Case study: keeping catering orders straight

What was going wrong with WhatsApp catering orders?

Consider a fictional catering company in Amman handling corporate lunches, family gatherings and school events. Its sales team received enquiries through WhatsApp, confirmed details in phone calls, and copied the final information into a notebook or spreadsheet.

That method can work while the owner handles every conversation. It becomes risky when two people answer customers, the kitchen needs a clear production ticket, or a customer changes the delivery date after paying a deposit.

During the example week, the team handled 12 large orders. Four began on WhatsApp, five began as new phone enquiries, and three were repeat bookings. The manager had to check each agreement against its messages or notes before handing it to the kitchen.

How does a catering order become one record?

WhatsApp remains an enquiry channel, while the confirmed order is entered into Nexara. Phone lookup brings up a returning customer's saved addresses and past orders. The employee enters the agreed items and payment choice, then checks the event details before handing the order over.

1. Answer the enquiry and confirm the menu, quantity, delivery or pickup date, address and contact number.
2. Find the customer by phone or create the customer record.
3. Enter the items, modifiers and delivery details. Keep the agreed event date with the branch's order checklist.
4. CliQ is for subscription billing and call-center order payment links, not storefront checkout; confirm the deposit flow with the founder during setup.
5. Verify the payment received and match it to the correct order before approving production.
6. Print the kitchen ticket and compare it with the final agreement before preparation.

Nexara is the order and operations layer beside the till. The cashier records the day's net sale at close for reconciliation, while the catering team uses the order record to check what was agreed.

How should the company handle deposits and dates?

A deposit has two separate jobs. The customer needs a way to pay, and the team needs to match the payment to the correct order. Nexara supports phone-order payment links, and the call-center order screen includes a CliQ payment choice. CliQ is not a storefront checkout method.

Before using a link for a catering deposit, check the available payment-link setup with Nexara and agree who verifies the amount received. Selecting a payment method and confirming receipt of money are separate steps. The payment-link recipient's phone should match the order's customer phone.

Keep the confirmed event date on the branch's order checklist and the final quantities in the order. If the customer changes the date or guest count, update the checklist and affected order details before approving another kitchen ticket. One named employee should approve each changed date or quantity.

Use a clear production rule: the employee approving preparation must check the date, customer phone, delivery address or pickup instruction, final quantities and deposit confirmation. For the payment steps, see how to send a CliQ payment link.

How does the kitchen receive the final order?

The kitchen needs a readable ticket with the confirmed quantities. Nexara prints Arabic thermal tickets on standard ESC/POS printers over USB or a network. English can appear on the same ticket. A year went into the printing engine so kitchen staff can read Arabic item names and modifiers clearly.

Tickets wait in the branch's print queue if a printer is temporarily unavailable and print when it answers. From the dashboard, the team can re-route a printer's categories to another printer, or use automatic failover where a backup printer is configured.

Before preparation, the employee approving the order should compare the printed items and quantities with the latest customer agreement. Remove superseded paper tickets from the preparation area so the cook has one approved version to follow.

Read the Nexara printing features before choosing printers. Standard ESC/POS equipment is the relevant requirement; test a ticket with your actual Arabic item names and the modifiers your kitchen uses.

What changed for the fictional catering company?

The company entered all 12 confirmed orders into Nexara and checked each against its event checklist. The four WhatsApp enquiries became recorded orders after phone confirmation. Staff used customer lookup for the three repeat bookings, then checked the saved address rather than accepting it without asking.

At the end of the example week, the manager had 12 searchable order records for the 12 confirmed jobs, and the kitchen had received a printed ticket for each. The team still verified quantities, collected deposits and called customers when details were unclear. Nexara gave them a consistent order record to check.

What should another catering branch check first?

• Can the team match every confirmed order to an event date and customer phone?
• Has someone verified the deposit against the correct order?
• Does the ticket show the final menu, quantities and modifiers?
• Can the branch print Arabic and English on its existing ESC/POS printer?
• Can the owner export customer and order data as CSV?

Nexara customer records belong to the restaurant. They include addresses and order history, and orders and customers can be exported as CSV. Keep WhatsApp for the conversation and make the approved order the reference for preparation.

Plans include a free option and paid plans per branch in Jordanian dinar. Current rates are available on request. The call center is a Pro-plan feature, while printing starts on Growth.

For the wider process, read moving from WhatsApp and Excel orders to a system and customer records you own.