CaterSolo is the quote form that does the math — instant, on-brand estimates, deposits collected over SMS, and your food cost known before you ever reply.
“The quote looks perfect. Let's do it! How do I pay?”
“I was plating a 50-person wedding when three leads came in. By the time I replied at 10 PM, they'd already booked someone else.”
“Sending PDFs back and forth just to give a ballpark price is killing my weekends. I want them to see the price and say yes.”
Headcount tiers, service styles, delivery zones, and the buffer that turns hard numbers into ranges. Tie ingredients to menu items and recipe costing turns on automatically.
Drop your CaterSolo link in your Instagram bio, email signature, or behind a button on your site. One destination for every hungry inquiry.
Clients build their event and see a ballpark range on submit. You get a structured lead — name, headcount, date, dietary brief — and the projected margin behind the scenes.
Review the request, hit Approve, and your client gets a payment link by SMS. The date locks the moment the deposit clears. No phone tag.
Adjust the event on the left — the customer's quote range and your behind-the-scenes food cost and margin move together. This is the form at /c/root-and-grain/quote and the Cost & margin panel, side by side.
| Feature | Wix / Square | Caterease | CaterSolo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catering-aware per-guest pricing | |||
| SMS quote notifications | |||
| Recipe costing & live margin | |||
| Automated purchasing & waste | |||
| Self-serve quote link + deposits |
Caterease and Total Party Planner treat pricing as an afterthought. CaterSolo leads with integrated recipe costing, so you know which events bring profit and which are liabilities.
Price your raw ingredients, attach quantities to menu items, and watch plate costs recalculate as market rates move.
Every inquiry carries a Cost & margin panel: projected revenue and food cost up front, actuals after the event.
Booked menus expand into ingredient needs, net against on-hand stock, and draft vendor purchase orders automatically.
Track shelf life, record waste, and lean on soon-to-expire stock first — protecting both your food and your margins.
Move data to and from QuickBooks, Curate, Caterease, and Total Party Planner. Bring your historic recipes and ingredients along.
Lock dates with hosted invoice links and Stripe deposits, then reconcile the final balance straight from the pipeline.
Every plan starts with a free trial — no card to begin. Annual billing saves about two months. Switch tiers or cancel anytime.
For solo cooks launching their first public quote form.
For established caterers mapping recipes to a real pipeline.
For caterers with multiple venues or custom-domain needs.
Five minutes of setup. A form that does the math. Customers who book themselves.
Start your form→