EzCater
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Catering, Food service |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Founder | Stefania Mallett, Briscoe Rodgers |
| Headquarters | Boston , United States |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Stefania Mallett (CEO), Briscoe Rodgers (Chief Strategy Officer) |
| Products | Online marketplace for corporate catering orders |
Number of employees | Over 400 (before layoffs in 2020) |
| Website | ezcater |
ezCater is a company headquartered in Boston that serves as an online marketplace connecting businesses with restaurants and catering providers. Established in 2007 by CEO Stefania Mallett and Chief Strategy Officer Briscoe Rodgers, ezCater has evolved into a prominent platform within the catering sector.
Method
The ezCater platform facilitates connections between corporate clients, sales teams, and local restaurants or caterers. Businesses can explore menus and submit orders for events or meetings. To participate, restaurants are required to offer specialized catering menus and maintain an online presence. The platform features a network of more than 75,000 restaurants and caterers, utilizing proprietary software to manage orders and coordinate deliveries.
Additional functionalities include storing receipts, tracking past orders, and implementing company-wide ordering controls such as budget limits and tipping guidelines. Once orders are placed, ezCater oversees the fulfillment process to guarantee timely and efficient delivery.
This approach enables ezCater to expand its share in the corporate catering market by simplifying ordering procedures and logistics, thereby improving operational effectiveness for both clients and catering partners.
History
In 2011, founders Mallett and Rodgers obtained $2.7 million through Series A funding. By 2018, the company secured $100 million in a funding round led by Wellington Management Company, with contributions from ICONIQ Capital and Insight Venture Partners. This brought total funds raised to $170 million and established a valuation of $700 million.
In 2017, ezCater collaborated with JLL to provide meals for Feeding America, delivering over one million meals to date. The company broadened its market reach in 2019 by acquiring Monkey Group, a cloud-based platform specializing in takeout, delivery, and catering services. That same year, a $150 million Series D-1 financing round valued ezCater at $1.25 billion.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 resulted in layoffs exceeding 400 employees across various offices. In response, ezCater introduced Relish by ezCater, an application allowing employees to order individually packaged meals from local eateries, reducing contact while supporting remote and hybrid work models. In December 2020, ezCater teamed up with Subway to launch an online catering service.
July 2021 marked the debut of the company’s first television advertisements, emphasizing food as a motivational tool to encourage employees’ return to office settings following the pandemic. By December 2021, a $100 million Series D-2 funding round led by SoftBank raised ezCater’s valuation to $1.6 billion, underscoring its robust financial health and growth prospects as it prepared for an initial public offering.