Terms of use

By browsing, ordering or selling on homecatering.com.au you agree to these terms and to our privacy policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the platform.

HomeCatering is a marketplace. We give independent home cooks and catering businesses the tools to run their own ordering storefront, and give customers one place to find them.

We are not the seller of the food. When you place an order, your contract for that food is with the kitchen. The kitchen sets its own menu, prices, minimum orders, delivery area and hours, and is responsible for preparing, packaging and handing over the order, for allergen information, and for holding the licences and insurance the law requires.

• You must be 18 or older to order or to open a kitchen.
• Give accurate details, including a phone number and email the kitchen can reach you on, and keep them up to date.
• Keep your password to yourself and tell us straight away if you think someone else has used your account.
• One person per account. Do not share it or pretend to be someone else.
• If your account also runs a kitchen, you can switch between ordering and selling at any time. Each side of the platform has its own rules, and both apply to you.

• Prices are in Australian dollars and are set by the kitchen. They may include GST where the kitchen is registered.
• Delivery fees, minimum order values and delivery distances are set by the kitchen and are shown before you pay.
• Orders for a future date are preorders. The kitchen confirms the date and time you choose, and may need a minimum amount of notice.
• Your order is only accepted when the kitchen confirms it. If a kitchen cannot fill an order, it will cancel it and any payment taken for that order is refunded.
• Promo codes are set by each kitchen, can be withdrawn, and usually cannot be combined.
• Menu items and availability can change. If something you ordered is unavailable, the kitchen will contact you to swap or refund it.

Card payments are processed by Stripe and paid directly to the kitchen's own payment account. HomeCatering does not hold your money and does not take a commission on your order. Some kitchens also accept bank transfer, in which case the order is not confirmed until the kitchen verifies the transfer.

Do not send card details by message or email. If a payment fails or a charge looks wrong, contact the kitchen first, then us.

Each kitchen sets its own cancellation and refund policy for its storefront. Because food is made to order, a kitchen may be unable to refund an order that is already being prepared.

• To change or cancel an order, contact the kitchen as early as you can using the details on your order.
• If something is wrong with your order, tell the kitchen first so they can put it right.
• If you cannot resolve it with the kitchen, contact us and we will look at what happened. Refunds are paid by the kitchen that took the payment.
• Nothing in these terms limits your rights under the Australian Consumer Law, including your right to a remedy if food is not of acceptable quality or does not match its description.

Reviews can only be written for an order you actually received, using the review code from that order. Keep them honest and about your experience. We may remove reviews that are abusive, contain personal information about someone else, or are not about a genuine order.

If you run a kitchen on the platform, you also agree to the following.

• You are an independent business responsible for your own food, staff, premises, equipment, pricing, taxes and records.
• You hold a current food business registration, food safety supervision and public liability insurance where required, and you keep those details and their expiry dates current on your storefront.
• Your storefront, photos, descriptions, allergen and dietary information are accurate and not misleading.
• You honour orders you accept, prepare food safely and legally, and only sell food you are permitted to sell.
• You handle the personal information of your customers, including delivery addresses and dietary details, lawfully and only to fulfil and support their orders.
• Plan fees are a flat monthly amount with no commission on your sales. A plan is activated once your storefront is approved. Details of what each plan includes are on our pricing page.
• You can pause your storefront at any time. Paused kitchens stay visible but cannot take orders while paused.
• You grant us permission to display the content you upload, such as your business name, logo, photos and menu, on the platform and in our marketing of the marketplace. You keep ownership of it.
• We may request changes to your storefront, suspend a kitchen that breaches these terms, or remove one that is not properly registered or insured.

• Do not place fake, abusive or speculative orders, or use the platform to harass a kitchen or a customer.
• Do not scrape, copy or resell platform content, or use it to build a competing directory.
• Do not attempt to break into accounts, interfere with the platform, or get around payment.
• Do not sell or offer anything unlawful, unsafe, or misrepresented as something it is not.

The HomeCatering name, logo and platform code belong to us. Menus, photos, descriptions and reviews belong to the person who posted them. We may show your public storefront content on the site and in marketplace marketing, and may use your review in promotional material, with no payment to you.

We work to keep the marketplace available and accurate, but we do not control the kitchens and cannot guarantee that a storefront is always open, that a menu is always current, or that the platform is free of interruptions.

To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss caused by a kitchen's food, conduct or failure to fulfil an order. Our total liability to you is limited to the platform fees you have paid us in the previous three months. Nothing here excludes a guarantee, right or remedy that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law.

You can close your account at any time. We may suspend or end your access if you breach these terms, if we are required to by law, or if keeping your account open puts other people at risk. Orders already in progress and outstanding payments still need to be settled.

We may update these terms as the platform changes. The current version always applies, and we will post significant changes on the site or email account holders before they take effect.

These terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia, and the courts of New South Wales have jurisdiction over any dispute.

Questions about these terms? Email hello@homecatering.com.au.