The nine steps
What a corporate buyer is actually purchasing is this table. Not the board — the certainty that these nine things will happen, in this order, on time.
| # | Step | Owner | SLA | Artifact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inquiry received | Network | Acknowledge within 4 business hours | Inquiry logged |
| 2 | Qualify | Network | Same day | the request form completed |
| 3 | Route | Network | Within 24 hours of qualifying | Maker or Pod assigned, named |
| 4 | Quote | Maker | Within 24 hours of routing | Written quote, holds 7 days |
| 5 | Confirm | Network + Maker | On buyer acceptance | Deposit received |
| 6 | Plan production | Maker | Within 24 hours of confirming | Shopping list + build-day timeline |
| 7 | Build & QC | Maker | Build day | QC checklist signed, photos taken |
| 8 | Deliver | Maker or Job Lead | The stated two-hour window | Handoff photo, delivery note |
| 9 | Close | Network | Within 24 hours of delivery | Buyer follow-up, photos filed, review requested |
Step 3 is the network's job. Everything else the maker could arguably do alone. Nobody hands a stranger a 200-person conference.
Step details worth spelling out
Step 2 — Qualify
Eight things, every time. A missing one costs a phone call on build day.
Headcount · date and delivery window · budget or per-head target · dietary restrictions and allergens · delivery address and how you get in (loading dock, badge, elevator, parking) · whether refrigeration is available on site · who receives it and their mobile number · whether this repeats.
Venue access is the one people skip, and it is the one that turns a delivery into a disaster. A conference center loading dock at 8am is a completely different job from a sixth-floor office with a single elevator.
Step 3 — Route
Match on: category → capacity that week → delivery zone → rung. A maker's first routed job is deliberately small and single-category. Do not open someone's account with a job that can hurt them.
If nothing matches, say so within 24 hours and offer a date that works. Never route a job to a maker who is not ready for it because the buyer is impatient — that trade has cost every catering network that made it.
Step 5 — Confirm
A job is confirmed when the deposit has landed, not when someone said yes on a call.
Step 7 — Build & QC
The QC checklist in The Standard §7 is run before wrapping, because after wrapping nothing gets fixed. The overhead and 45° photos happen here, at the same moment, while it is at its best.
Step 8 — Deliver
Arrive inside the window. Cold chain held to the door. Set up if the quote said so, leave it clean if it did not. Take the handoff photo. Leave a card. Do not upsell on site — the buyer is mid-event and the network follows up in step 9.
Step 9 — Close
Within 24 hours: buyer follow-up ("how did it land?"), photos into the library, review requested, and the job's numbers recorded — quoted vs actual cost, actual build time, anything that went sideways. Step 9 is how the pricing formula stays honest and how a maker's standing gets built.
The failure runbook
Every one of these will happen. Each has a defined first move so nobody improvises, which is what keeps overhead low.
| What happened | First move | Then |
|---|---|---|
| Maker cancels ≥72h out | Network re-routes to the float maker | Cancelling maker forfeits routing priority for 30 days |
| Maker cancels <72h out | Network calls the buyer immediately — before they find out | Offer a substitute or a full refund of the deposit. Never let a buyer discover this at the door |
| Key ingredient unavailable | Maker substitutes within the same style and tells the buyer before delivery | Never silently substitute an allergen-relevant item |
| Delivery blocked (no dock, no badge, no parking) | Call the named on-site contact from step 2 | If unreachable after 15 minutes, call the network; keep the cold chain |
| Arrives damaged | Photograph before touching anything | Maker rebuilds if time allows; otherwise the network refunds |
| Buyer complains about quality | Network responds within 4 hours, no argument | Refund or replace, then review against the QC photos — that is what they are for |
| Buyer does not pay the maker | Network contacts the buyer's AP once | Buyer is suspended from routing until settled. The network does not front the money (Invariant 4) |
| Lead does not pay a contributor | Network verifies against the Job Card lot price | Lead standing is revoked permanently. This one is not negotiated |
| Suspected foodborne illness | Stop. Maker preserves any remaining product and their production records, notifies their health authority, notifies their insurer | Network notifies the buyer in writing and does not comment on cause. Do not speculate, to anyone |
The last row is why What You Can Sell insists on insurance and a licensed facility before a first job. The moment it is needed is far too late to arrange.