Comparison
Catering Funnels vs Grubhub
Grubhub is a delivery marketplace with a corporate arm attached. Catering Funnels is a corporate catering pipeline you own. Here is what each one actually costs you.
Grubhub charges restaurants a marketing commission that varies by plan. Its own published pricing lists Basic at as low as 5%, Plus at as low as 10%, and Premium at as low as 15%, each excluding delivery, with a separate 10% delivery fee and roughly 3.05% plus 30 cents in payment processing. Grubhub's FAQ describes marketing commission ranging from 5% to 20%. New York City is priced differently under its fee cap rules. Catering runs through Grubhub for Business, which is real but secondary to the core delivery marketplace. Catering Funnels charges a flat monthly subscription with no per-order commission, which is the whole difference once corporate volume is meaningful.
The 30-second verdict
You want delivery volume and incidental corporate orders without doing any selling, you are already on the marketplace anyway, and paying a commission on each order is an acceptable cost for that distribution.
Corporate catering is a real line of business for you, not an accident of delivery volume. Flat monthly cost, no commission per order, and every corporate contact stays in your system.
How much commission does Grubhub charge restaurants?
Grubhub publishes its rates, which is more than most platforms do. Its pricing guide lists three marketing plans: Basic at as low as 5%, Plus at as low as 10%, and Premium at as low as 15%, each excluding delivery. Grubhub's own FAQ describes marketing commission as ranging from 5% to 20%. On top of the marketing commission there is a stated 10% delivery fee when Grubhub delivers, and payment processing of approximately 3.05% plus 30 cents per order. New York City is priced separately because of local fee cap legislation, with Grubhub publishing Basic at 5%, Plus at 15%, and All-Access at 20% for that market. Higher blended figures circulate on third-party blogs; we could not verify them against Grubhub's own published pricing, so we do not repeat them. Your signed agreement is the authoritative source for your restaurant.
Run the numbers on catering-sized tickets and the model shows its shape. At the published Premium rate of 15% plus roughly 3.05% processing, a $5,000 corporate order gives up about $900 before you account for delivery. At Grubhub's stated 5% Basic tier plus processing, the same order gives up roughly $400. Either way the cost rises every time the ticket does. Catering Funnels charges $747 a month on the Delivery plan whether you book one corporate order or one hundred. A restaurant doing $20,000 a month in corporate catering would give up somewhere between roughly $1,600 and $3,600 a month on the published Grubhub tiers depending on plan and delivery arrangement, against a fixed $747 that does not move with volume.
How does Grubhub work for restaurants?
Restaurants list on the Grubhub marketplace and pay a marketing commission on orders that come through it, choosing between published plan tiers that trade a higher commission for more visibility. Delivery can be handled by Grubhub drivers for an additional stated 10% fee, or by the restaurant itself. Corporate ordering runs through Grubhub for Business, which serves companies with employee meal benefits, group ordering, and catering. Grubhub's catering offering is real, covering buffet-style platters through individually packaged meals with day-of staffing available, but it sits alongside a business whose core is consumer delivery rather than event catering.
A note on Seamless, since it comes up constantly: Seamless was not retired. It was relaunched in April 2025 under Wonder as Grubhub's primary brand in New York City. It runs on the same platform and the same underlying commission structure, so a restaurant comparing ezCater to Seamless is really comparing a corporate catering marketplace to a consumer delivery marketplace with a corporate arm. On ownership: Grubhub was acquired by Just Eat Takeaway in June 2021 and then by Wonder in January 2025 at an enterprise value of $650M.
Side-by-side
| Feature | Grubhub | Catering Funnels |
|---|---|---|
| What it actually is | Delivery marketplace with a corporate arm, Grubhub for Business | Corporate catering sales and follow-up system |
| Pricing model | Marketing commission per order, by plan tier, plus delivery and processing | Flat monthly subscription, no per-order cut |
| Published commission tiers | Per Grubhub's own pricing guide: Basic as low as 5%, Plus as low as 10%, Premium as low as 15%, each excluding delivery. Its FAQ describes marketing commission ranging from 5% to 20%. | 0% on every order, at any volume |
| Other stated fees | A 10% delivery fee and approximately 3.05% plus 30 cents in processing, per Grubhub's published pricing | Your own merchant processing at your own rate |
| NYC pricing | Priced separately under NYC fee cap rules. Grubhub publishes Basic at 5%, Plus at 15%, and All-Access at 20% for that market. | Same flat subscription in every market |
| Catering capability | Real but secondary. Grubhub for Business covers buffet-style platters through individually packaged meals, with day-of staffing available. | Purpose-built for catering, which is the only thing it does |
| Customer ownership | Marketplace orders stay with the marketplace. Grubhub Direct, its own-site ordering product, does give restaurants customer data. | You own every contact, always |
| Long-term economics | Cost scales with revenue, forever | Cost is fixed regardless of order volume |
Delivery marketplace with a corporate arm, Grubhub for Business
Corporate catering sales and follow-up system
Marketing commission per order, by plan tier, plus delivery and processing
Flat monthly subscription, no per-order cut
Per Grubhub's own pricing guide: Basic as low as 5%, Plus as low as 10%, Premium as low as 15%, each excluding delivery. Its FAQ describes marketing commission ranging from 5% to 20%.
0% on every order, at any volume
A 10% delivery fee and approximately 3.05% plus 30 cents in processing, per Grubhub's published pricing
Your own merchant processing at your own rate
Priced separately under NYC fee cap rules. Grubhub publishes Basic at 5%, Plus at 15%, and All-Access at 20% for that market.
Same flat subscription in every market
Real but secondary. Grubhub for Business covers buffet-style platters through individually packaged meals, with day-of staffing available.
Purpose-built for catering, which is the only thing it does
Marketplace orders stay with the marketplace. Grubhub Direct, its own-site ordering product, does give restaurants customer data.
You own every contact, always
Cost scales with revenue, forever
Cost is fixed regardless of order volume
Where Grubhub shines
Grubhub is one of the largest food ordering platforms in the country and it earns that position. Three things it genuinely does well:
Enormous existing demand
Grubhub has millions of consumers already ordering, plus corporate accounts running employee meal programs through Grubhub for Business. You do not have to create demand, only capture some of what is already flowing through the platform in your area.
Transparent, tiered, published pricing
Credit where it is due. Grubhub publishes its commission tiers openly, which most players in this space do not. You can read Basic, Plus, and Premium rates before you sign anything, and you can pick a lower commission tier if you do not need the marketing exposure that comes with the higher ones.
Grubhub Direct returns customer data
Grubhub Direct lets restaurants take orders through their own branded site, and unlike the marketplace it gives the restaurant the customer data. If you are going to be on Grubhub anyway, that product materially improves the ownership problem, and it is worth asking about.
Where Catering Funnels wins
Grubhub is a delivery business that also handles corporate orders. Catering Funnels only does corporate catering. Three differences that follow from that:
Commission compounds against you on large orders
A 15% commission on a $22 delivery order is $3.30. The same rate on a $5,000 corporate order is $750. Percentage pricing was designed for small consumer tickets and it becomes very expensive when the tickets are catering-sized. That is the whole argument in one line.
Corporate catering is demand creation, not demand capture
The marketplace makes you findable to people already looking. Most corporate catering does not start with a search. It starts when someone at a company needs to feed 40 people and reaches for a caterer they know. Getting into that position takes outreach and follow-up, which is what Catering Funnels runs.
You keep the corporate contact
The value of a corporate account is the twelfth order, not the first. Marketplace orders do not hand you the contact, so the twelfth order also pays commission. When you book the account directly, you have the buyer's phone number and every reorder is worth full margin.
Who should pick which
- Want consumer delivery volume, with corporate orders as an occasional bonus
- Have no capacity for outbound sales or follow-up
- Are in a market where Grubhub or Seamless has dense corporate adoption
- Are willing to pay a percentage on every order in exchange for that distribution
- Treat corporate catering as a real revenue line rather than incidental orders
- Are regularly quoting orders large enough that a percentage genuinely hurts
- Want to reach companies that will never find you through a delivery app
- Want repeat corporate revenue at full margin instead of commissioned every time
Most restaurants keep Grubhub running. It is delivery infrastructure and it captures demand you would not otherwise see. The move is to stop treating it as your corporate catering strategy and to build a direct pipeline alongside it, so the large orders come to you without a percentage attached.
Common questions
Catering Funnels vs Grubhub: questions we get
How much commission does Grubhub charge restaurants?
Grubhub's published pricing lists three marketing plans: Basic at as low as 5%, Plus at as low as 10%, and Premium at as low as 15%, each excluding delivery, and its FAQ describes marketing commission ranging from 5% to 20%. Add a stated 10% delivery fee when Grubhub delivers and approximately 3.05% plus 30 cents in payment processing. New York City is priced separately under local fee cap rules. Higher blended figures on third-party blogs do not match Grubhub's own published pricing. Your agreement governs your account.
Does Grubhub do catering?
Yes, through Grubhub for Business. It covers buffet-style platters through individually packaged meals and offers day-of staffing. The capability is real, though catering sits alongside a business whose core is consumer delivery, so it does not have the depth of specification and event handling you get from a catering-first marketplace.
Is Seamless still around, and how does it compare to ezCater?
Seamless was not retired. It was relaunched in April 2025 under Wonder as Grubhub's primary brand in New York City, running on the same platform and the same underlying commission structure. Comparing ezCater to Seamless means comparing a corporate catering marketplace, where buyers search specifically for event catering, to a consumer delivery marketplace with a corporate arm. For catering-sized orders they are different products with different fee shapes. See our ezCater comparison for that side of it.
Who owns Grubhub now?
Wonder. Grubhub was acquired by Just Eat Takeaway in June 2021, then acquired by Wonder in January 2025 at an enterprise value of $650M. Seamless was relaunched under Wonder in April 2025 as Grubhub's primary New York City brand.
Why is commission worse on catering orders than delivery orders?
Because the fee is a percentage and catering tickets are much larger. At a 15% marketing commission, a $22 delivery order costs $3.30 while a $5,000 corporate order costs $750 before processing and delivery. Percentage pricing was designed around small consumer tickets. It scales in a way that gets expensive fast once your orders are catering-sized.
Does Grubhub give restaurants their customer data?
It depends on the product. Marketplace orders keep the customer relationship with the marketplace. Grubhub Direct, which powers ordering on a restaurant's own branded site, does give the restaurant the customer data. If you are on Grubhub anyway, Grubhub Direct is worth asking about because it addresses the ownership problem directly. Grubhub's current published terms are the source of truth.
Can I use Grubhub and Catering Funnels at the same time?
Yes, and most restaurants should. Grubhub is delivery infrastructure that captures demand already searching for you. Catering Funnels handles outbound outreach, AI follow-up, and lifecycle nurture for corporate accounts, which is demand the marketplace never puts in front of you. They do not compete for the same orders.
What is the best alternative to Grubhub for corporate catering?
If you want a catering-specific marketplace, ezCater is the largest and CaterCow serves a similar function. DoorDash also runs a catering and business offering. For workplace meal programs specifically, Fooda, ZeroCater, and Sharebite each approach it differently. If you want to stop paying a percentage on catering-sized tickets and hold the corporate accounts yourself, a flat-rate system like Catering Funnels is the structural alternative.
Paying a percentage on catering-sized orders?
30-minute strategy call. No pitch. Bring your last three months of corporate orders and we will show you what the commission actually cost against a flat monthly rate.
Book a free strategy callNot ready to talk yet? Read the guide to getting corporate catering clients first.