Who it is for / Caterers
In the kitchen or at an event, the phone goes unanswered. While You Work answers the calls you miss in your business name, finds out what the event is and when, and sends you the details a minute later.
The first 50 UK businesses get Pro for £49 a month plus VAT for their first 12 months, then £69. Plans start at £39. Your line switches on as soon as you finish the set-up form, with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
On every call
Urgent jobs
Everything else is sent to you as an enquiry within a minute.
An example week
Catering calls come with a date, a headcount and a venue, and the caller usually has three quotes to get. The receptionist captures all three before you have left the kitchen.
The maths
Say you miss 3 calls a week and two in five of those callers would have booked an event worth about £900.
3 calls × 40% × £900 = £1,080 a week. × 52 weeks ÷ 12 = £4,680 a month of work going to someone else. An example: put your own numbers into the missed-call calculator.
Event catering is booked on the first reply. The caller with a date in six weeks has already emailed two other caterers.
Timing
Autumn when Christmas parties are booked, spring for weddings, and every weekday lunchtime, which is when you are plating up for a delivery.
What callers hear
The receptionist asks one thing at a time, checks the number back and never makes up a price. The details reach you by email a minute after the call, and by text straight away when it is urgent.
Emailed to you a minute later
Ian (existing customer), 07700 900692. Buffet for about 40 at a 60th birthday on 3 May.
Receptionist: Hi, you’re through to Fork and Feast Catering. Thanks for calling, I’m the automated assistant. Rosa can’t get to the phone right now, but I can take your details so she can get back to you. Calls are recorded so nothing gets missed. What’s your name?
Caller: Hi, it’s Ian. I need a buffet for about 40 people at a 60th birthday on the 3rd of May.
Receptionist: Thanks, Ian. Have you used Fork and Feast before?
Caller: Yes, for my wife’s party.
Receptionist: And what’s the best number for Rosa to ring you on?
Caller: 07700 900 692.
Receptionist: So that’s 07700 900 692. Is that right?
Caller: Yes, that’s right.
Receptionist: Thanks, Ian. Rosa will ring you back to talk through the menu, and I’m sending you a text now to confirm.
Set up
A short form made for caterers:
One code on your mobile sends calls you do not answer within 20 seconds to your While You Work line. Turn it off whenever you like.
Every caller is greeted in your business name. You get the details a minute later, and the caller gets a text saying you will ring back.
Questions
Only if you add your prices in the set-up form. Otherwise callers are told you will send a quote.
Starter is £39, Pro £69 and Business £129 a month + VAT, for 50, 150 or 400 calls a month. The first 50 UK businesses get Pro for £49 a month + VAT for their first 12 months. There is no contract, and if you cancel within 14 days of your line going live you get a full refund.
Yes. It asks the date, the venue or postcode, how many guests, and the kind of food they have in mind, and puts all of it in your message.
It takes the details and marks it as a regular enquiry. On the Business plan, follow-up orders by email can be answered and confirmed for you as well.
More detail: what a missed call costs, UK call answering prices and how we compare.
Starter £39, Pro £69 and Business £129 a month, plus VAT. The first 50 UK businesses get Pro for £49 plus VAT for their first 12 months. No contract, and cancel within 14 days of your line going live for a full refund.
Also set up for hair and beauty salons, cleaners and cleaning companies, beauty therapists and nail technicians, barbers, dog groomers, personal trainers, and for every other kind of business.