Prep Station
For catering delivery
Price the road before checkout Not after delivery eats the margin
Prep Station calculates catering delivery by flat fee, service area, drawn zone, or driving distance. Customers see the charge before they commit; you keep minimums, range, and free-delivery offers under control.
No credit card required · Per-location rules · Cancel anytime
Delivery Fees
Pricing for orders fulfilled out of Downtown Kitchen
Calculation method
Zone pricing
- Downtown
- $25.00
- Midtown
- $45.00
- Outer zone
- $75.00
Shared options
- Minimum order
- $250.00
- Free delivery
- $2,500.00
Fee preview
Test an address against saved settings for Downtown Kitchen.
Delivery address
480 S Spring St, Los Angeles
Order subtotal
$1,677.00
Calculation method
Zone · Midtown
Available
$45.00
This address matches the Midtown delivery zone.
Why use a delivery fee engine
01
Protect delivery margin
Charge for the route you actually serve instead of hiding every drive inside menu prices.
02
Set the promise early
Show the fee, delivery minimum, or service-area limit before a customer commits.
03
Reward the right orders
Offer free delivery above the subtotal that makes sense for each area, zone, or distance band.
No credit card for the live demo
Preview a saved rule against an address
Cancel anytime
A flat guess works until the route does not. Downtown loading and a 30-mile drop are different jobs.
Catering delivery has real labor, mileage, and service-area limits. Price it deliberately so a small far-away order cannot erase the margin you protected in the kitchen.
Take delivery seriously
The fee belongs on the quote and checkout, not in a manager’s calculator after the customer already said yes.
Four pricing methods
Match the fee to how your market works
Choose one method per location. Prep Station resolves the destination, applies the matching rule, then keeps the calculated fee on the order as totals change.
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01
Flat
One consistent charge for every delivery from the location.
-
02
Area
Prioritized rules for ZIP, city, county, state, or country.
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03
Zone
Draw service polygons and set the fee for each boundary.
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04
Distance
Price driving miles or kilometers with included distance and caps.
Try each pricing method with a real catering order in the live demo.
Delivery Fees
Pricing for orders fulfilled out of Downtown Kitchen
Calculation method
Flat
$35
Area
3 areas
Zone
4 zones
Distance
$2.50/mi
Driving distance
Distance-based fees
- Base fee
- $18.00
- Free distance
- 3 miles
- Minimum billable
- 2 miles
- Max delivery distance
- 30 miles
- Distance rounding
- Nearest 0.5
Shared options
- Minimum delivery fee
- $18.00
- Minimum order
- $250.00
Free delivery by distance
$500+ Up to 15 mi
$850+ And beyond
No offer
Margin guardrails
Minimums, fee floors, and range limits
Delivery economics change with order size and distance. Set a minimum order subtotal, enforce a minimum fee, cap the service range, and decide where free delivery still makes business sense.
- Minimum order checked after the address is confirmed serviceable
- Free-delivery overrides by area, zone, or distance band
- Pickup automatically skips the delivery calculation
Test before launch
Preview an address against saved rules
Enter a destination and subtotal in delivery settings. Prep Station runs the same geocoding and fee calculation used by a real order, so managers can sanity-check boundaries, distance, minimums, and free-delivery offers.
- Clear result for matched area, zone, or driving distance
- Clear reason when an address is outside the service range
- Shows the would-be fee when only the order minimum blocks delivery
Fee preview
Test an address against saved settings for Downtown Kitchen.
Delivery address
1200 Getty Center Dr, Los Angeles, CA
Order subtotal
$420.00
Calculation method
Zone · Westside
Delivery available
$65.00
This address matches the Westside delivery zone.
Add $330.00 more to qualify for free delivery in this zone.
- Zone
- Westside
- Tested subtotal
- $420.00
- Free delivery over
- $750.00
The route is part of the job
Deliver the event without giving away the drive
The customer sees a clear fee. Sales keeps the quote honest. The kitchen still gets one order ready for the promised handoff.
One fee from quote to checkout
Staff preview delivery while building sales orders and quotes. Customers see it before payment on your online storefront. See pricing for plans.
Questions catering teams ask
Straight answers about delivery rules, service areas, and fee previews.
How can Prep Station calculate a delivery fee?
Four ways: one flat fee, the first matching area rule, the first matching drawn zone, or driving distance from the kitchen. Each location uses one calculation method at a time.
Can fees differ by ZIP code or city?
Yes. Area rules can match postal code, city, county, state, or country. Put rules in priority order and Prep Station uses the first active match.
Can we draw our own delivery zones?
Yes. Draw polygon delivery zones around the areas you serve, set a fee for each zone, and order them by priority. Addresses outside every active zone are marked unavailable.
How does distance-based pricing work?
Prep Station uses Google Maps driving distance from the kitchen or a custom origin. You can set included distance, a per-mile or per-kilometer rate, rounding, a minimum billable distance, and a maximum range.
Can we offer free delivery only on larger orders?
Yes. Set a shared free-delivery subtotal, override it for an area or zone, or use different thresholds for distance bands. The threshold applies after order discounts.
Does pickup receive a delivery fee?
No. Pickup returns a zero delivery fee. Delivery and pickup remain separate fulfillment choices.
When does the customer see the fee?
Before committing. Prep Station previews the delivery fee on quotes and at storefront checkout, along with a clear message when the order is below the delivery minimum or outside the service area.
Prep Station
Price delivery before the customer commits
Try flat, area, zone, and distance rules. Preview the fee, protect the minimum, and show the charge on the same catering order.
No credit card required · Cancel anytime