CaterRail vs ezCater marketplace
Keep the marketplace for strangers. Take your own customers direct.
The marketplace brings you demand you did not have. The problem is that it charges the same commission on the customers who searched your name.
A marketplace is a place people go when they do not have a caterer in mind. That is worth paying for, and for a group with no catering demand yet it is the fastest way to buy some.
It is also where your regulars end up, because it is the link on your Google profile, the page your office manager already has bookmarked, and the first result for your own name. Every one of those orders pays the same commission as a stranger's.
CaterRail is the checkout for the second group. It runs on your own domain, takes nothing per order, and is where your website, your Google profile, your phone line and your email signature send people. Keep the listing for the strangers if it earns its keep. Stop paying it on the customers who were already yours.
Where ezCater marketplace is the right call
You have no catering demand yet and want to buy some. A listing does that; a storefront cannot.
| CaterRail | ezCater marketplace | |
|---|---|---|
| Fee on each order | None | A percentage of every order |
| Monthly fee | Flat, per location | None |
| Where the order is placed | Your own domain | ezcater.com |
| Shown beside competitors | Never | Yes — that is the product |
| Who holds the customer | You | ezCater; you receive the order |
| Rules per location | Each location: minimum, lead time, hours, radius, orders per window | Lead time and minimums per listing |
| When the card is charged | Held at checkout, charged when the kitchen accepts | Charged at checkout; you are paid out after the order |
| Separate payouts per legal entity | Yes | Not described in their public materials |
ezCater's published fee structure and product pages, September 2026. Competitor details are taken from their public pricing and product pages in September 2026 and can change. Check them before you decide.
Run the numbers with your own volume.