ezCater vs DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats for Restaurant Catering

If your restaurant already takes delivery orders on DoorDash or Uber Eats, it's fair to ask why you'd add ezCater at 15% plus processing. They're built for different orders. The delivery apps are built for one person's dinner, with catering added on. ezCater is built for an office manager ordering lunch for 25 people next Thursday, and nothing else.

This is a restaurant-side comparison: what each platform charges you, how its catering orders work, and who the buyers are. Rates are the published ones as of September 17, 2026, and every platform negotiates, so use your own agreement when it differs.

What each marketplace charges restaurants

Sources: ezCater, DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats, Fooda, Sharebite, CaterCow.

Two changes this year worth knowing. DoorDash cut its pickup commission from 15% to 6% across all plans in October 2025. Uber Eats raised its Lite plan from 15% to 20% in March 2026.

What a $500 order costs on each

Commission only, at the published rates, on a $500 food subtotal. Processing and delivery fees are handled differently by each platform, so this is the comparable piece, not the whole bill.

Add ezCater's 2.99% processing and its commission on the delivery fee, and a $500 order with $30 delivery and $40 tax comes to $96.54, worked through in our ezCater fee breakdown. Grubhub Basic looks cheap, but at 5% you get a listing with minimal marketing placement, and Grubhub's delivery adds 10% or more if you don't deliver yourself.

The fee isn't the interesting number. The interesting number is how many $500 orders each platform actually sends you.

Who the buyers are

ezCater is where office managers, executive assistants and event planners go on purpose. Its buyers order for groups, plan ahead, and about 43% of the workplaces it surveyed run recurring meal programs. If a corporate buyer in your area orders catering online, there's a good chance they already have an ezCater account.

DoorDash and Uber Eats have far more users, but most of them are ordering one meal. Their catering products, DoorDash for Business and Uber Eats for Business, sit inside the consumer app. DoorDash launched tray-style catering in San Francisco and New York in April 2026. Outside those metros, a "catering" order on DoorDash is usually a large group order of individual meals, which changes what your kitchen has to produce.

Grubhub sits between the two. Grubhub Corporate has sold office meal accounts for years, and its catering is delivery-only, either by your drivers or its premium drivers, with orders up to 14 days ahead.

Fooda, Sharebite, Zerocater and Cater2.me aren't marketplaces you list on and wait. They run meal programs for employers and bring in restaurants as vendors. Volume can be steady, but you join their program on their terms, and fees are mostly unpublished. Our ezCater competitors guide covers each of them.

What each is good for

What none of them give you

On every marketplace here, the buyer's relationship is with the platform. ezCater states plainly that it does not share customer contact details for marketplace orders. The delivery apps work the same way in practice: the customer's account, payment method and order history live in the app.

That's fine for the first order. It's expensive for the tenth. An office that orders a $500 lunch twice a month is worth about $12,000 a year, and on a 15% marketplace you pay $1,800 a year for a customer who would happily order from you directly if you gave them a way to.

How to get the best of both: keep the marketplace listings that bring new buyers, and run a direct channel for repeat business. That means a catering page with packages and online ordering, a follow-up after every order, and outreach to the offices near you. Our guide to growing a catering business lays out the system, and commission-free catering ordering covers what direct ordering actually costs.

Common questions

Is DoorDash cheaper than ezCater for catering orders?

Not usually. DoorDash's published delivery commissions are 15%, 25% or 30% depending on plan, and it has no separate catering rate. ezCater is 15% plus 2.99% processing on every marketplace order. On pickup, DoorDash's 6% is the lowest published rate of any of them.

Does Grubhub do catering?

Yes. Grubhub takes catering orders up to 14 days ahead through its marketplace and Grubhub Corporate accounts, delivered by your drivers or its premium drivers. Its published commissions are 5%, 15% or 20% for marketing plus delivery from 10%, and catering may require an amendment to your agreement.

Which catering marketplace has the lowest fees for restaurants?

On published rates, Grubhub Basic at 5% marketing commission plus 10% delivery, or DoorDash pickup at 6%, are the lowest. ezCater's 7% Online Ordering rate is lower still but only applies to orders from your own website. Fooda, CaterCow, Zerocater and Cater2.me do not publish their commission.

Can a restaurant be on ezCater and DoorDash at the same time?

Yes. Nothing in ezCater's published terms prevents it, though ezCater requires your marketplace prices to match the lowest prices you charge elsewhere online. Track each channel's orders separately so you can see which one produces repeat accounts.