CaterCow vs.
ezCater
If you're looking for a service similar to ezCater but with a slightly more curated restaurant selection, we'd love to help! At CaterCow, our partners go through a rigorous application complete with a photography process before being listed on the website. Couple that with our intimately personal, you'll-know-us-on-a-first-name-basis customer service, and we think you'll notice the difference.
We see ezCater as our big sister and have a lot of respect for their nationwide scale. Seriously, we think they are a top notch company, but we also think you may want a more bespoke (i.e. read smaller company :D) service! While we obviously do not know how it works at ezCater, at CaterCow, we go through a process of test deliveries, taking photos of how the food actually arrives (in the delivery packaging), gauging the restaurant's punctuality and service, picking out the menu items they make well, and making sure the food travels well. When restaurants make it on the website, we're constantly monitoring them to make sure their quality doesn't slip, or else we'll put them on probation before removing them completely. As a result of having vetted restaurants, we also have a highly personal relationship with the owners and managers of our caterers. A high caliber of restaurants means less customer support issues, but it also means that when inevitably issues do arrive we can dedicate a lot of personal attention to our customers and go above and beyond. Our team size is in the single digits, which means that you might get to know us on a first-name-basis instead of getting a random rep, and we'll frequently know immediately which order you're talking about before you even give us an order number. Whether you like ordering online as you would on ezCater, or you'd like service a notch up with an account manager, we'd be flattered for you to try us out!
Why use CaterCow instead of ezCater?
Photos, Photos, Photos
During our vetting and curation process, we'll do our best to take high-quality photos of the delivery. Forget fancy plating. We'll show you the sexy plastic containers and aluminum pans. You'll know exactly what's coming.
Other than the banner photo of a restaurant, there may not always be other photos of the food to know what's coming.
Menu Curation
Menus are specifically curated and tweaked from what the restaurant originally sent for quality, pricing, and orderability — no tacos from the Italian restaurant, we negotiate pricing when we find it too steep, we work with the restaurant to add vegan and gluten free options, we restructure packages to make sure there's something good for everyone!
Most menus are uploaded based on what the restaurant submits.
Unbiased Selections
Menu search results are ranked by reviews and restaurant reliability.
Restaurants get more visibility through ezCater's Preferred Partner Program, which asks restaurants to bid an extra 2-20% of an order’s food total.
Generous Rewards Program
Opt into our rewards program by emailing support@catercow.com and get 5% rewards every time you leave a review. We believe your feedback is super important for not only improving our curation but also for sharing with other customers.
Get 1% to 5% in rewards depending on the restaurant.
Your White Glove Account Manager Might be the Cofounder & CEO.
If you order frequently, we know how much work it is to plan out meals. If you would like an account manager, we’d be happy to provide one to take care of menu selection and ordering for a variety of dietary needs. Work with someone who is ready to bend their back for you 24/7. Our founder is an account manager, so if you're not obsessed with customer-centric service, responsiveness, and attention to detail, you're probably not going to last very long at CaterCow. You don't get to be an account manager unless you've been at CaterCow for at least 6 months. Account managers also work intensively on the restaurant side, so you have someone who has an intricate knowledge of everything we can offer.
Your account manager definitely ain't Stefania (but we do love her and have a tremendous amount of respect for her!)