# AI Receptionist for Caterers: Never Miss a Lead Source: https://insertchat.com/industries/catering > Collect the date, headcount, and dietary needs on every catering inquiry, and flag day-of problems to staff. An AI receptionist for catering companies answers calls, emails, texts, and website chat while your team is cooking and serving, using your menus, minimums, and service area. InsertChat’s assistant collects the date, headcount, venue, service style, and dietary needs your team needs to write a proposal, books tastings, and flags day-of delivery problems and food safety concerns for staff. ## Turn an after-hours lunch email into a ready-to-price request Example workflow: Email inquiry. Illustrative scenario. Answers depend on your sources; actions depend on your connected tools and permissions. This is not a customer testimonial or measured result. An office manager emails your catering inbox at 8:15 p.m. on a Monday. > We need lunch for 40 next Thursday at noon, delivered to our downtown office. Six are vegetarian and two are gluten-free. Budget is around $20 a head. Can you do it? ## Answer from your menus and rules Point to the boxed-lunch and buffet menus that fit the budget, and share your minimum order, lead time, and downtown delivery fee. ## Collect what the quote needs Confirm the delivery address, setup time, service style, dietary counts, and whether they need plates, utensils, or staff. ## Hand it to your sales lead The request waits in the shared inbox with every detail, ready for your team to price and send the proposal in the morning. ## Your team sets the boundaries Your team writes quotes, contracts, and invoices. Allergic reactions, food safety concerns, late or wrong deliveries, and changes inside your cutoff go to staff at once. ## What it handles for caterers Handled by your assistant: - Menu, package, and per-person price questions from what you publish - Minimum orders, lead times, delivery zones, and fees - Dietary and allergen questions, answered from your allergen chart with a reminder to confirm - Corporate, wedding, and private party inquiries, saved with the details to quote - Tasting appointments booked on your calendar - Rentals, service staff, and bar service questions Sent straight to your team: - Allergic reactions and food safety concerns - Late, missing, or wrong deliveries on event day - Headcount or menu changes inside your cutoff - Complaints after an event - Payment, deposit, and refund disputes ## What it asks and what it needs to know Details it collects: - Contact name, company, phone number, and email - Event date, serving time, and headcount - Venue or delivery address, with access notes like loading docks - Service style, from drop-off trays to a plated dinner - Dietary needs and allergies, with counts - Budget per person or in total - Extras such as service staff, rentals, bar service, or cake cutting What to add to its knowledge: - Menus and packages with per-person prices - Minimum orders and lead times for each service style - Delivery zones, fees, and setup windows - Allergen and dietary information for each dish - Deposit, cancellation, and final headcount deadlines - Tasting options and what they cost ## Can an AI receptionist give catering quotes? It collects everything a quote needs, and your team writes the quote. InsertChat doesn’t create quotes or invoices. The assistant shares the per-person prices, minimums, and package inclusions you publish, so a customer gets a realistic range on the first call. The request then lands in the shared inbox with the date, headcount, service style, and dietary counts, ready for your sales lead to price. ## How does it handle allergy questions? It answers only from the allergen information you publish and asks the customer to confirm serious allergies with your team before the order is final. If your kitchen can’t promise a nut-free or gluten-free prep area, write that down and the assistant says so plainly. Allergy counts are saved with the request, and a guest reporting a reaction after an event is marked urgent at once. ## Can it answer catering emails automatically? Yes. Email replies can wait as drafts for your team or send automatically after a delay of up to 10 minutes, and you can limit automatic replies to business hours. Uncertain answers, complaints, upset customers, and payment or legal topics are held back for a person, so a refund request never gets a cheerful automatic reply. ## How much does an AI receptionist for caterers cost? Pro costs $98 a month for one phone number, a monthly credit balance, three team seats, and three AI assistants. A short call about a delivery fee still uses at least one minute of credits, since calls round up to whole minutes. Check the usage estimate on the pricing page against your busiest month of holiday parties and weddings. ## Can it book tastings? Yes. Set a tasting length, the days and hours you hold tastings, and buffers between them, and the assistant books into InsertChat’s calendar, Google Calendar, Outlook, Calendly, or Cal.com. Tastings it books can get a reminder by text or email 72 and 24 hours before. ## We also run a restaurant. Can one account cover both? Yes. Use one assistant for the restaurant and another for catering, each with its own menu, hours, and number, or keep both on one assistant if you share a phone line. Pro includes three assistants, and every conversation lands in the same shared inbox. ## Does it take orders or payments? It records order requests for your team to confirm, and it never takes card numbers on a call or in chat. If you connect Stripe, you can let the assistant create a payment link for a deposit and require a person to approve the action first. ## Can we keep our catering line? Caterers in the US and Canada keep their number and forward calls to InsertChat, with a verification call to test it. Elsewhere, use a local or toll-free InsertChat number where available. Porting isn’t offered. ## Related features - [AI email responder](https://insertchat.com/product/email) - [Lead capture](https://insertchat.com/product/lead-capture) - [AI receptionist](https://insertchat.com/product/phone) ## Broader industry - [Hospitality & events](https://insertchat.com/industries/hospitality-events): Answer guests, couples, and event planners while your team looks after the people in front of them.