How to Replace EZCater with your own Online Ordering System
Who is this guide for?
This guide is for any caterer that wants their own online ordering system that:
- they 100% own and clients order directly from them
- is NOT a 3rd-party platform that charges commissions or takes your customer data
- can be setup with little-to-no effort
Minimum requirements to get most value
Caterers will get the most out of having an online ordering system like if they:
- do at least $5,000 or 30 catering orders per month
- already have clients of your own
- have a website or social media page
Step 1) Create a HoneyCart account
Est. Total Time: 5 mins
HoneyCart is a system built for caterers that has everything you need to start taking catering orders and payments online.
The best part is you get a 14 day free trial so you can start making money before you have to pay anything.
After your trial ends, plans cost $79 to $149 per month and come with a 30 day money-back guarantee.
This all comes out to about $2.60 – $5.00 per day.
Step 2) Add your Branding & Catering policies
Est. Total Time: 30 mins
Add your branding to your account:
- Company Logo
- Company Website URL
- Company Phone
- Support Email address
HoneyCart automates your catering policies into the ordering process so you don’t have to talk to clients:
- Min. Order Amount
- Lead Time before clients can place orders
- Lead Time before clients can make changes to an order
- Days & times clients can choose for Delivery or Pickup
- Delivery Fees (i.e flat fee vs zip code based fees)
Most people don’t have 30 mins to do this, so we do it for you as part of our Done-For-You 48 Hour Expert Setup.
Step 3) Upload your Menu
Est. Total Time: Depends on menu size
Entering your menu just involves some simple data-entry, but can be time-consuming if you have a big menu.
Most people are too busy to do this, so we do it for you as part of our Done-For-You 48 Hour Expert Setup.
Step 4) Replace EZCater links with HoneyCart links
Est. Total Time: 10 mins
The final step is to go to every place on your website and social media that points to an EZCater link, and change it to point to your HoneyCart link.
⚠️ Important:
Changing a link is easy to do, but most caterers put their links in places nobody will ever see them. Even worse, some forget or are too busy to change the links at all!
It’s not your fault. You’re a busy caterer, not an e-commerce expert. That’s why our experts will tell you exactly where to place these links and can even do it for you as part of our Done-For-You 48 Hour Expert Setup.
Done-For-You 48 Hour Expert Setup
Total Cost: $500
Liz Choto of GrazeDat, a one-woman caterer based in New Orleans, found us in Sept 2020. She’s never had a website, only has social media, and does everything over text and DM.
After seeing a demo, Liz quickly signed up, entered her menus and was excited to see the orders roll in.
Then….crickets. Two months went by and NO ORDERS.
She was ready to quit by the end of Nov because people were still texting her to order and her business wasn’t getting easier.
Then in Dec 2020 she got 129 orders and hasn’t looked back since.
How two-minutes lead to 129 orders “over night”…
Our in-house expert Omar took a look at her social media to figure out what was going on.
In 2 mins, he discovered that she forgot to update her social media and was still telling people to “text to order”.
Omar quickly made a 5 min video explaining the problem and exactly WHERE and HOW to fix it. She fixed her links and told people to go there to order. She literally started receiving orders the next day.
Our Done-For-You Expert Setup can save you from making a costly “two month” mistake that wastes your money, and could cause you to go back to ezCater or do things the old school way.
Done-For-You Expert Setup includes:
- 20-minute Accelerator Consultation to assess your company’s needs
- Done-For-You Account Customization to ensure consistent branding and accurate catering policy setup
- Done-For-You Menu Entry so you and your team can avoid tedious “data entry”
- Detailed Website & Social Media Game Plan to eliminate confusion so clients stop calling their orders in
- Automated Email Alert Setup to ensure nothing falls through the cracks
- Guided Credit Card Payment Setup (2.9% + $.30 per trans powered by Stripe)
- User Login Setup for all employees
- Online Training Sessions for all employees