9 ms·

ZeroCater (YC W11) is Feeding Silicon Valley

tikhon 14y ago
We were actually the first ZeroCater customer at Scribd, and we now use ZeroCater at Parse too. We're huge fans. They take care of everything -- from making sure the food actually shows up to changing up the menus based on our feedback and handling dietary restrictions. Also with Leslie managing our account we have absolutely incredible customer service -- she responds to every comment we make on the meals on their site. ZC saves us a ton of time so we can focus on our product and not on worrying about what/when to eat. The catered lunch/dinner also gives our team a nice dedicated time to hang out and chat. Congrats Arram and company on this story! Now don't get distracted and forget about my dinner tonight! :-)
46Bit 14y ago
A related note about UI design. I've lately been seeing a lot of ads (mostly on Muni) for both ZeroCater and Cater2 (a competitor http://cater2.me http://cater2.me). What's interesting is how much better the clean ZC style looks compared to Cater2's ... frankly, amateurish resembling-developer-designed logo.
- aMtnViewer 14y ago
  not that interesting. both logos are good.
- Aloisius 14y ago
  We were a ZeroCater customer and actually switched to Cater2.me. Service-wise, they are both pretty much equal with Cater2.me maybe having less repeats and being a little more friendly to special needs (vegans, gluten allergies, etc). Our office manager is on some kind of mailing list for other office managers and said there seemed to be widespread trend of offices switching to Cater2.me.
  - dpiers 14y ago
    We have made significant improvements to our service in regards to repeats and special needs in the last 8 months. We have a dedicated team of food scouts who are constantly searching for new, exciting vendors to send to our clients. Our current repertoire includes over one-hundred of the best, most reliable vendors in the Bay Area. We also keep detailed notes on every company's dietary restrictions and preferences and provide labels for all items that include notes if the item is vegan/gluten free/etc. If SeatMe ever decides to give us another shot, I promise I will personally bake and deliver cupcakes for the entire office. And my cupcakes are pretty good: http://i.imgur.com/fFlC5.jpg http://i.imgur.com/fFlC5.jpg . :) Daniel Piers - Engineer / Czar of Cupcakes @ ZeroCater
  - arram 14y ago
    Hi Aloisius, I'm the founder of ZeroCater. Sorry to hear you're no longer with us. I'd would be great to get your feedback on how we could improve our service. I'd love to grab a beer some time.
- bergerson 14y ago
  We started out with ZC and switched to Cater2.me after a few months. Turns out a better website doesn't translate to better food or service, who knew? Also Cater2.me just updated their site and seems to be putting more effort in on that side now. That makes sense to me. Food quality and customer service should be the focus, not the logo or even the UI.
  - bnjii 14y ago
    Thanks for the feedback! We were indeed really focused on customer service and are now finally finding the time to put some efforts into improving our image. - Ben from Cater2.me
- bnjii 14y ago
  Hi, I'm Ben from Cater2.me. Thanks for the feedback, appreciate it! We are pretty focused on operations and customer service but we're (finally?) putting some efforts into our image and have revamped our website for example. Stay Hungry! :)
spydertennis 14y ago
good to see zerocater expanding beyond tech companies!
spicyj 14y ago
What's the minimum number of people necessary to use ZeroCater?
- arram 14y ago
  Right now it's 15. One of the reasons that we're able to offer much higher quality restaurants and caterers is that we focus on sizable groups.
  - spicyj 14y ago
    IIRC you store taste preferences per-user – is it possible to have different subsets of people order food each day?
  - tikhon 14y ago
    At Parse we started using ZeroCater with just 9-10 people by ordering the minimum food for 15 and splitting it with others or giving some away. Totally worth it.
dr42 14y ago
the free-food culture is so ingrained in the tech world that it would be much harder to eliminate there. free food in tech startups isn't free at all. You (as the employee) are just donating more time & money to the employer. I'm fortunate enough to work for a company that has a fabulous suite of cafeterias that host a huge variety of foods, but in the startup world, free food just felt like the NYC power lunches of the 80's
- prayag 14y ago
  >I'm fortunate enough to work for a company that has a fabulous suite of cafeterias that host a huge variety of foods, but in the startup world, free food just felt like the NYC power lunches of the 80's Am I the only one who find your comment ironical?
- pyoung 14y ago
  "You (as the employee) are just donating more time & money to the employer." Not sure if I agree with this. You aren't necessarily required to eat and work at the same time just because you are getting free food. Secondly, an extra ~$10-15 bucks a day per person is a relatively minuscule amount of money for a company (keep in mind that if this was distributed as salary to employees, it would only be about $5-10 a day after taxes). So, essentially the employee is enjoying a meal that is being paid for with pre-tax money.
- bergerson 14y ago
  i've worked at a few startups with catered lunches. where i'm at now, we purposely only cater lunch and not dinner so that people don't feel obligated to stay later. we always have the kitchen stocked so there's food if they do, plus we order extra at lunch so there are leftovers. no one is required to stay and eat, but it helps everyone bond at lunch over non-work related things. plus, some people go out on their lunch, and come back and eat the food at their desk. win-win. free food, no obligation to work.
- mseebach 14y ago
  Literally, TANSTAAFL. This falls in the class of benefits that serve to remove worries for employees so they can spend that time thinking about work instead. I really don't see how that's a bad thing. If you're feeling shortchanged by the deal, let your boss know. Ultimately, quit. My last job didn't have catered food. I was a daily chore to figure what to get and go out and get it. Not difficult, but annoying and it broke my concentration. Also we didn't have a lunch area, so most people ate alone at their desks. In my current job (free catered lunch), I've experienced to drone down to the cafeteria and get food without really breaking my train of thought, and I've experienced meeting some people in the cafeteria and picking up a great non-work related conversation.
physcab 14y ago
So I work for GREE (the company pictured in the article), and while I do like ZeroCater, I actually think Munchery is way better. Just a personal opinion. ZeroCater's service is awesome and their food selection is good, but I always feel kinda sick after eating. I think because they source their meals from restaurants. Why do I like Munchery more? Because its made by chefs who typically use healthy ingredients. They change it up alot and I've even heard stories of some employees calling the chefs to see what's on the menu for the evening. Pretty cool! And after dinner, I feel great!
- arram 14y ago
  Hi Christopher, We actually have a ton of personal chefs and caterers. If you talk to your office manager at GREE, we'd be happy to switch it up. Employee ratings help determine what gets ordered, so what's probably happening is that people are up voting restaurants more.
  - physcab 14y ago
    Ah I see. I really like the personal style. I'll try to rally others to my cause! Its nice to see where your food comes from and who makes it. I feel privileged that we get food in the first place, but always prefer the lunch that comes served by chefs over the stuff that comes dumped out of plastic containers.
    - jrockway 14y ago
      Ironically, the complaint goes the other way at Google. We have in-house chefs that source the best ingredients and design the healthiest meals possible, and then people complain about the food being too healthy. (Lately the pendulum seems to have swung in the other direction, however. Last night I had waffles with whipped cream, bourbon butter, and syrup for dinner. Oh well, you only live once...)
      - tt 14y ago
        Munchery chefs' rule #1: taste is King. By using fresh and local ingredients, healthiness comes naturally.
evanlong 14y ago
PLEASE GIVE SCRIBD MORE KALE!!! THEY LOVE KALE!!!
- ryguytilidie 14y ago
  confirming that scribd loves kale and you should ship them all of your remaining kale.
  - dpiers 14y ago
    Kale en route.
- arram 14y ago
  We've just dispatched a courier with a big bag of Kale. ETA 7 minutes. I am not joking.
  - evanlong 14y ago
    thank you this is awesome.
  - evanlong 14y ago
    thank you this is awesome.
- MichaelGlass 14y ago
  P.S. The Kale was wonderful
zeruch 14y ago
We've been using them here at SugarCRM for a few months and they have been doing a pretty bangup job so far. Food selection has been pretty varied and the quality has been solid...and from what I hear from the folks who do the booking, their service has been exemplary.
vitno 14y ago
ZeroCater looks pretty sweet. I'm at Etsy though and you know... our Eatsys are pretty awesome too.

We were actually the first ZeroCater customer at Scribd, and we now use ZeroCater at Parse too. We're huge fans. They take care of everything -- from making sure the food actually shows up to changing up the menus based on our feedback and handling dietary restrictions. Also with Leslie managing our account we have absolutely incredible customer service -- she responds to every comment we make on the meals on their site. ZC saves us a ton of time so we can focus on our product and not on worrying about what/when to eat. The catered lunch/dinner also gives our team a nice dedicated time to hang out and chat. Congrats Arram and company on this story! Now don't get distracted and forget about my dinner tonight! :-)

46Bit 14y ago

A related note about UI design. I've lately been seeing a lot of ads (mostly on Muni) for both ZeroCater and Cater2 (a competitor http://cater2.me http://cater2.me). What's interesting is how much better the clean ZC style looks compared to Cater2's ... frankly, amateurish resembling-developer-designed logo.

aMtnViewer 14y ago
not that interesting. both logos are good.
Aloisius 14y ago
We were a ZeroCater customer and actually switched to Cater2.me. Service-wise, they are both pretty much equal with Cater2.me maybe having less repeats and being a little more friendly to special needs (vegans, gluten allergies, etc). Our office manager is on some kind of mailing list for other office managers and said there seemed to be widespread trend of offices switching to Cater2.me.
- dpiers 14y ago
  We have made significant improvements to our service in regards to repeats and special needs in the last 8 months. We have a dedicated team of food scouts who are constantly searching for new, exciting vendors to send to our clients. Our current repertoire includes over one-hundred of the best, most reliable vendors in the Bay Area. We also keep detailed notes on every company's dietary restrictions and preferences and provide labels for all items that include notes if the item is vegan/gluten free/etc. If SeatMe ever decides to give us another shot, I promise I will personally bake and deliver cupcakes for the entire office. And my cupcakes are pretty good: http://i.imgur.com/fFlC5.jpg http://i.imgur.com/fFlC5.jpg . :) Daniel Piers - Engineer / Czar of Cupcakes @ ZeroCater
- arram 14y ago
  Hi Aloisius, I'm the founder of ZeroCater. Sorry to hear you're no longer with us. I'd would be great to get your feedback on how we could improve our service. I'd love to grab a beer some time.
bergerson 14y ago
We started out with ZC and switched to Cater2.me after a few months. Turns out a better website doesn't translate to better food or service, who knew? Also Cater2.me just updated their site and seems to be putting more effort in on that side now. That makes sense to me. Food quality and customer service should be the focus, not the logo or even the UI.
- bnjii 14y ago
  Thanks for the feedback! We were indeed really focused on customer service and are now finally finding the time to put some efforts into improving our image. - Ben from Cater2.me
bnjii 14y ago
Hi, I'm Ben from Cater2.me. Thanks for the feedback, appreciate it! We are pretty focused on operations and customer service but we're (finally?) putting some efforts into our image and have revamped our website for example. Stay Hungry! :)

spydertennis 14y ago

good to see zerocater expanding beyond tech companies!

spicyj 14y ago

What's the minimum number of people necessary to use ZeroCater?

arram 14y ago
Right now it's 15. One of the reasons that we're able to offer much higher quality restaurants and caterers is that we focus on sizable groups.
- spicyj 14y ago
  IIRC you store taste preferences per-user – is it possible to have different subsets of people order food each day?
- tikhon 14y ago
  At Parse we started using ZeroCater with just 9-10 people by ordering the minimum food for 15 and splitting it with others or giving some away. Totally worth it.

dr42 14y ago

the free-food culture is so ingrained in the tech world that it would be much harder to eliminate there. free food in tech startups isn't free at all. You (as the employee) are just donating more time & money to the employer. I'm fortunate enough to work for a company that has a fabulous suite of cafeterias that host a huge variety of foods, but in the startup world, free food just felt like the NYC power lunches of the 80's

prayag 14y ago
>I'm fortunate enough to work for a company that has a fabulous suite of cafeterias that host a huge variety of foods, but in the startup world, free food just felt like the NYC power lunches of the 80's Am I the only one who find your comment ironical?
pyoung 14y ago
"You (as the employee) are just donating more time & money to the employer." Not sure if I agree with this. You aren't necessarily required to eat and work at the same time just because you are getting free food. Secondly, an extra ~$10-15 bucks a day per person is a relatively minuscule amount of money for a company (keep in mind that if this was distributed as salary to employees, it would only be about $5-10 a day after taxes). So, essentially the employee is enjoying a meal that is being paid for with pre-tax money.
bergerson 14y ago
i've worked at a few startups with catered lunches. where i'm at now, we purposely only cater lunch and not dinner so that people don't feel obligated to stay later. we always have the kitchen stocked so there's food if they do, plus we order extra at lunch so there are leftovers. no one is required to stay and eat, but it helps everyone bond at lunch over non-work related things. plus, some people go out on their lunch, and come back and eat the food at their desk. win-win. free food, no obligation to work.
mseebach 14y ago
Literally, TANSTAAFL. This falls in the class of benefits that serve to remove worries for employees so they can spend that time thinking about work instead. I really don't see how that's a bad thing. If you're feeling shortchanged by the deal, let your boss know. Ultimately, quit. My last job didn't have catered food. I was a daily chore to figure what to get and go out and get it. Not difficult, but annoying and it broke my concentration. Also we didn't have a lunch area, so most people ate alone at their desks. In my current job (free catered lunch), I've experienced to drone down to the cafeteria and get food without really breaking my train of thought, and I've experienced meeting some people in the cafeteria and picking up a great non-work related conversation.

physcab 14y ago

So I work for GREE (the company pictured in the article), and while I do like ZeroCater, I actually think Munchery is way better. Just a personal opinion. ZeroCater's service is awesome and their food selection is good, but I always feel kinda sick after eating. I think because they source their meals from restaurants. Why do I like Munchery more? Because its made by chefs who typically use healthy ingredients. They change it up alot and I've even heard stories of some employees calling the chefs to see what's on the menu for the evening. Pretty cool! And after dinner, I feel great!

arram 14y ago
Hi Christopher, We actually have a ton of personal chefs and caterers. If you talk to your office manager at GREE, we'd be happy to switch it up. Employee ratings help determine what gets ordered, so what's probably happening is that people are up voting restaurants more.
- physcab 14y ago
  Ah I see. I really like the personal style. I'll try to rally others to my cause! Its nice to see where your food comes from and who makes it. I feel privileged that we get food in the first place, but always prefer the lunch that comes served by chefs over the stuff that comes dumped out of plastic containers.
  - jrockway 14y ago
    Ironically, the complaint goes the other way at Google. We have in-house chefs that source the best ingredients and design the healthiest meals possible, and then people complain about the food being too healthy. (Lately the pendulum seems to have swung in the other direction, however. Last night I had waffles with whipped cream, bourbon butter, and syrup for dinner. Oh well, you only live once...)
    - tt 14y ago
      Munchery chefs' rule #1: taste is King. By using fresh and local ingredients, healthiness comes naturally.

evanlong 14y ago

PLEASE GIVE SCRIBD MORE KALE!!! THEY LOVE KALE!!!

ryguytilidie 14y ago
confirming that scribd loves kale and you should ship them all of your remaining kale.
- dpiers 14y ago
  Kale en route.
arram 14y ago
We've just dispatched a courier with a big bag of Kale. ETA 7 minutes. I am not joking.
- evanlong 14y ago
  thank you this is awesome.
- evanlong 14y ago
  thank you this is awesome.
MichaelGlass 14y ago
P.S. The Kale was wonderful

zeruch 14y ago

We've been using them here at SugarCRM for a few months and they have been doing a pretty bangup job so far. Food selection has been pretty varied and the quality has been solid...and from what I hear from the folks who do the booking, their service has been exemplary.

vitno 14y ago

ZeroCater looks pretty sweet. I'm at Etsy though and you know... our Eatsys are pretty awesome too.