ezCater alternatives for a real catering program, Zayos included.
Published July 2026 · Updated October 16, 2026
ezCater charges catering partners a commission plus a payment transaction fee on Marketplace orders, and a lower commission on ezOrdering orders taken from your own site. It publishes the rates in its own help center. Alternatives split into two jobs: replacing the demand, and replacing the software. Both paths are laid out below, Zayos included.
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How does ezCater charge a catering partner?
Two rates, depending on where the order came from. ezCater publishes both in its Catering Partner Help Center, and we do not restate the percentages here because we could not read them on ezCater’s own page on 4 Oct 2026. There is no signup fee and no monthly fee, and payment arrives in the weekly payout, both of which are genuinely operator friendly and worth saying before the criticism starts.
| Channel | Commission | Transaction fee | Which orders |
|---|---|---|---|
| ezCater Marketplace | A commission on the order | A payment transaction fee | Orders from corporate buyers who found you on the Marketplace. |
| ezOrdering (your own site) | A lower commission on the order | The same payment transaction fee | Orders that come through the ordering link on your own website. |
On either commission channel, a percentage of the $500 leaves before food cost: multiply the order by the two rates on your own statement to see how much. On a flat fee direct platform where the customer pays the service fee, the kitchen keeps the full $500. That difference is the whole argument on this page.
What are you actually paying ezCater for?
ezCater sells two things in one invoice, and only one of them is easy to replace. Getting this distinction right is the difference between saving money and losing a channel.
It brings you corporate buyers you would not have found
This is the part operators underestimate until they leave. ezCater sells to office managers, executive assistants and procurement teams with expense accounts, recurring meetings and a preference for a single invoice. That audience does not find you through Instagram. If a large share of your catering revenue is first time buyers who found you on the Marketplace, you are paying a commission for customer acquisition, and paying for a customer you could not otherwise reach is not obviously a bad deal.
It runs the catering software: quotes, headcounts, delivery windows, invoices
The ordering flow, the lead times, the per person maths, the delivery instructions, the receipts. This is the replaceable half. Any competent catering ordering builder can do it, and several charge a flat monthly fee rather than a percentage of every tray. The mistake is paying marketplace acquisition rates on repeat orders from a buyer who already knows your name.
How do I cut catering commission without losing the corporate orders?
Five steps, in order, over about 90 days. This is the sequence we would run for a restaurant doing real catering volume, and step one is not "switch vendors".
- 01
Separate the two things you are paying for
Pull the last 12 months of catering orders and split them into first time buyers and repeat buyers. The first group is what the Marketplace earned. The second group is what it is charging you for a second time. Most catering programs are surprised by the ratio.
- 02
Get your buyer list out while your account is healthy
Contact names, company names, order dates, headcounts and what they ordered. Do this before any conversation about leaving, and confirm the export actually opens. A catering program lives on its repeat corporate accounts, and that list is the asset.
- 03
Give repeat buyers one direct link, and make it easy
Two workable options. ezOrdering keeps you inside ezCater at a lower commission on orders that come from your own site. A direct catering builder on your own domain, priced as a flat monthly, removes the percentage entirely. Pick one and put it everywhere: email signature, invoice footer, the card in the delivery bag.
- 04
Keep the Marketplace listing for discovery, and measure it honestly
You do not have to choose one channel. Keep the listing that finds new offices, move the accounts that already know you, then check the split again after 90 days. If Marketplace first time buyers stay strong, the commission is doing its job. If they have gone flat, you are paying acquisition rates for retention.
- 05
Re-price the catering menu once, deliberately
Most catering menus were priced before commission entered the picture. Decide what the direct price is, what the marketplace price is, and whether the delivery fee sits inside the menu price or outside it. Doing this once, in writing, beats absorbing the difference for another year.
Which ezCater alternative fits your catering program?
Six options, two of which are ezCater. Prices are the ones each vendor lists on its own pricing page, read 4 Oct 2026.
Stay on the ezCater Marketplace
Best when most of your catering revenue is first time corporate buyers.
The option every competitor page skips. ezCater charges no signup fee and no monthly fee, pays out weekly, and brings buyers with budgets you cannot easily reach. A percentage of every order is expensive for a repeat customer and reasonable for a new one. Judge it per buyer, not per invoice.
ezOrdering, ezCater's own lower rate channel
Best as a first move, because it changes nothing operationally.
ezCater publishes a second channel for orders that come from your own website and not from the Marketplace, at a lower commission and the same transaction fee. Nothing about your kitchen, your menu or your invoicing changes. If you do nothing else on this page, read both rates in ezCater's help center, apply the difference to your repeat order volume, and see what it is worth.
Toast
Best when catering is one part of a full POS replacement.
If catering is growing inside a restaurant that is also replacing its register, consolidating is reasonable. Toast lists a Starter Kit from $0 a month and a Point of Sale plan from $69 a month on its own pricing page. Online ordering is an add-on with no price shown there, and no card processing rate is listed, so both arrive in a quote. Ask for the contract length in writing, and test catering specific flows such as headcount pricing and lead times carefully before you commit.
Square
Best for a small catering side of the business that just needs to take orders.
Square lists Square Free at $0, Square Plus at $49 and Square Premium at $149 per location a month, with online card payments at 3.3% + $0.30 on the Free plan and 2.9% + $0.30 on Plus and Premium. There is no percentage of the catering order beyond card processing, which is the point. There is also no corporate buyer network, which is the other point.
Popmenu
Best when catering is a marketing problem, not a software problem.
Popmenu approaches catering from the demand side: interactive menus, campaigns and review presence that make a local office manager pick you in the first place. Popmenu lists Starter at $159, Essentials at $269 and Premier at $449 a month prepaid annually. Online ordering and catering is sold as an add-on and its pricing page shows no price for it. Ask for the catering line specifically, in writing, before you compare it with anything else here.
Zayos
Best when repeat catering is real and you want the percentage off your side of the ledger.
Ours, so weigh it accordingly. Zayos includes a catering builder on your own domain with per person quantities, lead times, delivery windows and a quote flow, inside the same flat monthly fee as the rest of the platform: $399, $499 or $599 per location per month, month to month, no setup fee. The structural difference from ezCater is who pays. On Zayos the diner pays the service fee at checkout, 10% on catering, and the restaurant keeps 100% of the food revenue, and 100% of tips on pickup and dine in. On delivery the tip goes to the driver. On a $500 catering order that is $500 to the kitchen with $50 paid by the customer on top, where a commission channel takes its percentage out of the $500. Honest counterweights: Zayos brings you no corporate buyers, so if the Marketplace is your demand engine this replaces the software half only. We are also the newest platform here. Naya Grill in Pompano Beach is one of the restaurants live and taking orders on Zayos today. Farooj Abo Alabed, also live on Zayos, is on pace for $40k+ a year in commission not paid to a marketplace: its direct food sales after discounts from 10 Aug to 3 Oct 2026 (55 days), annualized at a 35% blended marketplace cost.
Sources for the prices and rates in this section: Toast pricing; Square pricing and plans; Popmenu pricing, read 4 Oct 2026. A company can change them; its own page is what counts.
Catering channels and catering software, compared.
The column that decides most of this is "brings the demand". A marketplace does. A platform does not, and no amount of features changes that.
| Option | What it is | Cost to the restaurant | Brings the demand | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ezCater Marketplace | Catering marketplace | A commission plus a transaction fee, rates in its help center | Yes, corporate buyer network | Winning first time office accounts |
| ezOrdering | ezCater ordering on your own site | A lower commission plus the same transaction fee | No, you bring the buyer | Cutting the rate on repeat orders with zero disruption |
| Toast | POS with ordering add-ons | From $0 or from $69/mo. Ordering add-on and processing not priced on its page | No | Catering inside a full POS replacement |
| Square | POS and online ordering | $0 / $49 / $149 per month plus processing | No | A small catering side, lowest fixed cost |
| Popmenu | Marketing platform with ordering | $159 / $269 / $449 a month prepaid annually. Ordering and catering add-on not priced | Indirect, through marketing | Catering demand generation locally |
| Zayos | Direct ordering and catering builder | $399 / $499 / $599 per location. Diner pays 10% on catering | No | Repeat catering with no percentage on the restaurant |
Sources for the prices and rates in this section: Toast pricing; Square pricing and plans; Popmenu pricing, read 4 Oct 2026. A company can change them; its own page is what counts.
- ezCater Catering Partner Help Center, pricing and payment and what is ezOrdering. Where ezCater publishes its Marketplace and ezOrdering commission and its payment transaction fee, the absence of signup or monthly fees, and the weekly payout. We could not read the rates on ezCater’s own page on 4 Oct 2026, so this page does not restate them. ezCater’s own help centre is authoritative.
- Toast pricing. Starter Kit from $0/mo, Point of Sale from $69/mo, Build Your Own quoted; online ordering listed as an add-on with no price shown; no card processing rate listed. Read 4 Oct 2026.
- Square pricing and plans. Free $0, Plus $49, Premium $149 per location a month; online 3.3% + $0.30 on Free, 2.9% + $0.30 on Plus and Premium. Read 4 Oct 2026.
- Popmenu pricing. Starter $159, Essentials $269, Premier $449 a month prepaid annually; online ordering and catering listed as an add-on with no price shown. Read 4 Oct 2026.
- Zayos pricing and the diner service fee. The $399, $499 and $599 per location tiers, no setup fee, and the 10% catering fee paid by the customer.
ezCater alternatives, answered.
How much commission does ezCater take from a restaurant?
What does that cost on a real catering order?
Should I leave the ezCater Marketplace entirely?
What is ezOrdering and how is it different from the Marketplace?
Can any alternative replace the corporate demand ezCater brings?
How does catering work on Zayos specifically?
Find out what commission cost you last year.
The free AI report runs your real order volume and average ticket, catering included, and shows what the marketplaces took. About 60 seconds, no card.
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