User Reviews Overview
About Total Party Planner
The most popular web-based catering software for business owners to automate. Designed to help easily transition from manual Word documents and spreadsheets into one single organized system. Save time, quote faster, organize all...
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- Industry: Hospitality
- Company size: 51-200 Employees
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Excellent and Thankful
My overall experience is a 10 out of 10. Takes away the headache that is caused by other catering softwares.
Pros
The customer service behind this company and product are what make this product so excellent! TPP is versatile on how you can use it and where something may not work the same way as other products, the Client Care team are always open to helping you figure out how to make it work.
Cons
There are some features that are not as developed. The Client Care team are always willing to have a conversation to try to make it work. In instances where it doesn't work, they take the feedback and work with their development team and see of there is a growth spot that they can grow in.
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 2-10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Total Party Planner is the best way to run your catering business
By using TPP for the past many years we have been able to take the standardization of our operation to levels that were difficult to attain with our previous system. TPP is able to offer all of the pertinent information about each event in one location. Our teams have access to everything they need to execute the event to our exacting standards.
Pros
The pros of this application are truly too many to list. One of the best things about TPP (Total Party Planner) is all of our proprietary information is stored in one central location for our teams to access. From customer records to recipes TPP is able to help our team perform at optimal efficiencies.
Cons
The only downside to TPP is the initial learning curve can be steep. That being said if time is taken at the initial setup and done correctly the reward/payoff of efficiency in your operation will be quickly realized.
There are sooo many facets to the application that it can seem overwhelming at first. As you learn the ins and outs you quickly become comfortable and it soon becomes second nature. After using the app for over 5 years I am still learning new capabilities of TPP that I never knew existed.
- Industry: Events Services
- Company size: 11-50 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
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Review Source
On The Move Catering Review
My experience with Total Party Planner has been up and down. It's very convenient and the functions are very cool. Once trained, everything is really easy to use. Customer support has been wonderful!!! The only negative is that sometimes it glitches or takes a while to load.
Pros
If I don't know how to do something, then I can call and the customer service representatives will help me out!
Cons
Sometimes it glitches.
Response from Computica
Ray, Thank you for your candid review and your kudos to our support team. I've asked the team to brief me on any of your open tickets to make sure we get everything ironed out for you. Also, just to let you know, we are constantly working on our internal infrastructure to make the system more efficient. We have some really powerful changes coming to the architecture by the end of year. -- John Cohen
Top Total Party Planner Alternatives
- Industry: Restaurants
- Company size: 51-200 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Total Party Planner Fan!
They actually listen to their clients and work on supplying them the most efficient ways of utilizing their system. Overall; I have had more "wow" moments from the type of service they have provided. From the friendly way they respond to phone calls to the "all-hands" approach to trying to help you solve an issue...even if it has nothing to do with their software. THAT is EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!
Pros
It's ease of use. I dictate what I need where as opposed to being forced to comply with a strict or rigid set of parameters. It is fluid, user friendly and can be applied for almost anything we plan. It really expedites the speed at which I can send proposals. It is also easy for a client to read. There isn't a bunch of unnecessary information on the agreement that a client receives so it appears simple, straightforward and more importantly; easy to sign off on!!
Cons
Each year; the software gets better and better. If there were features that I wish it had; it now has them. The biggest need had been the ability to have the system send me reminders and this was added a few years ago.
- Industry: Hospitality
- Company size: 11-50 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
Very few things can buy you time to actually run your business - TPP does, and extremely well!
I was you, 1 year ago. My restaurant was running me, requests for catering were pouring in and we had just put our catering food truck on the road. I was stressed to the max, drowning in Excel Catering Event Order spreadsheets and missing catering pick-up orders and panicking my kitchen.
I know.. you assume that I'm a newbie, and that's sweet.
I'm in my 30th year of cooking for a living, and at the age of 43 own one of the top restaurants in my industry category in our Province. We staff 40 plus people for a 15 table full-service restaurant that turns 10 to 11 times a day from Thursday to Sunday - every week. That doesn't include six figures per year in take-out and six figures in Catering now a year later. Add to that, I'm no slouch on the computer and can code in Excel like it's second nature.
Why do you need to know this? It gives you context for this review.
Without Total Party Planner to take away the headaches of searching for pricing, building proposals, databasing clients and providing seamless continuity for all of our communication, we wouldn't be able to grow like we have.
Yes... evaluate how much the software costs, and look at your business and determine if you can afford it - it's not cheap. However, bear in mind this one caveat.
- How much is your time worth?
- How much are you spending in repairing your credibility with clients, when you miss a detail?
- How much are you losing when you forget to add a detail to an order and have to take it at a
loss?
- Are your skills being utilized in the right facet? I'm a chef, not an event planner and certainly not an accountant. TPP assists me to be a better business person. I could have designed a database in MS Access, or continued in Excel - but why? My results would not have produced the package that TPP offers.
I know what you're thinking... this reads too good to be true, and in fact, there is one thing that needs to be cleared up.
This program came easy to me, it all made sense from a Culinary perspective and the types of information required to utilize the program to its fullest were familiar to me. There, I said it, this is a professional level program. Not that it's just for enterprise level clients, but, hospitality professionals. Just be prepared. The learning curve here is quite steep for the uninitiated.
But.... Their customer service is outstanding... really... they care - a lot. I use 8 different subscription business services, and TPP is the best!
Pros
This software allows hospitality professionals and entrepreneurs who own small to medium sized operations present themselves in a polished and consistent way
Cons
The steep learning curve would be a con for those who aren't computer savvy. This was not my case, but teaching other staff members has presented these challenges. With proper coaching, which TPP does so very well, and which I have modelled my internal training on, you can be up and running in a fairly short time.
Be prepared though, no matter which software suite you choose, there is a ton of hard data that needs to be inputed. TPP handles this really well, and after using it for a year, I can navigate around and produce proposals and maintain my financials with ease.
Response from Computica
Chef Steven, thank you for such a detailed and informative review! In addition, thank you for your business. I'm glad we were able to help relieve some of the stress that comes with restaurant catering. We are always working to make the software easier for new clients to learn. In fact, we will be releasing a brand new interface in 2017 that streamlines the entire event building process. We are super excited about it! If there is anything we can do for Memphis Fire barbeque Company please let us know.
-- John Cohen
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 51-200 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Great piece of software, with the best customer service around
I work for a mid-sized off-site catering company. We have used Total Party Planner (TPP) for more than a decade, so we have lots of experience in using this product, over 25,000 events. We started off on the stand-alone version and ran it for about 8.5 years, then switched over to the web-based version more than a year ago.
Before we purchased TPP, I tried 3 or 4 other pieces of event planning software over several months. TPP was clearly the best: The most organized, and the easiest to use. And the web-version is easier and faster to use than was the stand-alone version.
TPP is an excellent piece of software. It is stable, and just plain works well. You can tell that the people who designed the software have a background in catering, because it does the things you need it to do to help automate the process.
Many of our sales people (5) are not what I would call 'computer people', and one in particular took some time getting used to TPP, but now they are all lost without it.
One thing we do that is somewhat unusual (for a catering company) is we do a fair number of deliveries where the food is delivered in disposable containers, with no servers, mostly business lunches. We use a different report for these to make clear to the kitchen at a glance that this is a delivery and not a full-service event, and the people at TPP helped us to 'tweak' that report to include everything we needed in it. That was hugely important to us, and TPP was glad to help modify the report.
To be fair, I cannot comment on a couple of features. We don't use the room reservation system, as we have no rooms to manage. I also cannot comment on the recipe section of the software, as we used different recipe software before TPP came along and have stuck with it, because the kitchen people know how to use it.
The best part of TPP may be their Tech Support. It's simply the best I have ever used, for any software. 95% of the time when we call them, a real person answers the phone, and our issue is generally resolved in 5-10 minutes. On the very rare occasion when we get the answering machine, we always receive a call back within 10-15 minutes.
No software is perfect, and TPP is no exception. Occasionally it feels like there is an extra mouse click or two required to do some simple thing, but at least the program is consistent about that from section to section.
For event planning, it would be hard to improve upon Total Party Planner.
Pros
Great Customer Support. Consistency from section to section. Ease of use. Speed of screen updating.
Cons
Some things feel like they require an extra mouse click to handle. The report on what has and has not sold over time needs some improvement.
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Easy to use, great customer service
Tracking and Preparing for Events
Pros
Easy to setup events, integrates with google calendar and quickbooks. Great for tracking events, preparing menu's and listing setup instructions. Also used for Labor tracking and cost, menu creation and inventory.
Cons
when adding items having to enter amount and check them off also before it will post, seems like double work. Some reports are do not give enough detail. I would like more items available when
I setup my own Query.
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 2-10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Love This Software
Their customer service is awesome: friendly and responsive.
Pros
Total Party Planner is the best catering software. I use it several times a day. It keeps track of all my events in an easy to use platform.
Cons
It sometimes has glitches. I usually point them out and they get fixed sooner or later. The phone app needs real help.
- Industry: Events Services
- Company size: 11-50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Great tool to run our beverage services
Pros
We use this on a daily basis to run our beverage service at our venue. It is great for tracking inventory and sales.
Cons
We would like to use this to book our clients into their space rental, but there isn't functionality for that at this point.
- Industry: Hospitality
- Company size: 201-500 Employees
- Used for 2+ years
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Review Source
Good Product with some limitations
Overall it was great. We got our money's worth. It was easy to use and efficient until it wasn't.
Pros
We used this product for many years as we were starting our Catering Company. It did exactly what we needed it to do and it was extremely easy to learn and navigate
Cons
We found as we got more into the catering business and our other services grew that this platform was just not able to grow with us. We were not able to customize the way we needed it. We couldn't track our customers the way we would like and it did not integrate with our other systems so we opted for a system that we could use between departments.
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 2-10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
It has been a life changer
Well, I started out as a desktop user and I cannot say enough about how TTP changed my life--it cut my time planning events in half and my food cost went down 10%. Making a shopping/ordering list is now something that I can do in 10-15 minutes for a whole week's worth of orders.
Customer service is A+++++. They are personally invested in my use. It is unbelievable how helpful the staff is and their follow up. I love the way support calls back to check on me a day or two after a question or a problem.
If you take the amount of time you save on event planning, menu costing and ordering and put an hourly dollar value on it, you will find that TPP costs probably half of that a year. I'm just a small business with around $300,000.00 in annual sales and it changed my life. There are also features that a larger catering business would find extremely helpful. I use some new feature regularly and I am always surprised at how much time it saves me.
Just do it! The cost will never be an issue because Total Party Planner pays for itself!
Pros
menu costing, event costing, financial information
Cons
Nothing you can do anything about--the data entry.
- Industry: Events Services
- Company size: 51-200 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Nothing else compares
Nothing but fantastic.
Pros
This is the go-to for professional caterers large or small. I purchased it 16 years ago as I needed to streamline my calendar. It did that and so much more. Truthfully, it does way more than I use it for, but it does everything they say it will.
I was a fan from the start but whenever I needed customer service and technical assistance, I was treated as if I was their only client. I still tell the story as I was having trouble with formatting a menu proposal and spoke to [SENSITIVE CONTENT], who asked for my suggestion. Three days later it was implemented and is a ridiculous time saver.
Cons
Not that I know of. The team works hard to ensure everything is just right for their customers.
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
The software is very easay to utilize. Very user friendly and packed with manu usable features.
Pros
At a glance you can see upcoming events, schedule staffing, run payroll reports, initiate event workshetts for the culinary staff as well as the packing department.
Cons
Every once in a while when you need customer service, I want to talk to a person. I do not want to leave a message and wait for someone to get back to me and if I am not standing by the phone when they call we play this ring around the rosey for hours. This area definitely needs improvement.
Response from Computica
Neal - thank you for the feedback for our Client Care team. Our commitment to providing unparalleled support in the industry has always been the cornerstone philosophy of our entire company. We've had a significant spike in new business this year so it has put a temporary strain on the Client Care team.You'll be glad to know we are adding 3 additional staff members to the Client Care team and I expect to see a significant decrease in needing to leave a voicemail. A new Live Chat option is also coming soon too. --John Cohen
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 11-50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Long Time, Happy Customers!
We have been using Total Party Planner for about 10 years. We LOVE the software and the benefits it has to offer. We really wouldn't recommend any other software for catering companies.
Pros
Very straight forward once you learn the program.
Cons
Since we are on the beta, we tend to have some glitches-- but nothing major!
Response from Computica
Sarah, many, many thanks to you and Camille for being such long time clients of Total Party Planner. Creative Hands Cuisine was one of the EARLIEST adopters of our revolutionary cloud based solution introduced back in 2006. Your input on our BETA team is invaluable and is helping to pave the way for future evolutions of the software. We apologize for the BETA team glitches. I know it comes with the territory, however, I'll make sure the team is aware. Sometimes it's just that we get so excited to release all of the great new things out to the BETA team for feedback! -- John Cohen
- Industry: Restaurants
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Total Party Planner's First Customer
I started with a Competitors software some 20 plus years ago. I immediately found it to be OVER priced. The promises made by that competitor about Customer Support- didn't happen. Then, by fate, I was presented the dreams of a young man that created Total Party Planner (TPP). I have NEVER ONCE, in all these years, been denied the help that I needed in Customer Support almost immediately, every time! I know others that use TPP and they agree with me. Additionally, I am 70 years old, technology challenged, and guess what? I learned in a few hours how the master the program ! I am not only pleased with the quality of those people at TPP but can't understand why a consumer would go any where else. My thought, you might find a whistle or bell somewhere else but in my Catering business its called Customer Service !
Pros
Easy to Use
Cons
access the Cost analysis page, it would be helpful to see that link on the menu page where the retail cost is decided.
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 2-10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Review of Total Party Planner by Juliana's Catering
Pros
Very easy to use and implementation was simple as TPP staff did a great job setting everything up for my company. With over 500 events per year, the TPP software has become a critical part of my business as it keeps us organized, has excellent customizable quotation system and a solid CRM system. The mobile app is also very useful as we are on the go constantly. And the integration with my staffing software is great and saves a lot of time.
Cons
I don't really have any negatives to share. Like most software products there is always room for enhancements and improvements and the folks at TPP listen well and have continually enhanced their product since we have been a client.
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 11-50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Great value
Been a TPP user for almost 8years now. They have a great product and they know catering. I also like how responsive they are. I've made a few suggestions and they made changes that helped not only me, but the rest of the TPP users. Such a valuable experience!
Pros
Flexible, easy to use, very responsive. They are a small, family owned business.
Cons
They are a small, family owned business
Response from Computica
Mark, thank you for your 8 years of business. Please feel free to keep those suggestions coming! Our team loves feedback from the community because it helps to shape the future road map of TPP. Although the company started out as a small business, we have grown to be one of the largest catering software vendors on the market today. We serve thousands of users across the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India, Italy, and even in the Philippines. -- John Cohen
- Industry: Events Services
- Company size: 2-10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
It changed the way we work, build events, and our efficiency as a company
Creating a more efficient way to create proposals for our clients.
Pros
I love how easy it is for us and how easy it is to review for our clients. I also love how everyone in the office can few all of the events at the same time.
Cons
I don't like how complicated and time consuming getting quantity and pricing for food is. We get kicked out of TPP pretty frequently as well.
Response from Computica
Delaney - we are glad to hear that TPP has made things easier for both your staff and clients! We will have a member of our Client Care team reach out and see why your security session may be timing out. In many cases it is a simple browser setting that can be adjusted. --John Cohen
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 11-50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Training was very helpful!
Overall our team finds TPP to be easy to use and helpful in our event booking process. We would recommend this software to other caterers in the industry.
Pros
We like that TPP creates easy to read reports, that helps us review financial details, past and pending events. The training was very helpful and straight forward. Our team also appreciates how helpful and responsive the TPP team is.
Cons
One feature that could better improve the program would be to offer a more detailed event history that includes changes made in the event.
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 11-50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Excellent product
Dont know what i would do without it.
Pros
Saves money saves time, can see where we were losing $, keeps track of everything and saves it forever for u, great for ordering, sales reports, billing, accounts receivable, client info and history, labor reports, user friendly so much it helps with!
Cons
Its only as good as the info entered by the user 🤪 .
- Industry: Events Services
- Company size: 11-50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Organized with Ease
Total Party Planner (TPP) has been a Godsend for this company! Everything is all in one place. You don't have 1 million files for one event! It's easy for you, easy for your clients to read and comprehend, and easy to train others on too! So grateful for TPP for giving us ultimate organization with ease! :)
Pros
How everything is in one place and how all of each events' information is shared on one cloud for all other planners to see!
Cons
Sometimes TPP can have some software glitches and just stop working in the middle of your workday.
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 11-50 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
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Review Source
SO excited about Total Party Planner!
The customer training and support has been outstanding. It is really helpful to be learning how to use the system with someone who has working at a catering company so they have a clear understanding of what the day to day and event to event work is within a catering company. I also really appreciate that they have a system or suggested process to follow in terms of how to introduce the software to your company in stages as opposed to having everything ready for full functionality at the start.
Pros
I really like how it has been designed by people who have worked in the industry so they understand how it is going to be used and how it can help.
Cons
I wish there were more creative options for what the client proposals can look like.
- Industry: Events Services
- Company size: 11-50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Great for event planning businesses
Great customer service, have always been fast to respond. Courtesy call to check on how we are doing a few times a year.
Pros
Easy to use, web based, keeps track of all details for events, integrates with google calendar and Quickbooks, schedule staff with email notification, tracks inventory, great report function for payroll.
Cons
I would like more options to create my own reports.
- Industry: Accounting
- Company size: 2-10 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
Icon Hospitality
So far, great experience. The transition was smoother than we expected but took some time/energy due to the catering software we used in the past. I am sure there is alot more we could use Total Party Planner for within our company, but it will just take more time to explore.
Pros
More reliable than our last catering software company
Cons
Does not fully integrate with the some of our systems the way we would like it (outlook, social tables, one hub). Ideally we would like to be able to send our BEOs through our One Hub system for signatures but I knot this is a new feature you are starting.
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 2-10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
We LOVE TPP!
Excellent customer service, great product, and it has saved us lots of man hours. Streamlined our Proposals and helps us look professional.
Pros
Easy To use
Response from Computica
Cynthia, we have enjoyed working with Cape Creations Catering for the past 4 years. Thanks for your business and we look forward to your continued success and growth. --John Cohen
