ezCater Menu Onboarding & Optimization Guide

The way people order food for work is changing.  Watch our video below to learn 7 tips to making your menu shine on our ezCater marketplace. 

ezCater Menu Onboarding Guide 

Our Menu Style: We’ve drawn from 15 years of experience and hundreds of thousands of catering orders to optimize menus that help drive sales. Our unique and data-driven style includes: 

Price Matching: Per our equal price guarantee, we’ll match your ezCater menu pricing to your lowest website pricing. Please keep this in mind when submitting your online menu during onboarding, and when submitting ezCater menu updates moving forward! 

Assorted & Most Popular Options: We allow customers to select the most popular item when possible. This helps them order quickly & puts their trust in you to select what’s best. It also provides you with the flexibility needed to create an amazing catering order for the customer. 

Description Structure & Serving Sizes: In order to help customers order from your menu, we’ll include informative & concise descriptions of your dishes. Please provide us with descriptions of your food and accurate serving sizes. Since our system does not accommodate ranges, if you provide ranges we’ll pick the number that makes the most sense! 

 Menu Organization: Our customers order frequently & know exactly where to find certain types of foods on the menu. We keep category order consistent and may use standard category names to make it easier for customers to navigate. 

How to Make the Most of Your Catering Menu 

Send us a menu that represents your business and we'll transcribe it into our system and make it shine. We prefer to use your website or a branded PDF over a third party menu to ensure that the information is exactly as you expect it to be.

Menu template
    • If you already have a catering menu please send that! You do not need to use this template, it is simply here as a guide should you need it.
    • Must include: pricing, serving sizes, descriptions, dietary information, packaging information

Invest in Quality Packaging & Utensils

  • Understanding how the food will arrive is table stakes for our customers. Including packaging information (individual packaging vs group packaging) is required on your ezCater menu.
  • Over 80% of ezCater orders are placed from partners who offer free utensils.

Include Individual Items & Boxed Lunches. Set up your menu to meet current demand by listing boxed lunches (all-in-one) or individually packaged meals like grain bowls, sandwiches, and salads. 

Include Catering Packages/Bundles. To save customers valuable time, please include bundled packages (one item including entree, side, salad, etc.) ezCater customers will thank you for it! 

Increase Margins with Add-Ons. Almost 50% of customers order beverages when they are included on the menu. Include items such as beverages, sides, salads, and desserts to increase order value and provide customers with the full meals. 

Accommodate for Dietary Restrictions. 1 out of every 5 ezCater orders includes an item that is gluten-free, vegan, or vegetarian. Please clearly label your menu for dietary restrictions so we can easily flag your ezCater menu! 

❏ If you can accommodate dietary restrictions by substituting ingredients in any of your dishes, please specify those substitutions so we can include them on your menu. 

Offer Breakfast. Breakfast is the fastest growing catering daypart and the most used cuisine type filter. Top breakfast items include sandwiches, hot buffets, bagels, and pastries.. 

Add Expectation-Setting Photos to Your Menu. Customers are more likely to order from you when they see photos of the food on your menu. To get more information or to submit photos, see our Photo FAQ or contact our photo team: photos@ezcater.com

 

For any questions, please email our team at menus@ezcater.com