Track your Catering Packaging Fee in CaterZen's reports, adjust it on individual orders, and understand how it's taxed.

Overview

Once the Catering Packaging Fee is active on your orders, you may want to know where to find it in reporting, how to adjust it on an individual order, and how sales tax applies to it. This article covers all three so you can manage the fee with confidence.


Important: This article assumes you are using CaterPay and that the Catering Packaging Fee has already been enabled and configured for your account. If not, Setting Up the Catering Packaging Fee in CaterZen.

Table of Contents

Finding the Fee in Reports

Sales Journal Report

  • In the Manager area, go to Accounting.
  • Open the Sales Journal report.
  • You'll see Catering Packaging Fees listed as a column — giving you a clear view of all tickets where the fee was applied and the amounts collected.
  • When you export the Sales Journal, the Catering Packaging Fees column is included in both the PDF export and the standard data export.

Order List Report

  • In the Manager area, go to Reports.
  • Open the Order List report.
  • A dedicated Catering Packaging Fee column is now included, so you can see at a glance which orders had the fee applied and how much was charged.

Tip: Use the Order List report to quickly review which orders did and did not have the Catering Packaging Fee applied, especially when you are first rolling out the feature.

Editing the Fee on an Individual Order

You can adjust the Catering Packaging Fee on an individual order without changing your account-wide settings

  • Open the order you want to edit.
  • Locate the Catering Packaging Fee field on the order entry screen.
  • To adjust by percentage, enter the new percentage. The dollar amount will update automatically.
  • To adjust by dollar amount, enter the new amount. The percentage field will update automatically.
  • Click Save Changes.

Important: Changes made here apply only to that order. Your account-wide fee settings remain unchanged.

Tracking Changes in the Ticket Audit Log

Any changes made to the Catering Packaging Fee on an order, including edits to the percentage or dollar amount, are recorded automatically.

  • Open the relevant order.
  • Navigate to the Ticket Audit Log.
  • You'll see a timestamped record of any Catering Packaging Fee changes, including who made the change and what it was updated to.

Tip: The audit log is helpful for accountability and resolving any customer questions about fee adjustments after the fact.

How Sales Tax Applies to the Fee

You do not need to configure sales tax separately for the Catering Packaging Fee. It follows the same sales tax rules as your Service Fee.

  • In the Admin area, go to Sales Tax > Sales Categories.
  • Review the tax rates applied to the Service Fees category.
  • Those same tax rates automatically apply to the Catering Packaging Fee.

No additional setup is required.


Important: If you update your service fee sales tax rates, those changes will apply to the Catering Packaging Fee automatically.

FAQ

Q: Can I remove the Catering Packaging Fee from a specific order entirely? 

A: Yes — you can set the fee to zero on a per-order basis by editing the fee amount directly on the order. [NEEDS CLARIFICATION: confirm whether the fee field can be set to $0 or if it must be removed another way]


Q: Will the Catering Packaging Fee show up in my existing sales tax reports? 

A: Yes. Because the fee inherits your service fee tax rules, it flows through the same tax categories and will appear in your existing sales tax reporting accordingly.


Q: Is the fee tracked differently if I edit it per-order versus applying the account-wide rate? 

A: The final fee amount and any edits are what appear in your reports — the audit log will show when a per-order adjustment was made, so you have a clear record of any deviations from the standard rate.

Conclusion

With the Catering Packaging Fee included in your Sales Journal and Order List reports, you have a clear way to track how it is being used and what is being collected. The ability to adjust the fee on individual orders gives you flexibility when needed, while the Ticket Audit Log helps you keep a record of any changes. Because the fee also follows your existing service fee tax settings, it is simple to manage once it is in place.

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Support

For additional help, refer to the CaterZen Support Center or contact our CaterZen Support Team.


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