Resources

Help guides and articles for your catering business.

Event Format / Miscellaneous Information

A tabbed slideover on the quote show page that captures guest numbers, important contacts, the day's timeline, room / table setup and custom Q&A for each event — with toggles for what flows through to the chef docket.

Where to Find It

The Event Format section is on the quote show page — the page you see after the order has been created. It does not appear on page 1 of the order create flow. Page 1 is for the bare bones (who, when, where, what's being delivered); the event format detail comes in later, often after a planning call with the customer.

Scroll down past the menu on the quote show page, find the EVENT FORMAT / MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION heading, and click the Update button next to it. The seven-tab slideover opens from the right.

The Seven Tabs

  • PAX — Total guests, with optional breakdown (adults, kids, staff, vendors, other) and an additional evening guest count. Includes a "Show on chef docket" toggle (ticked by default when you first fill in PAX).
  • Event Details — A list of question + answer pairs. Default questions are managed in the templates section; tick the ones you want on this event and type the answer. Add one-off custom questions inline below.
  • Important Contacts — Role + name + phone + email for the key people on the day (MC, photographer, venue coordinator etc.). Drag to reorder.
  • Timeline — Start time + duration + description rows. Each row has a "chef docket" checkbox; the whole timeline can also be flipped onto the docket with a single switch. Load a saved Timeline Template from the dropdown to skip the typing.
  • Room / Table Setup — A rich-text general notes field (with a template dropdown so you can load a standard layout), plus a row-based breakdown for each table (name, seats, optional description). Per-tab chef docket toggle.
  • Notes — The original rich text field. Anything you'd previously typed into the Event Format section is preserved and lives here. It hasn't moved, been migrated, or split out — it's exactly where you left it.
  • Exclusions — A simple list of "what's not included" items. Manage reusable defaults under Templates → Exclusions, then tick the ones that apply to this event.

Your Existing Data Is Safe

If you've been using the Event Format / Miscellaneous Information field for years, you don't need to do anything. The text you've already written stays in place and renders under the Notes tab. It still shows on the customer's quote (and PDF) exactly as it always has.

Going forward, for new events, you can choose to:

  • Continue using the Notes tab as a single free-text field, just like before.
  • Start using the structured tabs (PAX, Event Details, etc.) for cleaner data.
  • Mix and match — structured tabs for the data that fits them, Notes tab for the rest.

Templates

Two of the tabs have a template system to save you typing the same things over and over:

  • Timeline templates — Full reusable timelines (e.g. "Standard wedding", "Corporate lunch"). Loading one replaces the current timeline. Manage them at Settings → Templates → Timeline.
  • Event details questions — A flat list of default questions you ask every customer. They appear as tick-the-box rows on every order's Event Details tab. Manage them at Settings → Templates → Event details.
  • Room / Table setup templates — Rich-text templates for the general notes on the Room / Table Setup tab. Useful for standard table arrangements you reuse across events. Manage them at Settings → Templates → Room / Table setup.

What Lands on the Chef Docket

Each structured tab has its own "Show on chef docket" control so the chef only sees what the kitchen needs:

  • PAX — single toggle, on by default when PAX is first entered.
  • Timeline — per-row checkbox, plus a tab-level "Include all by default" switch.
  • Room / Table Setup — single tab-level toggle.
  • Event Details — single tab-level toggle.
  • Important Contacts intentionally never appears on the chef docket — it's a front-of-house concern.
  • Notes — never on the docket; if you want kitchen-relevant notes use the Chef Instructions field instead.

Tips

  • Set up your default questions in Event details templates first — the more questions you have prefilled, the less typing per order.
  • Save a timeline template for your most common event type (wedding, corporate, lunch drop) so a new order is one click away from a populated timeline.
  • The slideover is wide enough to use comfortably on a desktop — if it ever feels cramped, the columns inside each tab scroll horizontally rather than wrapping.
  • You can flip the chef docket toggles per order — some events need the timeline on the docket, some don't. The defaults are sticky once saved.