Customers

A customer is a person who receives meals from your catering service. This could be a resident in a care home, a student at a school, an employee at a company, or anyone else you regularly deliver food to.

The customers section is your central register — it stores everything you need to know about each person to deliver the right meal, to the right place, with the right dietary considerations, and to invoice correctly.

What customer information is stored

• Name and contact details — full name, phone number, email
• Room or bed number — for care homes and hospitals
• Order unit — which group the customer belongs to
• Delivery address — where their meals are sent
• Billing address — where invoices are sent (if different)
• Dietary requirements — allergies, special diets, texture modifications
• Payment terms — how and when invoices are paid
• Notes — any free-text information relevant to the customer

Finding a customer

Go to Customers in the main menu. Use the search bar to find a customer by name, or filter by order unit or status (active/inactive).

Adding a customer

1. Click + Create
2. Fill in the customer's details:
   • Name (required)
   • Order unit — which group they belong to (required)
   • Room / bed number — if applicable
   • Phone and email
   • Delivery address
   • Billing address (if different from delivery)
3. Go to the Diet tab to add dietary requirements (see below)
4. Click Save

Everything else can be filled in later as needed.

Editing a customer

Click on any customer in the list to open their profile. Click Edit to make changes.

Remember to save after any change.

Dietary requirements

This is one of the most important parts of a customer profile. Even small mistakes here can have serious consequences for customers with allergies.

Go to the Diet tab within the customer profile to register:

• Allergies — ingredients the customer must never receive (e.g. nuts, gluten, dairy)
• Special diet — for example vegetarian, vegan, diabetic, low-sodium, or lactose-free
• Texture modification — for customers who need food at a specific consistency:
  • Normal
  • Soft / easy to chew
  • Minced or mashed
  • Puréed
  • Liquidised

These requirements appear as coloured badges on the Orders page so staff are always reminded when selecting meals for that customer. The system will also warn you if a selected meal contains an ingredient the customer is allergic to.

warning

Always keep dietary requirements up to date. If a customer develops a new allergy or their needs change, update their profile immediately.

Delivery addresses

A customer can have multiple delivery addresses (for example, if they alternate between two rooms). To manage addresses:

1. Open the customer profile
2. Go to the Addresses tab
3. Click + Add address to add a new one
4. Select which address is the default for deliveries

The default address is used when placing orders unless you specifically select another.

Customer order history

To see all orders for a customer:

1. Open the customer profile
2. Go to the Orders tab
3. You will see a list of every order, with dates, meals, and status

This is useful when a customer calls to ask about a past delivery, or when checking what they ate on a specific date.

Invoicing a customer

Invoice-related information is on the Invoice tab:

• The billing address
• Payment terms
• Invoice history (all invoices sent to this customer)

See the Invoices section in the main menu for more about creating and sending invoices.

Deactivating a customer

If a customer no longer receives meals, set them to inactive:

1. Open the customer profile
2. Click Edit
3. Toggle the Active switch to off
4. Click Save

Inactive customers:

• Do not appear in order forms
• Do not receive invoices
• Still have all past orders and invoice history accessible
• Can be reactivated at any time

info

Inactive customers do not appear in order forms. Their past orders and invoices remain accessible for reference.

Deleting a customer

Customers with any past orders cannot be deleted — they can only be deactivated. This protects your historical records and audit trail.