# Catering businesses

> Lead times in days, group carts for office orders, invoicing and purchase orders for corporate accounts, and standing orders that repeat themselves.

Canonical: https://storekit.com/online-ordering-system/for-catering-businesses

**The order is placed a week before you cook it** Catering is not takeaway with a bigger basket. Lead times run in days, one order feeds forty people who all wanted something different, and the person ordering is rarely the person paying. The whole flow has to hold that.

**8x** Average catering basket vs a standard order

## What this kind of operation worries about

- **Lead times, not prep times** - Orders land days or weeks out, with cut-offs you set per item. The kitchen sees the week ahead rather than finding out on the morning.
- **One order, twelve desks** - Group carts let an office build a single order from twelve people, each choosing their own dish, without one person collecting preferences over Slack.
- **The buyer is not the eater** - Pay by link, pay by bank transfer, or invoice the corporate account. Purchase order references and VAT receipts come as standard, because finance will ask.
- **Repeat business is the whole model** - The Thursday board lunch is not a transaction, it is a standing order. Guest records and reorder links turn one event into a calendar entry.

## Questions

### Can we invoice corporate customers instead of taking card payment?

Yes. Catering orders can be paid by card, by payment link, by bank transfer, or invoiced to an account with your own terms. Purchase order references travel with the order and VAT receipts are generated automatically.

### How do minimum orders and lead times work?

Both are set per item and per fulfilment method. A platter can require 48 hours and a £150 minimum while a sandwich box requires four hours and no minimum, and the storefront only offers slots that satisfy whatever is in the basket.

### Can one office order include everyone's individual choices?

Yes, that is what group carts are for. You send one link, each person adds their own dish to the shared basket, and the whole thing checks out as one order with the individual choices itemised for the kitchen.

### Do we need a separate site for catering?

No. Catering runs as its own channel on the same menu and the same dashboard, with its own pricing, lead times, minimums and delivery zones. One system, two very different businesses.

## Related

- [Catering](https://storekit.com/products/catering-pickup-delivery-for-office-orders)
- [Takeaway & delivery](https://storekit.com/products/takeaway-system-for-restaurants)
- [Kiosks](https://storekit.com/products/kiosks)
- [Edwardian: 10 hours back per event](https://storekit.com/case-studies/how-edwardian-saves-10-hours-per-event-with-pre-orders)
- [Rogue Sarnies: digital from day one, £20K+ saved](https://storekit.com/case-studies/rogue-sarnies)
- [Sprout & Co: 5K sign-ups, record sales in week one](https://storekit.com/case-studies/sprout-and-co)