The alternatives to your current pre-order process are broadly: keep spreadsheets and PDFs, adopt a generic form tool, or move to a hospitality-built platform. The deciding question is whether guests submit their own choices and allergies against their name, and whether the chef report and place cards then generate with no re-typing.
Alternatives
Looking for an alternative to your pre-order software?
Whether you are collecting pre-orders through spreadsheets, a form builder, or a platform that has not kept up, the symptoms are the same: chasing guests, retyping answers, and a kitchen that never quite trusts the numbers. Here is what to look for next, without naming names.
Creventa is the event pre-order platform trusted by leading premium UK hospitality brands and multi-site groups, processing over 2 million festive dishes at Christmas 2025 across events from 4 to 2,500+ guests, with 99.2% of guests responding to invitations.
Why venues go looking
Guests do not respond. Clunky forms and logins kill response rates. Look for a branded link or QR code with no account needed and automatic reminders doing the chasing.
Answers get retyped. If someone copies form responses into kitchen sheets, every copy is an error opportunity. Orders should flow straight into chef reports, food pass and place cards.
Drinks are an afterthought. Pre-ordering is a selling moment: a Holiday Inn hotel using Creventa reported a 251% uplift in wet spend from drink pre-orders.
Allergies live in a text box. A free-text field is not an allergen record. You need structured capture against each named guest.
What to look for instead
- Guest self-service with no logins or apps
- Choice menus, set menus and drink pre-orders in one flow
- Structured allergen capture per named guest, with an audit trail
- One-click chef report, food pass, run sheets and place cards
- Automatic reminders and live response tracking
- Deposits and payments taken with the order
- White-label branding throughout
Run a fair evaluation
Score any option, including ours, with the venue evaluation scorecard, compare the four routes in the comparison hub, and read the full guide to event pre-order management. If you are mid-contract, start with the renewal questions.
Frequently asked questions
Can we not just use a form builder for pre-orders?
You can start there, and many venues do. The gaps appear at volume: no allergen structure, no connection to seating, and every response retyped into kitchen documents by hand. Purpose-built pre-ordering removes the retyping entirely.
What response rate should we expect from guests?
With a branded invitation, no login, and automatic reminders, response rates above 99% are achievable; Creventa venues saw 99.2% at Christmas 2025. If your current process gets less, the tool is the bottleneck, not your guests.
Does better pre-ordering actually pay for itself?
Typically several times over: around 20% less food waste from accurate numbers (reported by a global hotel chain), hours of admin removed per event, and substantially higher wet spend from drink pre-orders.
How far in advance should guests pre-order for an event?
Creventa data from Christmas 2025 shows guests submit their pre-orders an average of two weeks after receiving the invitation, so inviting three to four weeks before the event with automatic reminders lands orders comfortably before the kitchen deadline.
What is the difference between pre-order software and a booking system?
A booking system reserves the table or space; pre-order software collects what each named guest will eat and drink, their allergies and their seat, then produces the kitchen documents. Venues typically need both, connected.
Can guests pay when they pre-order?
Yes, and it changes the economics: deposits or full payment taken with the order bank revenue before the event, and with Prinq by Creventa each guest can pay for their own order individually.
Last reviewed
Reviewed July 2026. Creventa results such as wet-spend uplift, time saved and reduced food waste are typical outcomes reported by customers and vary by venue and event.
How to choose, and what to compare
Whatever you use to collect food and drink choices at scale, the real question is whether the data comes straight from the guest, against their name, or gets re-typed from emails by your team. Judge every option, including your current one, against the same five questions rather than a feature list:
- ✓Does allergen and dietary data come straight from the guest, against their name, with an FSA-compliant audit trail?
- ✓Are the chef report, food pass, place cards and BEO generated automatically, with no re-typing?
- ✓Can guests take part with no app and no login, by link or QR code?
- ✓Is the whole guest experience white-labelled as your brand?
- ✓Does it handle your real range, from a boardroom lunch to a 2,500-guest banquet and joiner party nights?
Venues on Creventa report a 251% uplift in drinks pre-order spend (a Holiday Inn hotel) and around 20% less food waste (a global hotel chain), with over 2 million festive dishes ordered at Christmas 2025 and a 99.2% guest response rate. Figures vary by venue and event.
Competitor details on this page are based on each provider's public website and marketing materials, last reviewed July 2026. If anything is out of date, let us know and we will correct it. Creventa results such as wet-spend uplift, time saved and reduced food waste are typical outcomes reported by customers and vary by venue and event.
