FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

way.food is the direct-booking platform for event catering: enter date, location and guest count, instantly compare matching providers at transparent prices, and book online with a protected deposit. No PDFs, no phone calls, no back-and-forth for weeks — your reservation is binding immediately.

Three steps:

1. Pick a package on the provider profile or directly from the Discover results.
2. In the checkout drawer, confirm the address, guest count and event type, then pay the deposit securely with card, Klarna or PayPal.
3. You'll receive your booking confirmation by email immediately — with full details and your payment plan (deposit now, balance collected online via way.food ahead of the event).

If no listed package fits, you can negotiate a custom package through the chat (see below).

This line sits next to every price so you always see one total — no surprises. It bundles way.food's brokering and protection services: secure online payment via our payment provider Stripe, payout to the provider only after the event, clear cancellation tiers and dispute mediation. You pay exactly what you see — no hidden add-ons afterwards.

You pay a 30 % deposit of the total price when you book (on very small bookings it can be a little higher — the exact amount is always shown at checkout); way.food then automatically collects the balance about four weeks before the event. If your event is less than four weeks away, the full amount is due right away. If it is more than 90 days away, you first book as a binding reservation with no immediate payment — the 30 % deposit then falls due 90 days before the event. All payments are handled securely via our payment provider Stripe; the payout to the provider only happens after the event. The transparent cancellation tiers apply if plans change.

The balance (total price minus deposit) is collected automatically online by way.food — usually around four weeks before the event via a payment link. If your event is less than four weeks away, you already pay the full amount at booking. Your confirmation email and the chat show the payment plan in plain text. The entire payment runs securely through the platform — nothing to settle in cash on site.

You can cancel free of charge within 24 hours of your payment, provided the event is then still at least 72 hours away — 100 % back. A reservation on which no deposit has been collected yet can be released free of charge at any time anyway. After that, the cancellation fee depends on how far out the event is: the closer the date, the higher the fee.

• 30+ days before the event: lowest fee, highest refund
• 14–29 days before the event: medium fee
• 7–13 days before the event: higher fee
• 0–6 days before the event: no refund

You always see the exact cancellation amount and your refund before you confirm — as one cancellation fee and one refund, clear and with no small print. The exact tiers are in the terms.

For recognised force-majeure cases special rules usually apply instead of the regular cancellation tiers. Examples of how a case can end: 50 % refund plus a 50 % voucher on illness with a doctor's note, 100 % refund on official bans, free re-booking when an outdoor event is hit by an official weather warning. These are not fixed rates — every hardship case is reviewed individually and decided by a way.food agent. You submit proof inside the cancellation flow.

If no listed package matches your event, you can request a custom package. Briefly describe what you're looking for in the chat — the provider negotiates menu, scope and price with you and sends a binding offer as a card right in the chat. One click on "Accept & book" takes you to the regular checkout. During the negotiation the provider stays bookable for others — whoever books bindingly first gets the date. As soon as you accept the offer and complete the checkout, the date is firmly reserved for you — for events more than 90 days away already as a reservation, with no immediate payment.

The fastest path is the booking wizard at the top of the page — three steps: when, where, how many guests. The Discover page then shows all matching providers with package prices, ratings and live availability. Filters (cuisine, prep style like vegan/halal, way.food styles) help refine. Premium providers are visually highlighted — verified by way.food and especially active.

Premium and Premium+ providers carry a visible badge on their card and profile. They are verified by way.food, particularly active, respond quickly, and rank higher on Discover. Premium+ gets an even more prominent card treatment. Free and Basic providers are fully bookable too — the tier badge signals extra engagement and service level.

You'll find all your bookings — including chat, invoices and status — in the dashboard of your free account, which is also what you book with. In addition, you receive an email with all details and a direct link to your booking after every booking.

No. way.food is free for organisers — search, compare and book without limits. Service & platform protection are already included in the displayed total; there are no additional membership or booking fees from us for you.

Registration is free and takes under 5 minutes. Click Register for free and fill in the form. Then:

1. Confirm your email.
2. Set up your profile — photos, description, location.
3. Create packages and add-ons (or start with the automatic "Custom package" placeholder so you're bookable straight away).
4. Optional: pick a plan to unlock extra visibility (top placement on the map and in Discover, Premium badge).

Even on the free tier you get your own public profile page and are fully bookable through Direct Booking. A plan boosts your reach and placement — no longer the existence of the profile.

Yes — listed for free, with your own profile page and fully bookable.

• Included on Free: your packages appear in search, Discover and on the map, you get your own public profile page, and organizers can book you directly and negotiate in the chat.
• Added with a plan: better placement in Discover and on the map (paid tiers always rank ahead of Free), more reach, plus the Premium badge and further features.

In short: registering for free is enough to receive bookings with your own profile. A plan improves your placement and with it your reach — the fee is the same across all tiers.

Your plan only determines your placement — not your fee:

• Free — free · own profile page, listed in search, Discover and on the map, fully bookable.
• Basic — better placement in Discover and on the map.
• Premium — Premium badge, better Discover placement, extended media gallery, priority support.
• Premium+ — Premium+ badge, prominent card treatment, festival access, B2B sales support & job brokering.

Current prices for your region are on the pricing page — billed monthly or yearly (yearly saves around 20 %).

Important: your plan does not affect your earnings — you receive 100 % of your calculated net package price (see next FAQ). Plans differ only in placement, reach and features: every tier is listed in search, Discover and on the map, but paid tiers always rank ahead of Free. You can see the exact settlement per booking in your way.food remuneration statement in the dashboard.

Yes — you receive 100 % of your calculated net package price.

Our fee and the platform-protection service are already included in the displayed "incl. service & platform protection" total and are not deducted from your net: on a net of, say, 2,000 € your calculated net stays 2,000 €. You will find the full per-booking breakdown — including the VAT treatment for standard-taxed and small-business providers — in your way.food remuneration statement in the dashboard.

The model works like Booking.com or Airbnb: one clear total displayed externally, your net stays 100 % with you.

You receive your calculated net price in full (100 %) — our fee is never deducted from your earnings. For our fee we issue you a separate invoice with 19 % VAT. If you are standard-rated, you reclaim that VAT as input tax — so the whole thing is completely neutral for you. As a small business (§ 19 German VAT act) you cannot deduct input tax — as with any business purchase — so the VAT on our fee remains a cost with you.

For each booking the customer pays a 30 % deposit of the total price online; way.food collects the balance automatically around four weeks before the event (for short-notice bookings, the full amount right away). If the event is more than 90 days away, the booking starts as a binding reservation — your date is already held, but the deposit is only collected 90 days before the event. way.food handles the entire payment securely. Your share is credited to your connected Stripe account with the payment; you can only draw on it once way.food releases the payout. When that happens depends purely on what the customer does after the event:

• The customer confirms the event ("Everything was fine") or leaves a review → released 24 hours later.
• The customer does not respond → released 14 days after the event.
• The customer reports a problem first → the release waits until the case is settled, then follows 24 hours later.

Once the customer has confirmed the event, your release is final — a later support matter no longer holds it back.

A dedicated "Your payout" block appears in the chat sidebar as soon as the deposit is paid — fully transparent per booking.

In the provider dashboard under "Packages" you set up structured packages: duration, service style (all-you-can-eat or portions), staff tiers by guest count, travel rate, vehicle rental and price per person. way.food then computes the booking total automatically.

You can list up to 10 packages and 15 add-ons per concept. Reorder packages by drag-and-drop — the top ones show first on your profile and in the checkout package picker.

If a customer cancels after the 24-hour window, part of your share is yours to keep depending on how close the event is — up to 100 % of your share for a cancellation less than 7 days out. way.food collects and pays out this share to you, guaranteed, regardless of the customer's ability to pay. The platform's cancellation tiers conclusively settle your statutory claim under § 648 German Civil Code — so you don't pursue anything separately with the customer; way.food does not collect claims against the customer or forward customer data for that purpose. In genuine hardship cases the opening clause applies on top.

Every provider gets an automatic "Custom package" placeholder that appears on Discover as "Price on request". When a customer requests it, a chat starts: you negotiate menu and scope, then use the same structured price form to send a binding offer with a total and a deposit. The customer clicks "Accept & book" and lands in the regular checkout. The offer is valid for 3 days. Your calendar stays open to others during the negotiation — whoever books bindingly first gets the date, so follow up on your offers quickly and respond fast.

In your concept's calendar you set default opening hours and can block individual days. If you run multiple trucks or teams simultaneously, set the "Parallel slots per day" field accordingly — the calendar then tracks how many slots remain free per day. Only a binding booking consumes a slot — a paid booking or a confirmed reservation (event more than 90 days away). An ongoing chat negotiation blocks nothing — several customers can request the same date in parallel, and whoever books bindingly first gets it. The date is only held briefly while a checkout is in progress.

In the unpaid phase (before the booking is confirmed) do not exchange phone numbers, email addresses or external URLs. Our AI detects this content and blocks the message so the booking is processed cleanly through the platform. This protects everyone — the customer from shady off-platform paths, you from bypass attempts, and the platform from circumvention. After a successful booking, phone and email are visible in the chat's contact panel. Repeated violations trigger an automatic terms warning.

On Free you are fully bookable via Direct Booking — you can list packages, receive bookings, get paid out, and you get your own public profile page. You appear on the map and in the Discover listings — but ranked always below the paid tiers. Not included are top placement on the map and in Discover, the Premium badge, the extended gallery and festival access. The way.food fee is the same on every plan — so Free doesn't cost you a higher fee, it just places you further down. Ideal for a no-commitment start; once you receive regular bookings, a plan pays off for the reach.

The Premium badge signals to visitors that you're a verified Premium provider — vetted by way.food, particularly active, with extended profile and media gallery. Premium providers also rank higher on Discover. Premium+ providers get an extra prominent card treatment and access to festival slots.

If you run multiple concepts (e.g. foodtruck + catering, or several trucks) you set up a separate provider profile for each — a subscription is not required for that; even on the Free tier every profile has its own page and is bookable. That way organisers find you exactly under the category they're looking for, and each profile has its own calendar, packages and reviews. You manage all profiles from the same account.

As a partner you can choose between horizontal ads, square ads and mobile ads, placed prominently on provider profile pages. You also appear in the Partner area visible to all registered providers. Interested? Email us at [email protected].

Your ads are shown specifically to providers and organisers. Thanks to strategic placement on profile pages you reach exactly the people interested in food events — caterers, foodtruck operators, event planners and their customers.

As a partner you benefit from way.food's growing community. We offer various partnership packages tailored to your needs. Drop us a line at [email protected] if you're interested.

Premium partners gain additional visibility through preferred ad placement and can use multiple ad formats in parallel. They also benefit from exclusive analytics and priority support.