A catering order form is a short online form that asks every question you normally ask on the phone: how many people, which menu, what date, where, and any allergies. Customers fill it in from a WhatsApp or Instagram link, and you get one tidy message to quote from. You can build one free this afternoon.
Use the free order form template
Why phone quotes slow you down
Someone calls and asks your rate for a birthday lunch. You can't answer until you know the headcount, the date, whether it's veg, whether you're only deliering or also serving, and where the venue is. So you ask, they say they'll check with the family, and you wait.
The same questions get asked on every call, and the answers end up scattered across a call log, a voice note and a half-remembered chat. A form asks all of it once, before you speak. When the customer hits send, you have the whole picture in one place, and your first reply can be an actual quote.
The fields to collect
Start with this set. Each one is a block you add by typing / in the editor.
| Field | Block | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Name and phone number | Short answer, Phone number | Who to call or WhatsApp back |
| Event type | Dropdown | Birthday, puja, office lunch, house party: the scale and style |
| Date and start time | Date, Time | Whether you're free, and when food must arrive |
| Approximate guests | Number | Quantity and price |
| Final count by | Date | The day numbers lock |
| Service | Multiple choice | Drop-off only, or delivery plus serving staff |
| Venue address | Long answer | Distance, floor, parking |
| Menu choices | Checkboxes | What they actually want |
| Veg, non veg or mixed | Multiple choice | How you cook and pack |
| Allergies | Multiple choice, Long answer | See the next section |
| Budget per plate | Dropdown | A range, so you don't quote far off |
Keep the form to what changes your quote. Every extra field is one more reason a customer gives up halfway, so cut the budget question if you'd rather quote fresh each time.
If you run tiffins, swap the event date for a start dare and add "days per week" and "lunch, dinner or both." If you price kids' plates differently, split the guest count into adults and kids.
Menu, allergies and a rough price
List your real dishes as checkboxes. If the menu is long, split it across pages with a New page block: starters on one, mains on the next, desserts last. A progress bar in Settings shows customers how far they have left.
For allergies, ask one yes/no question: "Does anyone at the event have a food allergy or restriction?" Then add conditional logic so a text box ("Which allergy, and how serious?") appears only when they answer yes. Everyone else skips it. Still call to confirm anything serious. A form answer is a starting point, not a safety check.
You can also show an estimate while they fill it in. Say your veg thali is ₹350 a plate and a customer enters 40 guests. A calculated field can display ₹14,000 straight away. Label it "estimate" and say the final quote follows once you've confirmed the date and venue, since distance and serving staff change the number. If you prefer to negotiate every quote, skip this.
Build it free in Qwenvo
Our team builds Qwenvo, and it is completely free: no paid plans, no card, no trial. Our guide to a free order form builder covers the wider options if you take orders for other things too.
- Open the order form template, or describe your form to the AI on the empty-form screen. If you already have your questions in a Word file or PDF, import that instead.
- Add or remove blocks using the table above.
- Add the allergy logic and the calculated price.
- In Settings, turn on email notifications to you and a confirmation email to the customer. Before a festival rush, set the form to close on a date or after a set number of responses.
- In Customize, add your logo and colors.
Most builders charge for several things you get at $0 here: removing the Qwenvo badge, a custom domain such as orders.yourcatering.com (a subdomain you point at Qwenvo), teammates so a family member can see orders too, partial submissions that show who started and stopped, visit and drop-off analytics, custom design and CSS, and AI triage. Triage gives each order a category, a priority, a short summary and a suggested reply, which helps when three enquiries land overnight.
For comparison, Google Forms is free and fine for a plain list of questions, but it has no built-in payments and limited design. Tally's free plan is generous (unlimited forms and submissions, logic, payments), yet branding removal, custom domains, teammates, partial submissions and custom CSS sit on its Pro plan at $29 a month.
One limit that matters in India: per-submission PDFs can't draw Devanagari script. If customers type addresses in Hindi or Marathi, print form the CSV or XLSX export, which handles it.
Start from a quote request form
Get the link in front of customers
On the Share tab you get a public link. Set the link preview image, title and description so it looks like your business when you paste it into a chat.
Then put it where enquiries already arrive:
- Paste it into your WhatsApp replies when someone asks "what's your rate?"
- Add it to your Instagram bio.
- Use it as the website link on your Google Business Profile if you have no stie.
Qwenvo has no built-in QR code. Paste the link into any QR generator and print the result on your tiffin box stickers or a counter card. If you do have a website, the Share tab also gives embed code you can paste into any builder that accepts HTML.
Questions owners ask
Can customers pay an advance through the form?
Yes, with the Payment block. Customers pay through PayPal checkout, and Qwenvo keeps a 1% fee on top of PayPal's own fee. If your customers pay by UPI, use the form for the order details and ask for the advance on WhatsApp once you've confirmed. If payments are the main point, Tally is cheaper because it adds no fee on top of Stripe.
What if the customer doesn't know the headcount yet?
Ask for an approximate number and a "final count by" date. You quote on the estimate and lock the number on that date.
Can I stop taking orders when I'm full?
Yes. In Settings, close the form on a date or after a number of responses.
Can I see orders in a spreadsheet?
The Submissions table lists every order, and you can export to CSV, XLSX or JSON whenever you like. Incomplete orders show up as separate rows if you turn on partial submissions.
Send it to one customer this week
Open the order form template, delete the fields you don't need, add the allergy question with its logic, and send the link to your next enquiry instead of answering by voice note. After a week, check the drop-off analytics to see where people leave, and trim that field first.