Purpose

This article outlines the process for utilizing the Room Reservation feature provided by 365 Catering in the Back Office and Online Ordering platforms.
 

Process

Room Reservations allows customers to book meeting rooms while placing a catering order in 365 Catering's software. When an organization uses Microsoft room calendars, Spoonfed can check room availability in real time and reserve the selected room automatically after the order is submitted.

This feature helps simplify meeting planning by allowing users to coordinate catering and room reservations within a single ordering experience.

If the event/order date changes, the room reservation must also be updated because room bookings are tied to a specific date and time.
 

Room Selection

To book a room start an order from the Back Office or Online Ordering. Select catering items as normal and during checkout, there will be an option to select a room for the order. 

There are two types of rooms available for room selection.
 

Bookable Rooms

These rooms are connected to an organization's Microsoft Outlook/Exchange calendar.

For Bookable rooms a customer can:

• View available meeting times  
• Select a start and end time  
• Reserve the room as part of their catering order  

Standard Rooms

These rooms are not connected to a calendar, they can simply select the room for reference, but availability is not checked and no reservation is created.
 

Reserving a Bookable Room

1. Make room selection in the appropriate field.
    
2. Click Reserve Time.  
    
3. View available meeting times.

4. Choose the preferred start and end time.
   

   

5. Click Request Time to confirm the selected time for the order.

6. The selected time appears in the order summary.
   

   

7. Before the order is completed, the system performs one final availability check to ensure the room is still available.  

If a Room Becomes Unavailable

Occasionally, another meeting may be booked before check out is completed.

If this happens, the user will be asked to select another available time, or choose a different room.  

This prevents double bookings and ensures only available rooms can be reserved.  
 

Orders That Require Approval

Some organizations require catering orders to be approved before they are confirmed.

If an order requires approval the room is temporarily held in the customer's Outlook calendar as Pending Approval.  

Once the catering order is approved, the calendar event is automatically updated to a confirmed reservation. If the order is rejected, the room reservation is automatically cancelled.  
 

Viewing and Editing Orders

Previous orders that include room reservations are easy to identify. Existing orders will show:

• Room  
• Meeting time  
• Any additional room reservations associated with the order
   

Editing Orders and Room Reservations

Most parts of a catering order can be edited after placing, including:

• Menu items  
• Quantities  
• Guest count  
• Notes  
• Customer information  

These changes do not affect a room reservation. However, if the order date is changed, a room reservation must also be updated because room bookings are tied to a specific date and time.
 

Email Notifications

The order email confirmations will clearly indicate whether a room has been reserved.
 

Standard Room

The room name is shown for reference only.
 

Bookable Room

A room reservation indicator is displayed as confirmation a room has been successfully reserved.

This information is included in:

• Order Confirmations  
• Order Review Request Emails
• Emails generated from Back Office
   

Outlook Calendar Integration

For organizations using Microsoft 365 after a catering order is submitted, the room reservation is automatically added to the Outlook calendar of the booker.

The calendar event includes information such as:

• Order ID  
• Room  
• Date  
• Meeting time  
• Catering event name reference  

This keeps the catering order and meeting reservation synchronized in one place.

Removing the Microsoft Room Booking Integration

Before the integration is removed in the Back Office, the system asks the Operator to confirm the action. If there are active or upcoming room reservations, the system makes a notification so that the potential impact is understood and acknowledged before continuing.

After confirmation, the integration is removed and all room-to-calendar connections are cleared automatically. Rooms that were previously configured for calendar-based booking return to standard room selection. The same process applies if Room Booking is disabled for the account. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to reserve a room when placing a catering order?

No. Room reservations are optional and depend on whether your organization has enabled the feature.

When is my room officially reserved?

For calendar-enabled rooms, the reservation is finalized when the order is successfully submitted. If approval is required, the room may be temporarily held until the order is approved.

What information will appear on the Microsoft Outlook calendar?

The calendar event will include the key information needed to identify the catering order:
Spoonfed / 365 Catering [Order ID] [Customer Name]
This makes it easy to identify which Spoonfed order the room reservation is associated with.
We can consider adding additional order information in a future iteration based on customer needs.

Do multi-slot orders require separate room bookings?

No. A room can be booked for the full period needed, even if the Spoonfed order contains multiple slots.
For example, if an event runs from 7:00 AM–4:00 PM and has multiple catering slots during that period, the customer can book the room for the full 7:00 AM–4:00 PM window rather than creating a separate room booking for every catering slot.
From a room-booking perspective, what matters is the room and the reservation period, not how many catering slots are associated with the order.

Will booking times use a 12-hour format or 24 hour format?

The time format will follow the configuration for the account.

Will changes to menu items or guest count affect my room reservation?

No. Changes to menu items, quantities, guest count, notes, or customer information do not affect the room reservation. Only date or time changes require the room booking to be updated.

Is room reservation available for group orders?

No. At this stage Room reservation is not available for group orders. It is only available for standard or regular orders.