What we would build for a catering and private chef
Every villa dinner and wedding menu quoted, booked and paid before you buy a single ingredient
Villa groups and wedding couples want a price and a date, not 'we reply within 24 hours'. We build you a system where they pick a menu, get a real quote, pay a deposit by Apple Pay or card, and where your kitchen and serving team see the week's jobs on their phones.
Built and delivered remotely from Cheshire, UK · fixed price agreed up front
What goes wrong today
'Request a quote on WhatsApp'
Every button on the site leads to a chat. No prices, no menus with numbers next to them, no deposit terms. The customer who wanted to book tonight has to wait for your reply, and by then they've booked someone else.
Shopping for twelve who turn up as six
A villa group of eight books a barbecue night, two flights get changed, and you've already bought the fish. Without a deposit, every cancellation is paid for by you.
The quote in your head
Per head, plus staff, plus travel to Kalkan, plus the hire of the long table, minus the discount you gave last year. Pricing by memory means margins by accident.
Which villa, which gate, what time?
The serving team finds the villa from a screenshot, the kitchen isn't sure if the allergy note was for Tuesday or Thursday, and the invoice goes out a week late from a notes app.
What we build for you, from the ground up
Menus with prices and a quote that builds itself
The customer picks a menu, the number of guests, the date, the location and extras such as staff, bar or table hire. The price comes from your private rate card on the server: per-head bands, travel by area, staff hours, minimum spend. They see a real number in under a minute.
Deposit at booking, balance before the event
A deposit by Apple Pay or card confirms the date and locks the quote as a versioned document. The balance is requested automatically at the interval you set, with a link, and chased if it's late.
Live diary with capacity
How many events can your kitchen and team serve on one Saturday? The calendar reserves against that capacity before it confirms, so you never accept a fourth villa dinner you can't cook.
Dietary notes and allergens per guest
The host collects allergies and preferences from their party through a link. The kitchen sees them per table and per course, not buried in a chat.
Kitchen and serving team app
A native iPhone app with the week's events, the villa pinned in Apple Maps, the gate code, the menu, the headcount, the allergy list and a prep checklist. A hands-free mode for whoever is on the tools, read aloud.
WhatsApp and email confirmations
Quote sent, deposit received, balance due, 'we arrive at 18:30', 'thank you, here's the recipe for the meze you asked about'. Written once, sent by the system in English or Turkish.
Invoices, expenses and margin per event
Every event has its income, its shopping and staff costs, and its margin. Invoices generate as PDFs, expenses are logged with a photo of the receipt, and you can see what the season actually made.
The Apple layer your guests actually notice
Live Activity: dinner is on its way
On the day, the host's lock screen shows your team's arrival time counting down, then 'setting up', 'serving', 'done'. No 'are you nearly here?' messages.
The booking in Apple Wallet
A pass with the date, menu, headcount, what's paid and your number. For weddings, guests get a menu card pass with their meal choice for the serving team to see.
The villa in Apple Maps for your team
The exact pin, the gate photo and the code, one tap from the day's list. The departure time adds itself as a reminder so nobody leaves late.
App Clip QR at the table
A card on the table opens an App Clip: tonight's menu with allergens, a tip for the chef by Apple Pay, and 'book us again' with your calendar.
Widgets for the owner
This week's events, deposits waiting, balances overdue, and the headcount for Saturday, on your home screen before you open anything.
Payments in Türkiye, done properly
Built and running: the examples this comes from
Questions we get asked
Our menus change with the season. Is that a problem?
No. Menus, prices and availability are edited in your admin, and the quote engine uses whatever is current. Old quotes stay as they were agreed.
Will villa guests actually pay a deposit online?
They pay deposits for everything else on their holiday. What puts them off is a bank transfer to an IBAN; a card or Apple Pay payment on a clear page in their own currency doesn't.
We're a two-person private chef team. Isn't this too big for us?
The Buxton Barber is one chair and runs the full system. The first release is scoped to what you'll use next season; the rest can follow when you're ready.
What does it cost?
Fixed price agreed up front, scoped with you. You own the code and data; no monthly licence to us and no commission on bookings.
Do we need to meet?
Only by video. Everything is designed, built and delivered remotely from the UK, and your team tests on their own phones before launch.
Send us a menu and how you quote it today
We'll reply with a written plan for the quote engine, deposits, the team app and the invoicing, then talk it through on a video call.