any question that I have. I am not very good with technology and they always answer my questions in terms that I understand. They stay on the phone with me until my problem is resolved.

Desvantagens:

I wish the e mails through Caterease would hold an attachment.

Caterease has helped make Kimble's Events by Design the successful company we are today!

Vantagens:

We do love our Caterease package!! We have been users since 2000 so we have grown up with Caterease!! It is efficient and easy to use and gives us all that data and management tools we need to make our events a success!! We also just decided to research the mobile version of the program as we are going to have a sales person in the field in a couple of months! It truly is a great partnership!

Caterease and its support staff is AWESOME

Vantagens:

Ease of use, our entire team from FOH to BOH, chefs and sales team are huge fans of using this software!

Desvantagens:

nothing! this software is really fantastic! it is easy to use, user friendly and the customer service is amazing!

Effective Management Tool

Comentários: CataerEase is an all in one tool to manage every part of your business.

Vantagens:

The ability to manage all aspects of an organization through one tool is a valuable feature that sets CaterEase apart from the rest.

Desvantagens:

Learning curve to get started was a bit more than I expected but through trial and error, training and provided resources, I was up and running in no time.

Our business used Caterease for 1 month. We switched software because it was not easy to navigate.

Vantagens:

We liked that we could duplicate events with the same information, and that we could add accounts and contacts. Customer service was helpful with training.

Desvantagens:

Overall, the software just wasn't convenient for our business. It was complicated to navigate. We needed something simple and easily customizable with features like a calendar and a contacts section. Caterease had these features, but they just weren't easy to navigate when you're busy.

Caterease is indispensable

Comentários: Having been in the business for over 30 years and having worked on three continents. I have seen and worked with many event management systems. In 2013 I started my own business and was challenged by looking for event software that would be scalable and grow with me, Caterease hit all the notes for my business. Now 2 years in, I have been able to add the modules to match the demands of my flourishing business. Best satisfaction is when you get a cold call from a guest and inside of a10 minute conversation I'm able to send off a professional proposal along with a detailed email covering all my business can offer to a client.' Time and time again, clients state''You won the contract chef because you're not only talented in the kitchen but your speed to send all documentation shows how much you care about your guests'

Whether you are just starting out in Hospitality or have decided to start up your own business after working for others. Caterease is indispensable and will make your business purr with a professional edge!

Best in the Industry

Comentários: Having numerous restaurants and a few catering companies under our realm, a few years back we started the quest for a software that encompasses all our needs for both types of businesses. In researching our options for what seems eternity the clear choice at the end was Caterease. The ease of the options is pretty amazing. With so many options within the software one would think it would be mind boggling, hats off to the programmers and code writers at Caterease for making the ease of use a priority. I must also mention the upgrades which we subscribe to are very in depth and well thought out as well as having a top notch Customer Service team, I'm impressed and suggest any and all looking for a catering software, start with Caterease because everything else pales in comparison.

I love this program!

Vantagens:

My favorite thing about this program is that it looks just like my Office programs - so everything is so easy to use. I also love the cool browser-based dashboard and mobile app. I can't believe how much time this is already saving me - wish I bought it sooner!

Desvantagens:

Nothing yet! This program does everything I need and more.

worth it

Vantagens:

It is very user friendly and easy to use. I really like this software and would recommend it to anyone.

Desvantagens:

It is more expensive than it should be. To learn more about the software you have to pay even more than the first time.

Doubled our business

Comentários: After shopping around for software, we ended up choosing a different one and sadly, after months and months of trying to get all the kinks worked out (and lots of wasted money) we ended up walking away from it and going with Caterease and wow... Wish we had just started with them. From the sales process to getting started, we were booking events the SAME DAY we got the program. At the end of the day it's all about your business and we have to give a lot of credit to this software for helping grow our business that way it has.