Built around your shop — not bolted on

By the time they hang up, the plated dinner tastings is quoted, booked, and on the tech's phone.

Not an AI receptionist bolted onto someone else's software. DispatchNode prices from your catering service catalog and rules, books the job on the board, collects Stripe, and the tech sees it on their phone.

14-daytrial35% of catering revenue is lost to poor headcount communicationAvg ticket: $3,200 average catered event
Catering Service industry scene

Anatomy of a Lost Job

7:15 PM - Urgent Call

A corporate admin calls to book catering for a 150-person company event next Friday.

4:30 PM – No Answer

"Please leave a message or press 1 for..."

7:18 PM - Lead Hangs Up

Searches Google, hires a competitor who answers.

Bottom Line

-$3,500

Estimated Booking Lost

The Old Way:
Losing Bookings to Voicemail.

A wedding coordinator texts at 10 PM that the headcount dropped from 200 to 160. Forty portions of prepped salmon—$1,200 worth—sit in the walk-in cooler with no buyer, and the chef doesn't see the message until 6 AM.

A kitchen sends out 85 boxed lunches and one contains walnut oil. The guest with a tree nut allergy takes a bite, triggers anaphylaxis, and an ambulance arrives at the corporate lobby—the caterer's insurance premium doubles by month's end.

Three servers call out sick at 4 PM for a 6 PM gala. The chef stops plating appetizers to frantically text personal contacts, and the first course hits tables 35 minutes late in front of 200 executives.

Quote, book, collect, and dispatch — on one call

Quotes from your catalog

Live catalog and rules — not a script that says someone will call you back.

Books it on the board

Confirmed job, not a voicemail. Wade holds the slot, then writes it onto the board.

Collects, then dispatches

Stripe before hang-up. The tech sees the job, the map, and the notes on their phone.

Anatomy of a booked job

7:15 PM - Urgent Call

A corporate admin calls to book catering for a 150-person company event next Friday.

7:15 PM - Instant Answer

Wade answers instantly and qualifies the lead.

7:17 PM - Job Booked

Guest count and menu preferences captured. Event date reserved.

Bottom Line

+$3,500

Revenue Captured While You Slept

Configured to your trade

Call → quote → book → deposit → dispatch

Not a receptionist bolted onto someone else's software. One agent, your rules — on the phone and the widget — and the job lands on the tech's phone.

  1. 01

    Call

    Twilio number or the website widget

  2. 02

    Answer

    Wade · 29+ languages · first ring

  3. 03

    Quote

    Live catalog and rules

  4. 04

    Book

    Confirmed on the board

  5. 05

    Deposit

    Stripe before hang-up

  6. 06

    Dispatch

    Map + tech's phone

Your catering service operation — not just the phone

Intake, catalog, and dispatch in your terms. The same person on the call and the widget. Unlimited techs and office.

Your agent, your voice

  • You pick Wade and the speaking voice — or clone yours
  • Callers hear your shop, not a generic receptionist
  • Knowledge base, pronunciation, and catering service intake in your language

Dispatch & calendar

  • Live map, travel buffers, recurring routes
  • Time clock with GPS; availability on the call
  • Holds a slot, then books it onto the board

CRM, quotes & jobs

  • Intake and catalog and rules the way your shop already talks
  • Estimates the customer approves by text
  • Jobs created from the call transcript

Get paid

  • Invoices + Stripe links, including mid-call deposits
  • A/R dunning, job costing, 1099 contractor payouts
  • QuickBooks Online & Xero on Starter+

In the field

  • Native iOS & Android — no per-tech fee
  • photos, signatures, and checklists
  • Before/after PDFs and on-my-way ETAs

The customer

  • No-login portal from an SMS link
  • Pay, approve quotes, reschedule, see ETA
  • Reminders, review asks, agreement renewals

Contracts & cadence

  • Service agreements with e-sign review
  • Recurring jobs generated on a cadence
  • 60 / 30 / 7-day renewal reminders

Shop, parts & fleet

  • Pricebook, inventory, vendors, serialized assets
  • Bay, counter, or warehouse when you need them
  • Vehicles, equipment, optional telematics

Office, team & growth

  • 11 roles, audit log, website & campaigns
  • Google + Outlook calendars; Gusto time sync
  • REST + MCP API on Starter — your catalog, your terms

Live today Stripe · Twilio · QuickBooks Online · Xero · Gusto · Google Calendar · Outlook · Slack · CallRail · Lob · Mapbox / Google Maps · REST + MCP

Catering Service markets

Local AI dispatch pages for top metros — same shop OS, city-specific operating context.

New York · Los Angeles · Chicago · Houston · Phoenix · Philadelphia · San Antonio · San Diego · Dallas · Austin · Jacksonville · San Jose · Fort Worth · Columbus · Charlotte · Indianapolis · San Francisco · Seattle · Denver · Nashville · Oklahoma City · El Paso · Washington · Las Vegas

More metros at /locations · each city page is self-canonical for catering service.

Wade - Your AI Voice Agent for Catering Service

Meet Wade

Your AI Voice Agent for Catering Service

Answers the phone, asks for their street address, texts them a deposit link, and drops the confirmed job into your schedule.

Catering Service — why missed calls hurt

Market reality

A corporate admin hangs up the phone at 4:15 PM Tuesday after three caterers sent her to voicemail. She books the fourth one—the company whose system texted back a menu link and a $2,380 quote before she set the phone down. The three silent caterers each lost an 85-person Thursday lunch they never knew existed.

How Wade wins the job

A corporate admin calls at 4 PM Tuesday for an 85-person Thursday lunch requiring 12 vegetarian and 2 halal plates. The AI agent answers, queries current supplier pricing, calculates ingredient costs, and quotes $2,380. The admin clicks the secure payment link to approve. The system pushes a prep sheet within five seconds to the kitchen tablet highlighting all 14 specialty plates in bold red. When the admin texts at 9 PM to add 10 guests, the AI agent recalculates portions, charges the $280 difference to the card on file, and updates the digital prep sheet—telling the line cook exactly how many extra chicken breasts to pull from the walk-in before the chef arrives Wednesday at 5 AM.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens technically when a client texts a last-minute headcount change?

The AI agent parses the inbound SMS, recalculates portion counts against the ingredient database, and adjusts the invoice total via the payment API. It then pushes the updated digital prep sheet directly to the kitchen tablet, specifying exactly how many additional proteins, starches, and garnishes the line cook needs to fire.

Ready to run catering service from first ring to the tech's phone?

No contracts. Cancel anytime.

See AI dispatch handle a live call — free 30-min demo