Total Party Planner Software

Pros

It takes my events easy to plan and be a success

Cons

Slow at times but picks up later. Overall a good product.

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.

Pros

Very easy to use and a very fun design!! Total Party Planner has a lot of pros when it comes to catering and event planning and most event planners LOVE it!!

Cons

It could use a little bit more functionalities and have updates a little bit more often. Overall a great software!

Pros

It is easy to use and has all sorts of features that gives a variety of options for a small business.

Cons

It is kind of pricey for what it is and sometimes the reports aren't detailed enough for what we need it to be.

Pros

Sending mass emails was super easy. Having everyone in the convo to find out the best needs and wants for any party. I loved it when added guest to the event the day before and I was able to add servers last minute to make sure complete coverage. Well done!

Cons

I goofed and sent out emails to the wrong clients. I was unable to correct and resend to the right clients and made mass confusion. But that was more of my fault.

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.

Very useful for creating proposals and invoices. I also love the calendar.

Pros

The features I value the most is the easy ability to create proposals and invoices so easily. There are templates so you don't have to be an excel/word expert. I also find the calendar very useful for planning events.

Cons

The only negative thing I have to say is I believe the pricing is a little steep. They offer a fantastic service for companies who don't have much experience creating documents through word/excel/outlook.

It saves us times!!!
Improves communication between the client team and kitchen/production team
Helps keep our events and inventory organized

Pros

I like that I can quickly whip up a professional proposal and send it right within the system, this function alone saves me hours and is worth the price. It is so easy to make changes to a proposal.
We are starting to use some of the other features including the costing and pack lists and it's all just making our business more efficient and productive. I wish I would have found this program sooner. I would strongly recommend to any caterer.

Cons

I would like the ability to have a couple of screens open within the same window at the same time.

It was a great product that served our company for several years. It allowed our business to grow and service a retail store front, a catering and bakery business in a new expanded facility. Currently we are spending more time trying to fix problems with the software than we are spending with clients. It is costing us money in labor, time off task, plus the added expense of redoing the event over and over to get it correct.

Pros

It was easy to use, make changes on and produce a quality product. We were not having any issues so why they made big, big changes I do not understand. For a while we could continue to use the original system but then over night the old system would not work to process payments, create menus, etc. No new manual was created and you must tech support every time you create something new. For the money we pay we should have a quality product again.

Cons

Changes were made without preparation to train the users on the new product and the product was not field tested and fixed before the release.

it just works

Pros

Allows my company to generate professional quotes with all information that a client needs. Prices, product with description and amounts.
I can built menu items quickly and accurately allowing me to food cost each unique event menu.
I can staff events quickly and know my labour cost as well as allowing the client to see their cost.
There is so much more Total Party Planner does.
If there is a question I may have I can email and get an answer back quickly, if I need an answer NOW, I can phone the tech line and there is always someone there, oh wait, 1 time I had to leave a message, and was called back within 5 minutes.
Terrific company, software and service.

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.

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.

Pros

Very easy to use and navigate. I like being able to access info quickly. Love all the options for information.

Pros

TPP was very easy to set and customize to our specific business model. The pricing and inventory functions have saved us hours and hours of man time. The uniform and professional "look" of our proposals, contracts and invoices are top notch.

Cons

For me it is too easy for user error in Xing out of program. No stop of warning before you exit out. Not being able to emails staff from other areas is a big concern.I like to track conversations between other staff members and staff in order to decrease redundant queries and have a record.

Pros

This program saves hours in all aspects of event planning - initial proposals, budget considerations, contracts, menu pricing, tracking profits, you name it.

Their staff is incredibly efficient and helpful. I was working remotely late on a Friday - after business hours - had an issue, and they contacted me back within 30 minutes and had the problem fixed. Awesome!

Cons

It would be nice if it could integrate with FSA Star Solutions database.

A final count due date indicator would be nice.

We have been using Total Party Planner for 10 years now. It only gets better and more powerful as time goes by.
I used to put proposals, menus etc. on Excel, not professional enough in this day and age.
TPP makes us look professional.
Food costing is so important if you want to stay in business, I did not do food costing and it was killing us. In TPP you can build recipes down to the Nth degree, you will know what the menu cost is. This also goes for building staff for events, having it pre-costed so you will know if the price you give is correct.
Stopping in at the TPP booth at Catersourse, I met John Cohen, the owner. I am still thrilled that he listened and was able to understand my needs and get me signed up.
If you need catering software you owe your company to call Total Party Planner and get onboard.

90% of my day is planning and this saves me HOURS and HOURS off my events, from catering to decorations.

Pros

Super easy and Super helpful.

Cons

Need Menu Print out options.

The value for this software is amazing. We are able to schedule, produce and manage hundreds of events. Client management, recipes, costing, order lists, many reports, event worksheets for the kitchen, and inventory management just scratch the surface of what TPP can do. I love the extras, such as credit card processing, and linking to my other favorite programs. The customer service team is ALWAYS available to help you solve any issue and listening to your suggestions. They are always making improvements to better serve the client. I can't say enough good things!

Pros

Contact management tools and tasks to stay on top of every event

Cons

I would like to be able to schedule future emails to clients.

We tried another program (a big name) and it was a disaster for us we use Mac's and the program didn't support them so we had to go through an interface. The big problem was that program wasn't flexible. We love TPP we use it with the Chrome browser. The only improvements I'd like to see 1. have the system format phone numbers, 2. the ability to customize the gratuity field to use our vernacular. Five stars

Pros

I no longer have to remember to update worksheets when I make a change to the menu or pack list

Cons

the ability to change the name of the gratuity field
PLEASE FORMAT PHONE NUMBERS

Advice to Others

in the mind telling us a bit more field
under industry caterer isn't one of the choices

We've used Total Party Planner for about 5 months and we love it. We love how we can really tailor the various software to our specific needs and when we reach a point that we can't, we just hire TPP to create custom forms for us.
Their support staff is second to none. Very friendly and helpful. I highly recommend the software.