Three ways to buy office catering
When an office looks for an alternative to ezCater, Fooda or ZeroCater, it is usually choosing between business models rather than between brands. There are three common ones, and each is good at something different.
A catering marketplace, the model ezCater is known for, lists many restaurants and caterers in one place: you browse, order from one of them, and the marketplace handles the ordering and payment. An office-lunch app or managed program, the model associated with Fooda and ZeroCater, runs a rotating schedule of outside vendors for your office, so different restaurants feed the team on different days. A direct caterer is a single company that plans the menu, is responsible for the food and the delivery, and is the business you contract with.
We are the third kind, so read this with that in mind. We have tried to describe the other two by how they work, not by how well any particular company runs them, and the last section says plainly when a marketplace or an app is the better choice.
The models side by side
The differences come down to who is behind the food on a given day and who answers for it.
| Question | Catering marketplace | Office-lunch app or vendor program | Direct caterer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who prepares the food | The restaurant or caterer you picked for that order | A rotating set of vendors, often a different one each day | The caterer you contract with, every time |
| Who you contract with | The platform, under its terms, for the ordering and payment | The platform, under its terms | The caterer, under one written agreement |
| Menu and labeling standard | Set by each vendor | Set by each vendor, within the platform's program | One standard across every order |
| Dietary and halal consistency | Depends on the vendor chosen for that order | Depends on the vendor scheduled that day | Planned once and held on every order |
| Invoicing | Through the platform | Through the platform | Directly from the caterer |
| Best at | Choice from many restaurants, quick one-off orders | Variety from many vendors on a schedule | Consistency, one accountable team, one standard |
A comparison of models, not of providers. Platforms differ in their terms and features; check the current terms of any service you are considering.
Who cooks, and why it matters
On a marketplace, the food on Tuesday and the food on Thursday can come from two businesses that have never heard of each other. That is the point when you want choice. It also means the menu, the portioning, the labels and the delivery habits change with the vendor, and the person ordering has to re-check each one.
With a direct caterer, the same company plans every menu and is responsible for every dish and delivery. Our office lunch and our Office Meal Program draw from the same kitchen and menus, so the labels read the same way, the dietary tracks are the same, and the people you talk to are the same from the first order to the fiftieth.
Dietary and halal consistency
This is where the models differ most for a mixed office. When each order goes to a different vendor, a halal, vegan or allergy requirement has to be checked again on every order, and a colleague who needs it can end up with whatever was left over.
Every dish we serve is halal · zabiha-sourced by default: meat and poultry come from suppliers that hold halal certification (our own kitchen holds none), and no dish contains pork or alcohol in any form. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free lines run on the same menu. Every dish is labeled with its contents and with any of the nine major food allergens it contains, and in a recurring program the allergy flags you give us carry forward to every rotation. If an ingredient fails, any substitute will never compromise a declared allergy, dietary or halal requirement. A dish labeled as made without an allergen is prepared without that ingredient; our kitchen is not allergen-free, so cross-contact cannot be ruled out.
Invoicing and paperwork
On a platform, the invoice and the payment usually run through the platform. With a direct caterer they run through the caterer, which matters to whoever reconciles the books.
Our price is per guest, all-in: the food plus the staff, delivery and setup the format needs. California sales tax is shown on its own line and there is no service charge. A recurring program is billed on one invoice for the period, itemized by service day with per-guest detail, so finance can split it by department or cost center. Quote a purchase order number and it goes on the invoice. Accounts we approve in writing are invoiced on net-30 terms; otherwise a 30% deposit confirms the booking. A certificate of insurance is available for buildings that need one on file. We bill the company; we do not collect payment from individual employees.
When something goes wrong
Every model has a process for a late delivery, a missing tray or a wrong invoice. The useful question is who owns the fix. On a marketplace or app, the platform sits between you and the kitchen, and its terms decide how a problem is handled; read them before you rely on them.
With a direct caterer there is no one in between. The business that cooked and delivered the food is the one you contracted with and the one you call. Our Terms are published in full, and if an invoice is wrong we correct it. That single line of accountability is the main thing a direct caterer offers, more than any one menu.
When a marketplace or app is the better choice
A direct caterer is not the right answer for every office, and it is better to say so here than after a bad fit.
- You want every employee to pick from many restaurants. That is what a marketplace is built for; a direct caterer gives you one rotating menu with parallel dietary tracks, not a restaurant list.
- You need food sooner than a caterer can plan it. Our office lunch lead time is 8 days minimum. Recurring program timing: Starts within 2 weeks once the proposal is accepted.
- The order is very small. Our office lunch packages start at 15 guests, and program packages at 15 guests per service day.
- You want a specific restaurant's food. A marketplace can get it for you; we run our own menus.
- Employees pay for their own meals. We invoice the company, not individuals.
When a direct caterer fits
A direct caterer fits when lunch is a shared meal rather than an individual order: a team that eats together on set days, a mixed room with halal, vegan and allergy needs that must be right every time, a finance team that wants one itemized invoice, and an office manager who would rather review lunch than order it.
For a one-off lunch, our office lunch catering starts from $21 a guest, delivered in a window built backwards from when your team eats. For lunch on set days every week, the Office Meal Program starts from $21 a guest per service day, with a six-week menu rotation and one invoice for the period. Send your days, headcount, address and dietary needs, and we reply with an itemized proposal within one business day.
