Caterease

Pros

It was very functional for catering management. I liked how everyone could update it in live time.

Cons

It was a little clunky in some places. But I also think it could have been set up better on management end.

Pros

Caterease makes it so easy to communicate to our kitchen what is needed and separate items in the menu by cooks/salad/bakery workers. The order form that is populated is easy to read, and is consistent for everyone in our department to easily understand what is needed and who needs to do it.

Cons

Caterease could use an autosave feature, as well as the ability to recognize trends and offer changes to the user based on the trends.

Pros

The Vantiv credit card processor was good value, it dropped out processing fees a bit... But that's a different company. The Caterease customer service started out okay; they were friendly at least.

Cons

Very convoluted software, difficult to use, leaves you wondering 'why would they do that??' when looking at the way it was designed. If you buy one of the 'cheaper' versions, they lock most of the useful features (unlike a service like Total Party Planner). The customer service was OKAY at first, but once I realized we were not told of the restrictions the desktop version has, I asked for a refund as we had not even owned it for 6 months yet. You know that didn't happen. I've been told we'll get a refund for the unused maintenance service.

Pros

It was fairly easy to use from a brand new user standpoint. Our back of house staff liked it for recipe and menu complilation.

Cons

Sometimes it began to feel clunky and antiquated.

Pros

There is not really that I like much about this software. I think that there are some benefits for our catering sales team (some kind of link between staffing/labor and the software or other features for ease of use) but they generally do not apply to the way I use the software. I normally use it at least once a month but I am not as familiar as them with the ins and outs. It does make a decent looking proposal to send to the client and creating it on my end is simple.

Cons

It is not intuitive at all. The buttons are in weird place and very small with tiny little icons. It opens so many windows at a time just to complete a simple task and in general with everything you do there are so many steps involved. Within the windows there are more windows with little scroll bars everywhere and everything is cut off unless you enlarge the window and it just gets confusing and messy. You have to save everything you do along the way so if you accidentally close out one of your 5 windows you loose your work. Even starting the program takes about 6 different steps. Every screen just looks really outdated and isn't user friendly. It is not easy to search for events. You can't put in the actual date. You just have to click next week or next month so if your company has lots of events you will be scrolling for awhile. Creating your event details menu lines is also annoying. If you don't put them in exactly the order you want the first time dragging and moving them later is much harder than you would think.

Pros

It covers just about anything you could want it to do. There have only been a few things ever I wished
it could do and it couldn't. It is easy to use and reports are easy to obtain. I really love this software.

Cons

No Quickbooks interface. It would be nice to be able to transfer an invoice into the accounting system. Instead, I literally have to re-type every event over again into Quickbooks. This can be frustrating when you are receiving deposits or payments on events that are two or three years down the road and need to enter the event to apply the payment to it; along with all of the other daily invoices you have to do. And then keep up with all the menu / rental / room changes and updating THOSE in quickbooks.

I do wish the notes and comments section on events would automatically place the initials of whom ever made the comment and the DATE . This could be tied to your log in. Often times there could be 3 or 4 people working on an event and if they forget to put their name.. and the date.. you dont know who they
are. Also anyone can CHANGE or EDIT another persons notes or comments which I dont like. There is
an "audit report" you can produce that will tell you who did what... but its not that easy to read and it takes some experience of looking at it to understand what the report is telling you.

Pros

The ease of use and windows familiar aspects of Caterease are perfect. Mark and the sales team have helped me as a food service consultant serve many of my clients needs. Customer Support is always available and knowledgeable. The software is not just a program but a catering operational system. I am able to customize so many parts that makes the system adapt to any company with comfort. I started using caterease years ago and the company has made updates many times and has made it exciting to look forward to. Years ago i would spend countless days and weeks making complex spreadsheets to calculate so many informational needs that i had to repeat weekly. Caterease has been built with so much functionality that my weekly repetitive work has dropped down to almost zero and my time as well as my employees time has spiked in productivity. This Software is priceless!!!!

Cons

What i like least about the software was that i had little access to information on events without my computer!! BUT they recently released the Caterease APP.... Now me and my team access event info on our phones and cant be happier.

Pros

I love the versatility of this software. It allows you to input information once and send it to many. It also provides real time reports, invoicing and event orders with one click! Because we use the web based software, I can access it anywhere I have internet connection or phone service. It allows smooth exporting to the calendar that our entire organization uses and allows others to read or print any set up information they need.
Since it is similar to Microsoft office in it's layout, it is very user friendly from the beginning. Service has been outstanding. with the chat feature and emails and FAQ sections for technical assistance there is virtually no wait time when you need help.

Cons

Only 2 things I don't like:
There is sometimes a lag when Google updates are released for Caterease to catch up. This causes headaches with my public event calendar.
To run caterease you have to have citrix installed and that can conflict with some programs causing your computer operation to slow down. (Especially with older models.)

Pros

We have used this amazing catering software for over 24 years! It has grown and evolved with the industry over the years and remains the best catering software on the market - that I have ever seen. This product pays for itself and the cloud based version allows my staff to work on the fly from any venue, which saves time and money. My staff loves using the Caterease program. The help desk is always friendly, efficient, knowledgeable, and far exceed my expectations of customer service in today's market. They truly go the extra mile!!

Cons

I do not have any cons for this product or the support staff - give it a try - you, your staff and your clients will be glad you did!

Pros

-Good foundation
-convenient invoicing
-good communications tool
-good for tracking events

Cons

-Poor Support
-Caterease will do anything to make a dollar
-Limited features for larger catering firms
-Poor production function

Pros

Caterease has a ton of options. But all must be programmed by the client. High level of computer knowledge and time required.

Cons

Everything is very complex and must be programmed. Our team went from spending hours booking clients to hours learning and programming Caterease. Very very complex and requires a ton of hours to set-up. We even started losing money because all our time was spent setting-up the program. Nothing with this program is "Ready To GO". Very bloated. Many systems are listed in different areas creating a very congested and bloated feel to the UI

Pros

Easy to enter prospects, create proposals and manage clients.

Cons

Some of the reporting tools are lacking, email blasts to groups are limited and the software doesn't seem to be able to evolve as quickly as it should.

Pros

Ease of use across systems (adding an event, account or client is all done with the same + / - icon )

Cons

Unable to batch print or email documents as one attachment
Unable to view the content of sent emails from within Caterease
Unable to pull up an "outstanding invoice list" across accounts

Pros

I really like the ability to customize the program for your unique needs. I like that I am not relying on the IT department and I can make changes myself. It is user-friendly and has streamlined our operations improving our overall efficiency.

Cons

Because I use the prints templates, I am limited to the customization of them. I know I could make my own prints so this is a very small inconvenience.

Pros

It was easy to use but was customizable to our needs

Cons

Some features weren't super intuitive and took many steps to get what we needed

Pros

The software is easy to use. It keeps track of all of my events. The support team is always great to help me with any question that I have. I am not very good with technology and they always answer my questions in terms that I understand. They stay on the phone with me until my problem is resolved.

Cons

I wish the e mails through Caterease would hold an attachment.

Pros

We do love our Caterease package!! We have been users since 2000 so we have grown up with Caterease!! It is efficient and easy to use and gives us all that data and management tools we need to make our events a success!! We also just decided to research the mobile version of the program as we are going to have a sales person in the field in a couple of months! It truly is a great partnership!

Pros

Ease of use, our entire team from FOH to BOH, chefs and sales team are huge fans of using this software!

Cons

nothing! this software is really fantastic! it is easy to use, user friendly and the customer service is amazing!

Pros

The ability to manage all aspects of an organization through one tool is a valuable feature that sets CaterEase apart from the rest.

Cons

Learning curve to get started was a bit more than I expected but through trial and error, training and provided resources, I was up and running in no time.

Pros

We liked that we could duplicate events with the same information, and that we could add accounts and contacts. Customer service was helpful with training.

Cons

Overall, the software just wasn't convenient for our business. It was complicated to navigate. We needed something simple and easily customizable with features like a calendar and a contacts section. Caterease had these features, but they just weren't easy to navigate when you're busy.

Pros

My favorite thing about this program is that it looks just like my Office programs - so everything is so easy to use. I also love the cool browser-based dashboard and mobile app. I can't believe how much time this is already saving me - wish I bought it sooner!

Cons

Nothing yet! This program does everything I need and more.

Pros

It is very user friendly and easy to use. I really like this software and would recommend it to anyone.

Cons

It is more expensive than it should be. To learn more about the software you have to pay even more than the first time.