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How to build a catering service with Power Automate

How to build a catering service with Power Automate


Introduction

There are already catering solutions for Outlook on the market ; examples include arbooMEET, AskCody, GoBright, and others. These solutions integrate directly with Microsoft 365, allowing users to order food and drinks when booking meeting rooms. These add-ons streamline processes, reduce email exchanges with caterers, and provide real-time updates on orders, room configurations, and attendee management.

I developed a simpler equivalent in my environment using Power Automate, combined with Teams and SharePoint.


Prerequisites

Required licenses

  • Power Automate Free (included in all Microsoft 365 and Business licenses).

Step 1 : Sign in to the Microsoft SharePoint Portal

Sign in to Microsoft SharePoint by opening your web browser to https://YOUR_TENANT.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/sharepoint.aspx.


Step 2 : Create a SharePoint site

In the left menu, click Create site, then Teams site, and give a relevant site name and address.

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Step 3 : Create 2 SharePoint lists

In the left menu, click New, then List.

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Add columns to your two lists with necessary information such as :

CateringOrders

  • RoomName
  • RoomEmail
  • OrganizerName
  • OrganizerEmail
  • MeetingStart
  • MeetingEnd
  • AttendeeCount
  • StillWater


CateringPreferences

  • OrganizerName
  • OrganizerEmail
  • PreferStillWater

Step 4 : Sign in to Microsoft Power Automate

Sign in to Microsoft Power Automate by opening your web browser to https://make.powerautomate.com.


Step 5 : Create a first flow to generate a survey

In the left menu, click Create, then Automate cloud flow and choose When a new event is created (V3).

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Chain actions and variables to create a form to send to Teams immediately after the user books a conference room. Use the retrieved variables to send them to the SharePoint lists CateringOrders and CateringPreferences.

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Send the order summary to the team in charge of the service via a message in Teams.


Step 6 : Create a second flow to generate a reminder

In the left menu, click Create, then Scheduled cloud flow and choose a daily repetition.

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Create a loop to iterate through the SharePoint CateringOrders list and check if there is an order scheduled for today and awaiting delivery.

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Send the list of orders for the day to the team in charge of the service via a message in Teams.


Step 7 : Create a third flow to confirm delivery

In the left menu, click Create, then Scheduled cloud flow and choose a repetition every 5 minutes.

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Create a loop to send a form in Teams to the team in charge to confirm delivery.

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Send the order confirmation to the team in charge of the service via a message in Teams.


Step 8 : Create a fourth flow to send a satisfaction survey

In the left menu, click on Create, then on Scheduled cloud flow and choose a repetition every 30 minutes.

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Create a loop to send a satisfaction survey in Teams to the person who placed the initial order. The loop will only retrieve completed meetings with a “delivered order” status.

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Send the results of the satisfaction survey to the team in charge of the service via a message in Teams.


Step 9 : Send a Teams invitation

From Outlook (or Teams), send a meeting invitation and include a room.

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Results

The user receives a form in Teams a few moments after booking the meeting.

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The team in charge of orders then receives the list of what has been ordered as well as the meeting information.

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On the morning of the meeting, the team in charge of orders receives confirmation of the day’s deliveries to be made …

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… and 15 minutes before the meeting, you have to confirm whether or not the order has been delivered.

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30 minutes after the meeting, a survey is sent to the person who booked the service …

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… and the team in charge of the orders receives the result.

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Let’s go further

I have two ideas worth exploring, which I’ll test when I have time :

  1. Create a PowerApps application connected to Teams to allow order processing within it rather than going to SharePoint.
  2. Connect the solution with the Uber Eats, DoorDash, and other APIs to have a more complete menu.

Conclusion

You now know how to create a catering service with Power Automate.


Sources

Microsoft Learn - Power Automate


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