Configuration Groups represent the broadest level of catering setup. These groups exist to help event management staff narrow the selections from which they will pick. In practice, groups are never seen by the customer or even by the catering staff, since they do not print on the banquet event orders (BEOs) or catering sheets.

Think of the way your facility offers catering services:

These are merely examples of the many ways you can organize your menus; your facility may have a completely different approach to catering organization, which Event Pro’s flexible system can accommodate.

Grouping configurations together means that you can select from a single heading when planning catering services.  Similarly, when you want to change the prices for commonly offered selections – such as desserts and beverages, for example – you will not have to search for and change the selections for each menu.

You will learn how to create configuration groups below, under Creating Catering Configuration Groups.

Catering Configurations represent the broadest level of categorization that will appear on the BEO or catering sheet. It is important to give some thought to the way you set up your configurations because it is here that you will enter cost and price details.

A configuration can be the name of an individual menu or a collective name for related items.  Using the Buffet example above, the configuration group is titled “Buffets”.  The configurations contained in the group would be the “American Breakfast Buffet”, “Sunday Brunch Buffet” and “Chocolate Lover’s Buffet”, each comprising different combinations of items and priced per head.

A configuration can also be a collective name for related items.  For example, under the “Beverages” Configuration Group, you may want to create a single “Beverages” configuration that includes all of your non-alcoholic beverages. Other groups of items that are commonly offered with a variety of menus, such as “Desserts”, “Soups” and “Salads” should ideally be grouped together as their own Configurations, as well, rather than including these items with each menu you define.  This way, you only need to enter them into EventPro once, and, if you have to change prices, only have to edit the individual configuration, rather than multiple menus.  Event staff can use EventPro's multi-add tool to add these configurations to any menu.

Note that too much organization at the configuration level can lead to difficulties later.  In general, you will usually only need two or more different catering configurations under one configuration group if you intend to set different cost and price values for each.  For instance, under the “Dinner” configuration group you may only need three separate, per-plate configurations – a “Diplomat Dinner” ($25.95/plate), an “Executive Dinner” ($21.95/plate) and a “Corporate Dinner” ($15.95/plate) – rather than numerous options such as “Diplomat Dinner with Chicken and Soup” “Diplomat Dinner with Beef and Soup”, “Diplomat Dinner with Chicken, Salad, and Dessert Selection”, and so on.  

Although multiple sub-headings may look more organized on-screen, too much organization leads to time-consuming data entry for event management staff and overly hierarchical, multi-page BEOs/catering sheets for the catering staff.

Pricing can be set at this level, or at the Item level. You can price per plate, per item or using a combination of both. You may, for instance, offer menus priced per plate but allow a variety of per-item add-ons.

You will learn how to create configuration below, under Creating Catering Configurations.

Categories refer to the collections of related items you use to build menus.  When you create your catering resource table, you may enter individual items under broad categories such as “Appetizers” and “Entrees”. When you later create a menu, EventPro can pull in the pre-set category and the items associated with it.  

You are not, however, restricted to the categories you created back when setting up your catering resource list.  As an added element of flexibility, you can also create new categories under each configuration and assign any item from your entire catering list.  For example, you could create new categories called “Hot Appetizers” and “Cold Appetizers”, pulling in relevant items from the general “Appetizers” category in your catering resource table. These new categories will be unique to the configuration within which you create them.

Note that you do not necessarily need to use all four levels of catering organization.  Perhaps some of your catering services are quite simple, and breaking them down under Categories and Items creates unnecessary confusion.  The flexibility of EventPro's system allows you to organize your catering in the way that best suits your business.

You will learn how to create catering categories under Adding Catering Items to the Resources Tables.

These are the individual items contained in the catering configurations.  The first step of catering setup is to create a comprehensive list of all the catering items you have available.

While this list of catering items resembles an inventory, this table does not behave as an inventory that adds and subtracts items from stock.

You will learn how to create catering items under Adding Catering Items to the Resources Tables.