Odoo for Catering and Events: What the ERP Covers Out of the Box – and Where Industry Software Comes In

Sooner or later, many caterers, event venues and agencies face the same question: one ERP for everything – or software built for the events business? Odoo comes up often, because it combines sales, inventory, staff and accounting in one system. This article shows, factually, what Odoo covers for catering and events out of the box, where workflows need to be adapted, what that costs and when which option fits.

As of 5 October 2026. Based on the public Odoo documentation (version 19), the Odoo 20 release notes and Odoo’s German pricing page (odoo.com/de_DE/pricing). All sources are listed at the end of the article. Odoo is a trademark of Odoo S.A., Belgium. Univents has no business relationship with Odoo S.A.

What is Odoo?

Odoo is modular business software from Belgium. Individual apps – such as sales, inventory, manufacturing, HR or accounting – can be combined and share one database. There is a free Community edition (open source, LGPLv3 licence) and the paid Enterprise edition, which runs as a cloud service (Odoo Online), on a platform for custom extensions (Odoo.sh) or on your own servers. A new major version is released once a year; Odoo 20 was presented in September 2026.

What Odoo covers for catering and events out of the box

These apps are the most relevant for the events business:

• Events: create events, sell tickets in tiers (via sales orders, point of sale or website), registration limits, check-in with badge scanning, booths, sponsors and tracks. With Odoo 20, tickets can be bundled with food and drinks into a combo ticket with separate VAT rates.
• Sales: quotations with reusable templates, optional products, online signature and online payment directly on the quotation, down payments and pro-forma invoices.
• Website and eCommerce: online shop with variants, combo products and discount, coupon and loyalty programmes that customers redeem at checkout.
• Rental (Enterprise): rental items with periods, pick-up and return. Rooms such as conference rooms can also be managed as rental services; together with the Planning app, Odoo checks availability.
• Planning (Enterprise): shift planning with roles, templates, open shifts and automatic scheduling. Shifts can be linked to sales order lines and projects.
• Timesheets and Attendances: log working time per project, clock in and out at a kiosk.
• Point of Sale for restaurants: floors and tables, orders sent to kitchen and bar, a preparation display for the kitchen and, in Germany, fiscal compliance via fiskaly.
• Manufacturing, Inventory and Purchase: recipes can be modelled as bills of materials, plus warehouse management, demand planning over periods and purchase orders to suppliers.
• Appointments (Enterprise): booking of resources such as meeting rooms or seating areas, with capacities.
• Accounting with German localisation: SKR03 and SKR04 charts of accounts, VAT returns via ELSTER, DATEV export (part of Enterprise accounting), e-invoices in XRechnung and Factur-X format and sending via Peppol. According to its own documentation, Odoo is certified GoBD-compliant.
• Studio (Enterprise): customisation without coding – custom fields, views, automations and PDF reports.

The official “Catering” and “Event Management” industry packages

Odoo S.A. itself offers two matching industry packages, both for the Enterprise edition and usable on Odoo Online. According to Odoo, the “Catering” package is aimed at event caterers, banquet organisers and private catering providers. By its own description, it relies entirely on standard features and includes, among other things, quotation templates, planning roles for service and kitchen and a project template: once a quotation is accepted, Odoo automatically creates a project for all tasks of the event. Recipes are handled through the Manufacturing app.

The “Event Management” package for event planners and agencies sets up units of measure such as “Person”, “Event” or “Staff” and uses Rental to secure reservations and avoid double bookings.

In addition, the Odoo App Store lists catering modules from third-party providers. They are published separately for each Odoo version and, according to the App Store, cannot be installed on Odoo Online – only on Odoo.sh or your own servers.

Where catering workflows need adapting

Some workflows that come up every day at caterers and venues are not described as a dedicated feature in the standard documentation. For each of them, Odoo offers its own route – through configuration, the industry packages or customisation with Studio:

Important for the assessment: room booking with double-booking protection, shift planning, online signature, DATEV export and e-invoicing are part of Odoo – some as Enterprise features. The differences lie less in whether a workflow can be modelled and more in how much of it comes ready-made and how much a business configures, customises and maintains itself across version upgrades.

What Odoo costs

According to Odoo’s German pricing page (as of 5 October 2026, annual billing, per user and month):

• One app free: €0, a single app for unlimited users, Odoo Online only.
• Standard: €24.90 (€19.90 in the first year), all apps, Odoo Online only.
• Custom: €44.90 (€35.90 in the first year), additionally Studio, AI agents, multiple companies, external API and Odoo.sh or your own servers.

According to Odoo, installing Studio automatically moves you to the Custom plan; the same applies to connecting external software via the Odoo API. For employees with limited functions – for example viewing shifts or working at the till – Odoo lists light users at €7.90. Customers and suppliers who only use the portal do not count as users.

Then there is the implementation. Odoo offers consulting packages (“Success Packs”) of 4 to 200 hours for this, from €499 to €16,830 for new customers. From around 50 employees, Odoo recommends working with a partner. If you book maintenance of third-party modules or custom code with Odoo, Odoo charges €16 per 100 lines of code per month; without this maintenance, the Enterprise agreement says the customer must adapt such extensions themselves when upgrading to a new version.

Odoo, industry software or both?

Which option fits depends less on individual features than on where a business has its focus:

• Odoo is a good fit if a business wants to run other areas besides events in one system – such as a restaurant with a till, production, retail or several companies – and is prepared to configure and maintain workflows itself or with a partner.
• Industry software is a good fit if the events business is the focus and workflows such as price per guest, function sheets, room bookings and staff per event should come ready-made without a separate implementation project.
• Combining both can make sense if Odoo already runs as the ERP or CRM and event handling should happen in a specialised system. This requires an interface; for external API connections, Odoo requires the Custom plan.

How Univents handles these workflows

Univents is software for caterers, event venues and agencies. The workflows from the table above are a fixed part of it:

• The event’s guest count as the quantity basis for items priced per guest
• Quotation, order confirmation and invoice per event, with XRechnung and DATEV export
• Function sheet and production list per event, generated from the booked items
• Rooms and venues with a check for double bookings
• Staff scheduling per event with an employee app and time tracking
• Booking pages where customers choose date, guest count and packages, including online payment and discount codes

Univents does not offer a ready-made connection to Odoo. However, the open Univents API and its MCP interface can be used to build a connection yourself or with a service provider.

Frequently asked questions

Does Odoo have its own catering solution?

Yes. Odoo S.A. offers the “Catering” industry package for the Enterprise edition. It configures standard features such as quotation templates, projects per order, shift roles and recipes via Manufacturing. In addition, there are catering modules from third-party providers in the Odoo App Store.

Can Odoo protect rooms from double bookings?

Yes, via Rental together with the Planning app or via the Appointments app with room resources. Both are part of the Enterprise edition. In the Events app itself, the venue is a contact; the Events documentation does not describe an availability check for it.

Does Odoo support DATEV and XRechnung?

Yes. The DATEV export is part of Enterprise accounting, and Odoo creates e-invoices in XRechnung and Factur-X format. According to its documentation, Odoo is certified GoBD-compliant.

What does Odoo cost for a catering business?

According to Odoo’s German pricing page, from €24.90 per user and month on the Standard plan with annual billing (as of 5 October 2026). With Studio, the external API or your own hosting, the Custom plan applies, from €44.90. Implementation costs come on top, for example Odoo’s consulting packages from €499 for new customers.

Can Univents be connected to Odoo?

There is no ready-made connection. Univents has an open API and an MCP interface; on the Odoo side, a connection via the API requires the Custom plan.

Sources

• Odoo documentation: Events
• Odoo documentation: Sales
• Odoo documentation: Discount and loyalty programs
• Odoo documentation: Rental of rooms and services
• Odoo documentation: Planning
• Odoo documentation: Point of Sale for restaurants
• Odoo documentation: Appointments
• Odoo documentation: German localisation (DATEV, GoBD)
• Odoo documentation: Electronic invoicing
• Odoo documentation: Studio
• Odoo 20 release notes
• Odoo App Store: Catering industry package
• Odoo App Store: Event Management industry package
• Odoo pricing page (Germany)
• Odoo Success Packs
• Odoo Enterprise agreement