Caterease

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.

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.

Not much, really. Other than than storing contacts, there was not a single facet in Caterease that made the system easy to use for the end user what-so-ever. I would have been better off tracking events, ingredients, and inventory in Google Sheets for free instead of paying $1800 a year for Caterease.

From the top:
Logging in and lack of mobile availability: From a PC, you have to log into a citrix client before accessing your application. You can have the fastest PC on the planet and still have to rely on the speed of their Citrix server to get anything done (which isn't the best.) There is also a VERY bare-bones mobile "companion" app that is almost useless. You cannot add clients or events, adjust the calendar, etc. The only thing you can do is view your current calendar and contact list. And to make it worse, it doesn't store your password AND they have a forced password reset EVERY TWO WEEKS.

The application itself: It's very dated and not user friendly. What should take minutes takes upwards of an hour. Want to copy and paste inside the app? That's going to cost you $600 more a year for the "professional" version. Yes, you cannot copy, duplicate, or paste an event without paying for premium service. I already was paying $1800 a year, that's an insane markup for basic functionality. Everything looks like it was made in the Windows 98 era, and hasn't been updated since.

Reporting: Reporting is a joke. Very limited, very complicated, and overall useless. Again, unless you pay more!

Printing and emailing: Because the application runs through Citrix, printing is very complicated (even worse with wireless printing). Emails, you can create emails directly from Caterease, but it's a gamble if the email sends the caterease-generated attachment.

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!!!!

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.

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!!

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!