On this page
Log the order as a Placeholder. It shows up on your Orders page by date, next to your CaterCow orders, so your kitchen’s whole schedule is in one place.
Log an order you took yourself
Use a Placeholder for any order you take outside CaterCow, like a phone call, a walk-in, or an order from a platform that isn’t synced. It’s only a record for your team. Nothing is sent to the customer, and they don’t pay through CaterCow.
1. On your Orders page, click the + button next to List and Calendar.
2. Add the customer the order is for. Search your saved contacts by name or email, or click Create a New Contact.
3. Under Select order type, choose Placeholder. (To send your customer an order they finish and pay for, choose Direct-Entry instead. See How do I create an order for my own customer?)
4. Enter an Order Title, the delivery address, and the date, time, and estimated headcount. Only the date and time are required here.
5. If you have more than one kitchen, choose the Kitchen that’s making the order.
6. Add any notes for your team under Notes (visible only to you). Your customer never sees them.
7. Click Create Placeholder. Your placeholder appears on your Orders page under the Upcoming tab, marked Placeholder.
You can also start a placeholder from your Direct Entry Orders page, which lists your upcoming placeholders under Placeholder Orders.
How placeholders work
- A placeholder is only a record for your team. Nothing is sent to the customer, and they don’t pay through CaterCow.
- Click View Order on a placeholder anytime to edit or delete it. Deleting it can’t be undone.
- The Upcoming and Past tabs and the Calendar view list every order by date: orders placed on CaterCow, Direct-Entry orders, and placeholders.
Change or delete a placeholder
Click View Order on the placeholder. From its page, click Edit Order to change the contact, title, date, time, address, delivery instructions, or notes. If you have more than one kitchen, you can switch its kitchen at the top of the page. To remove the placeholder, click Delete Order.
Orders synced from other platforms
If your orders from other catering platforms, like ezCater, sync to CaterCow, they’re listed on your Orders page too, marked with where they came from, for example Accepted via ezCater.
You manage a synced order on the platform it came from, so you can’t edit or delete it here. To open it there, click the button with the platform’s name, like View on ezCater. You can still add your own notes to it.