AI Phone & Email Agent for Catering Companies
A catering lead rarely gets decided in one call. It starts with a quick quote request, moves to menu details and dietary flags, shifts the date twice, and needs a headcount a week from the event. Zepiva carries that conversation across phone, WhatsApp and email, reading the menu and dietary notes from your knowledge base, so the kitchen gets clean final numbers and leads are not lost in a full inbox.
The challenges catering companies face
Real problems these businesses deal with daily — and the gaps an AI agent can fill.
Every new lead starts with the same question
How much for 60 guests on a Saturday in July, and what do you serve? The answer speed decides whether the company is on the shortlist. When the person who quotes is busy plating an event, the quote waits a day or two and the client has three other offers. A slow first answer is the highest risk of losing, before the menu is even mentioned.
Menus and dietary notes live in one person's head
Three menus, the vegetarian and vegan flags, the nut allergies per dish, the per-head tiers, plated versus buffet. It gets re-explained from memory for each new client and quoted with small errors. The final menu has to match what you published, and when the kitchen is a full order behind, the explainer is the office admin.
The follow-up is where deals close or die
A quote goes out, then silence, a date change, a second quote, a clean yes two weeks later. Businesses that nudge at the right moment hold. When the follow-up is only only when your brain recalls, quotes sleep in the email. A small calendar of deadlines and reminders is often the entire difference between a booked date and a quiet one.
How Zepiva fits into catering companies
Specific features mapped to the way your business actually works.
A quote request, answered fast
The agent asks the two facts that set a quote: date and guest count. Then it answers from the price list in your knowledge base: the menu sets, per-head estimates, delivery fee. If the ask needs a full custom quote, it collects the details and routes the lead to the owner with a clear brief, not a raw voicemail.
One WhatsApp thread per event
Twelve vegans, has the kitchen, spot for the buffet line, a kosher tray — change follows change in the same chat. The agent reads the menu base, updates the event record and re-answers the price impact. The client sees the whole story in one thread; your team sees a neat update log, not text across four apps.
Written quotes and menu sheets on email
The signature piece is the full written quote: itemised per-head, service fee, deposit, date. The email agent generates it from your templates and pricing, attaches the menu PDF and sends it the moment the client asks. Change requests are answered with a revised version so both sides watch the same numbers.
Follow-ups on a schedule
A check-in two days after a quote, a final-count deadline a week before, a dietary list request ahead of service. Each event sits on the calendar with its own deadlines, and the agent sends the nudge at the right day. The team sees which quotes are about to suppose instead of sifting email at the deadline.
A week of catering quotes before a busy weekend
From a first call to a signed event done - through the phone and the emails, with the kitchen fed clean numbers.
A corporate office calls asking for 120 covers, plated, on the last Saturday of September. The agent reads the price list, sets a baseline per-head and puts the date on hold for owner review.
The client writes on WhatsApp that 20 are vegetarian and 4 need gluten-free. The agent answers the menu's ability, updates the event details, confirms in the thread.
The client asks to change the date to September 30. The agent checks the calendar and confirms the new date, then sends the revised quote by email with the confirm edits.
A week out, the agent sends the final count request. The client confirms 128, the dietary list is exported, and the kitchen sees the last set of numbers ready to prep.
Illustrative example - not a customer testimonial.
Which plan fits catering companies?
The starting point based on how these businesses typically use the platform.
Recommended plan
Gold works well for catering: three numbers let phone, WhatsApp and email each carry their own part of an event, with the quote and follow-up inside the free follow-ups included. The volume covers a month of busy quotes plus the weekend of sittings.
Common questions from catering companies
Explore further
Related industries, in-depth guides, and articles.
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