Catering: keep track of who paid and who still owes

See who has paid you and who still owes money for your catering jobs, all on your phone.

Who it's for

You cook for owambe. Weddings, burials, birthdays, naming ceremonies, and lunch for two or three offices during the week. It is you, your two kitchen assistants, and a driver you call when there is a delivery. Orders come on WhatsApp, sometimes at night. The problem bites on Monday morning, when the weekend is over and you are sitting with your notebook trying to remember which of the three clients paid the balance and which one only paid deposit and greeted you well.

The problem today

Everything is in my notebook and my WhatsApp. Somebody chats me, I price the small chops and the jollof, I send the amount, they say they will send deposit. The alert enters my account but the name on the transfer is not the name of the person who chatted me, so I am scrolling up and down looking for who it belongs to. Then the party finishes and I forget to ask for the balance. Two weeks later I remember, and now I am shy to call the person because it has stayed too long. Some money I have simply lost like that. I do not even know today how much people are owing me in total.

What the app does, screen by screen

1. Order request — The customer fills in the event, the date, how many people they are expecting and what they want cooked, so you stop digging for details inside a long chat.
2. Quote and invoice — You, the owner, price the job item by item, set the deposit, and send the customer a quote that turns into an invoice once they agree.
3. Customer invoice page — The customer opens their own invoice, sees the menu, what they have paid and what is still left, and pays the deposit or the balance from their phone.
4. Payments received — You or your office help record a transfer that entered the bank and attach it to the right job, so no payment sits unmatched.
5. Who still owes — You see every job with money outstanding, oldest first, with one button to send the customer a polite reminder on WhatsApp.
6. Jobs for the week — Your kitchen assistants and driver see the date, the menu, the headcount and the delivery address, and nothing about money.

Who uses it and what it keeps track of

• Customers — Name, phone number, how they found you, and every job they have ever booked. Only you and whoever you give office access can open this.
• Jobs — The event, the date and time, the venue or delivery address, headcount, the menu agreed, and who is cooking. Your staff see the cooking side, you see all of it.
• Quotes and invoices — Each item and its price, the total, the deposit agreed and the balance remaining. The customer sees only their own. You see all of them.
• Payments — How much came in, the date, whether it was a transfer, cash or paid through the app, and which job it belongs to. Owner only.
• Reminders — Which customer was reminded, when, and whether they have paid since. Owner only, so you never send the same person two messages in one day.

What it changes for the business

You stop losing money to your own memory. Every job carries its own balance, so you know before the pot is even on the fire whether that client is still owing you from the last party. Reminders go out while the event is fresh and the person is still happy with your food, which is when people pay. You can answer a customer who asks what they are owing without opening a notebook. And when the month ends you know what came in and what is still outside, instead of guessing.

The one decision that matters

The decision is whether the customer pays inside the app or you keep taking plain bank transfers and marking them yourself. Transfers only is what you know, and it costs you nothing, but it leaves you matching strange names to jobs and it gives the client one more excuse to delay. Paying in the app means the invoice has a button, the money is tied to that job the moment it lands, and the balance clears itself. Go with the pay button on every invoice, but keep the option for you to record a transfer or cash by hand. Plenty of your clients will still send straight to your account, and an app that refuses to accept that is an app you will stop using by the second party.

What to build first, and what can wait

Build the quote, the invoice, the payment record and the who-still-owes screen. That is the whole reason you are doing this. The staff week view can come next. Leave out the menu library with photos, the recurring office lunch contracts, stock and market lists, and any report beyond what came in this month. Those are nice, but none of them collect a balance. Get the money side working for two or three parties first, then describe what else you want.

How BooDoo builds it

You describe the business the way you would explain it to a friend, and BooDoo builds it. It sets up the database and the sign-in behind it, so you see money, your assistants see only the kitchen, and each customer sees only their own invoice. The same request gives you a website on its own address and an Android app you can put on Google Play under your own account, with your own domain if you have one. Payments and a WhatsApp button that opens a chat with you are added in. Want a change later, you describe the change.

How you'll know it works

You open the app on a Monday morning, look at the outstanding list, and there is nobody on it you had forgotten about. Every balance there is one you already know you are chasing.

Build it

Paste this in and it gets built.

I run a catering business. I cook for weddings, burials, birthdays and office lunches, and almost all my orders come through WhatsApp. Build me a phone app with a website behind it where I can enter a customer, their event, the date, the venue, how many people and the menu, then price it and send them a quote. When they agree it should become an invoice showing the deposit they paid and the balance left, and they should be able to pay from their phone, or I mark it myself when the transfer enters my bank. I want one screen showing every job where money is still outstanding, oldest first, with a button that opens WhatsApp with a polite reminder already written. My two kitchen assistants should sign in and see only the jobs and menus for the week, no money at all. Only I see the money.