◆ Zay-OS vs ezCater

ezCater finds the office buyer. Zayos lets them reorder from you directly.

Zayos runs your own catering orders on your own domain for a flat $399 to $599 per location per month, with no commission on food; the customer pays a service fee of 10% on catering. ezCater is a corporate catering marketplace that brings buyers and charges a commission on each accepted order. Many restaurants keep both.

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Quick answer

ezCater is a demand channel: a marketplace where companies order catering, paid by a commission on each accepted order. Zayos is your own direct ordering, catering included, for a flat monthly fee with no commission. Keep ezCater to win new corporate accounts, and send repeat catering orders to your own Zayos site.

Side by side

What is different between ezCater and Zayos?

Feature

ezCater

Zay-OS

What it is

A catering marketplace where businesses order group catering for meetings, trainings, events and employee programs. ezCater also sells Online Ordering for your own website, Dispatch delivery drivers and a Meal Program for companies.

Commission-free direct ordering on your own domain, with catering as its own order flow next to pickup and delivery. Orders go into your POS or one kitchen tablet.

Who brings the customer

ezCater does. Its Marketplace puts you in front of office managers and companies ordering catering, which is demand most restaurants cannot reach on their own.

You do. Zayos does not sell you catering buyers; it gives the buyers you already have, and the ones you win on ezCater, a direct way to reorder.

What the restaurant pays

No signup fee and no monthly fee. A commission on each order you accept (lower on Online Ordering orders from your own site) plus a payment transaction fee. Your rate is the one on your partner agreement and weekly statement.

A flat $399, $499 or $599 per location per month, no setup fee, month to month. No commission on food revenue.

What the catering customer pays

The menu price plus the delivery fee you set.

A service fee of 10% on catering orders, paid by the customer at checkout, never by the restaurant.

Order notice and scheduling

An ordering flow designed for large, scheduled orders.

You set the notice period: how far ahead a catering order must be placed. Per-person quantities, delivery windows and a quote flow for large orders.

Delivery

Dispatch, ezCater's professional drivers, for overflow or for every order. You pay the Dispatch fee and the customer pays the delivery fee you set.

Courier dispatch from the same checkout as pickup. The customer sees the delivery price before paying.

Payouts

Weekly, by ACH, processed every Tuesday for the previous week's orders.

Daily payouts through Stripe.

Where the order shows up

The ezCater Partner Portal and its app.

Your POS (Clover, Square or Shift4 at no extra cost; Toast with Toast's own $50 a month fee) or the kitchen tablet on Operator + Tablet.

Do they connect to each other?

Not with Zayos. ezCater orders stay in ezCater.

Zayos does not connect to ezCater and does not bring ezCater orders onto its tablet. The two run side by side.

ezCater column: ezCater's Restaurant Partner Help Center, https://catering.ezcater.io/en/articles/13907492-ezcater-solutions and https://catering.ezcater.io/en/articles/13928262-selling-fees-payouts, read 16 Oct 2026. We print no ezCater rate: read yours on your partner agreement and weekly statement. Zay-OS column: /pricing and /for/catering.

You do not have to drop ezCater

Can I keep ezCater and still run catering direct?

Yes, and for most catering restaurants that is the right call. ezCater is good at the first order: the office manager who has never heard of you finds you there. A commission on that first order is a fair price for a customer you could not reach. The second order is different. That buyer already knows your food, so give them your own catering link on the invoice, the receipt and the box. On Zayos the restaurant pays no commission on that order. The two systems do not connect, so each order lives where it was placed.

ezCater keeps doing

◆ New corporate and office buyers
◆ Marketplace search and listings
◆ Dispatch drivers, if you use them
◆ Company meal programs

Zay-OS starts doing

◆ Repeat catering on your own domain
◆ A notice period you set
◆ Per-person quantities and delivery windows
◆ Pickup and delivery on the same site

Where they are the better fit

When is ezCater the better choice?

You need corporate buyers you do not have yet

Zayos does not bring you catering customers. ezCater's Marketplace does: companies ordering for meetings, trainings and events. If your catering book is empty, start there.

You want no monthly fee at all

ezCater charges nothing until you accept an order. If catering is occasional, paying per order can cost less than any monthly plan. Zayos makes sense once direct orders, catering included, carry the monthly fee.

Zayos is the better fit for repeat buyers

Once a buyer knows you, the commission buys nothing new. On Zayos they order on your own site and the restaurant pays no commission on food. The customer pays a service fee of 10% on catering.

And for everything that is not catering

The same Zayos site takes pickup and delivery, with a flat $0.99 diner-paid service fee. The restaurant keeps 100% of food revenue, and 100% of tips on pickup and dine-in. On delivery the tip goes to the driver.

Straight answers

ezCater comparison questions.

How much does ezCater charge a restaurant?

ezCater lists its selling fees in its restaurant partner help center: no signup fee and no recurring monthly fee, a commission on each order you accept, a lower commission on orders that come through its Online Ordering on your own website, and a payment transaction fee (https://catering.ezcater.io/en/articles/13928262-selling-fees-payouts, read 16 Oct 2026). The rate that applies to you is the one on your partner agreement and your weekly statement, so we do not restate a number here. Optional marketing programs and Dispatch delivery cost extra.

Should I leave ezCater if I use Zayos?

No, not by default. ezCater sells demand: office and corporate buyers with budgets who order catering for meetings and events. That is hard to replace. The usual split is to keep ezCater for new corporate accounts and give every buyer you win a direct way to reorder on your own site through Zayos, where the restaurant pays no commission.

Does Zayos integrate with ezCater?

No. Zayos does not connect to ezCater and does not bring ezCater orders onto its kitchen tablet or into your POS. ezCater orders stay in the ezCater Partner Portal. Zayos handles the catering orders placed directly on your own site.

How does catering work on Zayos?

Catering runs on your own domain as its own order flow, next to pickup and delivery. You set the notice period, meaning how far ahead a catering order must be placed. The flow handles per-person quantities, delivery windows and a quote flow for large orders. The customer pays a service fee of 10% on catering at checkout; the restaurant pays the flat monthly plan and no commission on food.

What does the restaurant keep on a Zayos catering order?

The restaurant keeps 100% of food revenue, and 100% of tips on pickup and dine-in. On delivery the tip goes to the driver. The customer, not the restaurant, pays a service fee of 10% on catering.

Who delivers a large catering order?

On ezCater you can use your own staff or Dispatch, ezCater's professional drivers, for overflow or every order (https://catering.ezcater.io/en/articles/13907492-ezcater-solutions, read 16 Oct 2026). On Zayos a courier is dispatched from the same checkout as pickup, and the customer sees the delivery price before paying.

Can I see Zayos live before signing?

Yes. Naya Grill in Pompano Beach is live on Zayos today. Run the free grader at grader.zay-os.com first; it shows, in your numbers, what direct ordering would have saved you last month against paying DoorDash and Uber Eats.

Keep reading

ezCater alternatives →

Replacing the demand vs replacing the ordering, option by option.

Zayos for catering →

How the catering order flow works on your own site.

Zay-OS vs DoorDash →

The same keep-both logic for everyday delivery.

Also: all comparisons · best online ordering for catering · pricing · how it works