Business Process Automation for a Small Company in Lewisham: A Cafe With Catering Orders

The idea in one line

A process is a set of steps that happen every time. Automation means a piece of software carries out some of them for you.

The example: a cafe that takes catering orders

Brockley has 10 cafes listed here as of 10 October 2026, the most of any area. Now picture one that also takes catering for local offices and parties. The steps, in order:

1. An enquiry arrives.
2. A quote goes out.
3. Someone chases the quote that was not answered.
4. The job goes into the diary.
5. After the event an invoice is raised.
6. Late payment is chased.
7. The details are copied into the books.
8. At the end of the week somebody works out how it went.

Each step is small. The trouble is that the owner is also making coffee. The steps are the ones that slip: the chase and the invoice most of all.

Which steps to automate first

Do not start with all eight. Look for the step where things most often fall through. For most small firms that is step 3 or step 6. A quote nobody follows up is usually lost, and an invoice nobody chases is usually late.

What Dean Keating's service covers

His website lists these jobs among those his AI agents take on: sending quotes and chasing unanswered ones, booking jobs into the diary, raising invoices, chasing late payments, copying details between systems and producing the weekly report. It is installed for you, not handed over.

The route is a free call, an audit of the work worth automating, the build and install, then training and support. He starts with the single task that makes the most difference. After the free call you leave with a plan you can use with or without him. The cost is given after the call; there is no published price list.

What it is not

It is not a course, not phone answering and not a chatbot product.

Distance

He is based in Horndean, Hampshire, and works with Lewisham businesses remotely. His website says he can visit businesses in Hampshire or nearby. If you want someone in the room, mention it early and look at south-east London providers too.

See the cafes page to see how cafes are listed here, and our admin automation guide for the paperwork side in a different business.

Contact

Call or WhatsApp Dean Keating on 07418 627304, or email dean@deankeating.com. See the Dean Keating profile on Lewisham.co. Websites: ai-agent.deankeating.com and deankeating.com.

About this guide

Lewisham.co is published by Dean Keating, who also runs the service described here. He is based in Horndean, Hampshire, not in Lewisham, and works with Lewisham and south-east London businesses remotely. This guide recommends our own service, so compare it with other providers before you decide.