Workplace Catering Becomes The New Frontier For Third Party Ordering And Deliver Services

As the restaurant industry continues to climb out of the deep Covid sinkhole over the last three years, it is essential to note that technology has played a big part in its recovery.

As more and more workers return to the office, the opportunity for “office catering” has taken on a new point of entry, third-party ordering platforms. Unlike Doordash and Uber, office catering platforms focus on the needs and unique challenges that catering for an office meeting, board presentation, employee benefits event, or other office-related catered event presents.

Franchisors and their franchised outlets are particularly interesting to these platforms because consumers are often connected to a brand they use outside the work environment. In addition, as a lasting effect of the pandemic, many consumers have embraced and now regularly use third-party ordering apps.

Today we’ll look closer at the office catering needs and how one such third-party platform, ezCater, addresses these needs and capitalizes on this growing space.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike O’Hanlon, the Chief Partnership Officer of ezCater, on my PodCast – Mastermind Minutes a few months ago. The topic warranted some further information for my readers here.

Mike O’Hanlon has over 20 years of experience in eCommerce general management, business development, partnerships, and investment banking. Mike joined ezCater in 2018 and manages relationships with over 100,000 restaurants and caterers. Previously at Wayfair, Mike spent 12 years as VP of Corporate and Business Development. He developed key strategic partnerships with online marketplaces such as Amazon, Walmart, Staples, and Tesco, media companies such as Hearst, Time, and Conde Nast, and leading consumer brands such as Sherwin-Williams and Mastercard. Prior to Wayfair, Mike spent 11 years as an investment banker and six years as a submarine officer in the U.S. Navy. He earned an M.B.A. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Gary Occhiogrosso: Please tell us a bit more about ezCater – including the business model and offerings, audience, and key differentiators.

Mike O’Hanlon: ezCater is a leading technology platform purpose-built for food for work. We’re a two-sided marketplace that connects millions of people nationwide who need food for their workplace with over 100,000 restaurant partners, ranging from independent local restaurants to national chains and franchises like Subway and Smashburger.

With ezCater, businesses can reliably place large orders online for everything from one-off meetings to recurring employee meals while having complete visibility and control over their food spend in one centralized location. On top of offering a great variety of restaurants to choose from, our customers get 24/7 customer service from a live human. We’ve got your back and are behind your order all the way, making sure your food arrives on time and as ordered.

For our restaurants, ezCater’s Catering Growth Platform is designed to help them get incremental catering orders and manage their catering operations.

GO: Why are corporate catering orders so valuable to franchise restaurants? What makes these orders important?

MO: There are a few key reasons that catering orders are valuable to franchise restaurants today:

First, we bring restaurants large, valuable orders, and our partners tell us that most of these orders are incremental. In fact, the average value of an ezCater order is over $350. Catering orders are also more profitable than other off-premise orders. Take Smashburger, for example. In just the first few months with ezCater, they generated in excess of $2.5 million in catering sales, growing catering from 2% to 4% of their overall business. A hundred percent of the orders they receive from us are incremental. Secondly, catering is a lucrative marketing channel for restaurants to acquire high-value, repeat customers.

Gracie Prasanson, Vice President of Sales at Jason’s Deli, told us, “Our average catering order serves 21 people. It only takes one person to order catering from you to get your brand in front of 20+ people who may not have had Jason’s Deli before. Third, catering can help offset labor shortages. Because catering orders tend to be received in advance and can be made during off-peak hours, they bring in additional revenue efficiently without diverting staff from the restaurant’s busiest times of the day. In today’s tough labor market, this is hugely beneficial.”

GO: How does ezCater help restaurants grow their catering business? From an operations standpoint, what kind of offerings does ezCater have for franchises to help manage demand and their overall catering business?

MO: Business catering is different. Restaurants require different menus, operations, and technology to manage their catering business. No matter where a restaurant falls in its catering journey – whether they are just starting a program or looking to optimize it – ezCater can help. Restaurants are able to select which products and services best fit their needs and help fill any operational capacity constraints.

GO: It appears several programs are offered. Can you elaborate on each one?

MO: The ezCater Catering Growth Platform is designed to help restaurants get incremental catering orders and manage their catering operations. It combines the ezCater Marketplace with best-in-class online ordering and catering management software and reliable delivery solutions, and award-winning customer service.

With ezOrdering, partners get an online ordering experience purpose-built for catering to use on their own site. Because catering menus, options, and sizes of orders are different from a la carte restaurant orders, catering requires a distinct and easy online ordering experience.

Catering management software: Catering execution and sales are operationally different. Orders happen in advance and can be for hundreds of people. ezCater’s catering management software solutions, ezManage, and MSI provide our partners with specialized tools to track, prep, and execute these orders and manage their relationships with high-value customers.

ezDispatch connects restaurants with local, reliable delivery partners in their area, perfect for restaurants that don’t have delivery drivers or have more orders than they can deliver on their own. We vet all delivery partners and provide customer support to ensure on-time, successful delivery, which is essential given the high-stakes nature of business catering orders.

GO: How does ezCater compare to other offerings on the market? What makes ezCater the best platform for franchises looking to expand their catering business?

MO: Food for work is different from consumer delivery. It’s complex and high stakes. It requires different menus for larger groups, distinct expense management and invoicing capabilities, and access to a higher level of customer service than consumer marketplaces. We are exclusively focused on customers solving for food for work, a category which includes all food ordered and consumed in the workplace. There is no other corporate food tech platform with our nationwide scale that is purpose-built for food for work. All other corporate food tech platforms are regional or much smaller in scale.

GO: What are some examples of franchises on the ezCater Marketplace? What makes for a successful partnership?

MO: We have over 100,000 restaurants on the ezCater platform, ranging from local and regional favorites to the largest chains. Most recently, we expanded our partnership with Bloomin’ Brands to bring all of the company’s brands onto the ezCater Marketplace. Organizations nationwide can now order catering from more than 1,000 Bloomin’ Brands restaurant locations, including Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, and Aussie Grill by Outback. Smashburger recently turned to ezCater to launch their catering program and has scaled from 30 locations to over 170 within four months. We were instrumental in helping design their catering menu, pulling from data on what sells best, underserved categories, dietary restrictions, and more. In doing so, Smashburger has seen an increase in sales without having to add to its workforce. Subway is another recent success story. Again, we helped refresh their catering program and brought them to the ezCater Marketplace and into workplaces nationwide.

GO: What are some broader menu and ordering trends you’re seeing in catering orders from franchises? How is ezCater helping their restaurant partners lean in?

MO: As more organizations started to head back into the office, the demand for catered lunches increased and served as an incentive for employees to leave their homes and commute to the office. Our 2022 Lunch Report found that free lunch is the second most preferred work perk outside of extra vacation days. As a result, restaurant franchises are trying to capitalize on the opportunity and make up for lost time during the pandemic.

We keep a pulse of what people like to eat in the workplace and use those findings to help our restaurant partners adapt their menu accordingly. This year, we expect to see the following food trends: Menu variety; while classic meals like pizza and sandwiches will never go out of style, more diverse catering menus will surge in popularity. Booming bowls; we saw the rise of bowl meals in 2022 with big names like Papa Johns offering all-in-one dishes, but even more restaurants are planning to expand into the space this year. Also, more grains may have their time in the spotlight this year. They’re cost-effective, and with rising food costs, restaurants may lean into grains due to high-profit margins.

GO: When restaurants partner with ezCater, what is the financial arrangement? How does ezCater provide marketing support to its restaurant partners?

MO: ezCater receives a commission on all orders that are placed on our platform. It is worthwhile to restaurants because the orders we send them are large and profitable, and our partners tell us that a lot is incremental. We also help our restaurant partners with marketing support, industry expertise, and strategic guidance to help them grow their catering business.

We create buzz about why food for work is important and generate business catering demand with our robust marketing function. We reach high-value catering customers through a wide variety of paid, owned, and earned channels, and we also highlight our restaurant partners on social media and our blog, through public relations, and in email. With all this marketing support, our restaurant partners are exposed to customers they often can’t reach by themselves.”

GO: When customers order from ezCater, who delivers the food?

MO: The majority of our restaurant partners deliver orders themselves. But for those that can’t or need additional capacity, we connect them with local, reliable delivery partners in their area through our ezDispatch service. We vet all delivery partners and provide customer service support along the way to ensure timely and successful delivery, given the high-stakes nature of food for work.

Conclusion

We will see more of these user-specific platforms as time goes on. And why not? In a marketing world that has become obsessed with geo-targeting, relevant eyeballs, and persona engagement, it stands to reason that we have only scratched the surface of many new and untapped markets in the third-party ordering and delivery business.