ZeroCater (YC W11) Raises $1.5 Million For No-Hassle Office Lunches(techcrunch.com)
techcrunch.com
ZeroCater (YC W11) Raises $1.5 Million For No-Hassle Office Lunches
http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/10/zerocater-raises-1-5-million-for-no-hassle-office-lunches/
23 comments
The people ordering food usually also end up responsible for every other miscellaneous task, so are very happy to have someone take care of one of their least important, but most time consuming jobs. One of the most frequent reactions from new signups we see is a big sigh of relief.
The second issue is that someone responsible for ordering food part time isn't going to do it as well as someone who's concerned with nothing else. It's specialization of labor.
The second issue is that someone responsible for ordering food part time isn't going to do it as well as someone who's concerned with nothing else. It's specialization of labor.
There's definitely a period in a startup where founders or management end up handling a lot of minor tasks like this, before hiring admin support staff. I personally would rather pay for services (garbage collection, catering, copier repair, etc.) vs. hiring an admin person to do this, because managing yet another employee (and one from a different background than engineers) adds stress to my life.
If I had a great candidate for admin/manager, maybe I'd consider it, but I could easily see getting to 20-30 employees before doing so.
If I had a great candidate for admin/manager, maybe I'd consider it, but I could easily see getting to 20-30 employees before doing so.
That makes sense, and follows with my general experience: once your team reaches >= 8 people, there will always be one of them having a Major Life Issue (cancer, drugs, burnout, divorce, etc.) that will consume incredible amounts of your time too.
If you're stuck hiring them on your own (i.e. not part of a big company that has its own infra for hiring and training staff employees), several of my buddies who have started smaller companies swear by temp agencies. Quickly scan a few resumes, do a couple of chats, and then bring them onboard for a few weeks or a month in a try-before-you-buy role.
Also, if your admin does not _remove_ stress from your life, they're doing it wrong. Having had both decent and great admins, I can say that a great admin is an incredible enabler. Need your schedule to always have a three hour block of uninterrupted work time? Hate responding to urgent-but-unimportant crises that people always email you about? A professional, organized, and utterly ruthless admin is net positive w.r.t. your time and stress far more than they will ever be paid.
If you're stuck hiring them on your own (i.e. not part of a big company that has its own infra for hiring and training staff employees), several of my buddies who have started smaller companies swear by temp agencies. Quickly scan a few resumes, do a couple of chats, and then bring them onboard for a few weeks or a month in a try-before-you-buy role.
Also, if your admin does not _remove_ stress from your life, they're doing it wrong. Having had both decent and great admins, I can say that a great admin is an incredible enabler. Need your schedule to always have a three hour block of uninterrupted work time? Hate responding to urgent-but-unimportant crises that people always email you about? A professional, organized, and utterly ruthless admin is net positive w.r.t. your time and stress far more than they will ever be paid.
I can second this. The person who orders food at my company reports it's a huge time sink. We're 50 people and it was taking her hours a day with everything that can go wrong.
Yup. We use you guys and totally agree with this statement. You guys have been awesome, and Loggly <3s you!
ZeroCater can promise good restaurants consistent volume and negotiate better pricing than a single business on its own. I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to provide the service for cheaper than a PA could, not even counting his/her salary. They may not be doing this currently, but at scale it could be interesting.
They've been feeding me and my colleagues the last couple weeks and I gotta say: pretty awesome. Great variety of food and everything has been delicious. I crow about new food several times a week since they started, and I'm a pretty tough sell.
(And they've stopped asking for that goofy video audition requirement in all their job postings, so props to them for seeing the light.)
(And they've stopped asking for that goofy video audition requirement in all their job postings, so props to them for seeing the light.)
Congrats Arram and Bill! I vividly remember the "Wave of Food" illustration from Demo Day. If that's not a reason to invest in a company, I don't know what is. (http://i.imgur.com/umToE.jpg)
I echo the congrats. However, the 'wave of food' was gluttonous and off-putting to me personally. It also features fried food and carbs, which seems to run counter to the healthier trends I've seen. But I'm way on the outside, so maybe i'm missing something.
I don't want lunch delivered. Lunch is time to leave the office and socialize with team members I'm not working with all day.
Bill splitting is the service I want.
Bill splitting is the service I want.
Leaving the office is nice. But who among us has never had this conversation?
"Let's get lunch."
"Okay, where?"
"Chinese."
"Ugh. I don't feel like that today. How about that sandwich place?"
"We were just there on Monday!"
"Yeah. Feel like a burger?"
"That place isn't very good. Kind of expensive."
"Wish there was something new to try."
Then everyone goes back to work.
Then 15 minutes later you realize, ah, fuck, still hungry!
So the appeal with ZeroCater is that with no effort, boom, there's food. And it's often new food. And it's tasty. And you give no effort to thinking about it. So lunch is just a nice, social thing that lasts as long as you want it to without being prolonged by bad service, slow kitchen, whatever.
It's a pretty solid deal. Not a bad tradeoff. Picking lunch can be a miserable affair, especially when you work in a place with thin food options.
Oh, and as someone who was once subjected to truly fucking terrible office catering: wow, what a joy it is to get quality food delivered.
"Let's get lunch."
"Okay, where?"
"Chinese."
"Ugh. I don't feel like that today. How about that sandwich place?"
"We were just there on Monday!"
"Yeah. Feel like a burger?"
"That place isn't very good. Kind of expensive."
"Wish there was something new to try."
Then everyone goes back to work.
Then 15 minutes later you realize, ah, fuck, still hungry!
So the appeal with ZeroCater is that with no effort, boom, there's food. And it's often new food. And it's tasty. And you give no effort to thinking about it. So lunch is just a nice, social thing that lasts as long as you want it to without being prolonged by bad service, slow kitchen, whatever.
It's a pretty solid deal. Not a bad tradeoff. Picking lunch can be a miserable affair, especially when you work in a place with thin food options.
Oh, and as someone who was once subjected to truly fucking terrible office catering: wow, what a joy it is to get quality food delivered.
Also, food provided in-office is 100% deductible; meals outside are 50%.
Having great food available daily would be a nice hook to bring in open source dev partners, potential employees (especially passive-recruit candidates), potential clients, etc. I know I've gone to Google and Facebook meals on that basis.
Having great food available daily would be a nice hook to bring in open source dev partners, potential employees (especially passive-recruit candidates), potential clients, etc. I know I've gone to Google and Facebook meals on that basis.
Out of curiosity, how do you categorize expenses such that in-office food is covered? I've wondered this before with coffee (getting in-office coffee as deductible, whereas out at Starbucks is 50% at best). Would be interested to learn how you file these expenses for your taxes.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15b.pdf
Basically if it's a "de minimis benefit" (generally, self-serve food is always included unless it's absurdly luxury), you're fine.
Serving it on business premises seems to be the key factor, at a dedicated cafeteria.
Basically if it's a "de minimis benefit" (generally, self-serve food is always included unless it's absurdly luxury), you're fine.
Serving it on business premises seems to be the key factor, at a dedicated cafeteria.
> Bill splitting is the service I want.
One of my phone app ideas (inspired by demoing Word Lens' real-time video translator over lunch) is a bill-splitting app that uses OCR:
1. Photograph the receipt.
2. OCR the items ordered.
3. User clicks the items to group each person's order. Or even cooler: fling items to the side or corner of the phone screen nearest that person (like a card dealer).
4. The app calculates each item groups' total with tax and tip.
Unfortunately, the market for bill-splitting or tip-calculating apps is probably pretty crowded. <:\
EDIT: I see now that an iPhone app that uses OCR to analyze your receipt already exists, though the reviews say the OCR sucks: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bill-split-ocr/id347826835
One of my phone app ideas (inspired by demoing Word Lens' real-time video translator over lunch) is a bill-splitting app that uses OCR:
1. Photograph the receipt.
2. OCR the items ordered.
3. User clicks the items to group each person's order. Or even cooler: fling items to the side or corner of the phone screen nearest that person (like a card dealer).
4. The app calculates each item groups' total with tax and tip.
Unfortunately, the market for bill-splitting or tip-calculating apps is probably pretty crowded. <:\
EDIT: I see now that an iPhone app that uses OCR to analyze your receipt already exists, though the reviews say the OCR sucks: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bill-split-ocr/id347826835
Another problem with bill splitting is that at some level, the inefficiency can be used positively; I know I always end up paying extra at meals when I can't pay for the whole thing, if the other people are students or don't have reasonable income. It's a lot easier to do that tacitly when there aren't good bill splitting numbers available.
Depends on the day for me, sometimes this is nice to do, sometimes I just want to spent 10 minutes having something to eat and jump straight back into what I'm doing if I have a flow going or a lot on.
I don't know why you got downvoted. That's a legit concern.
Have you tried https://www.paydivvy.com/ ?
What is the process for employees like? Does food just show up or is there some kind of website / email that everyone gets before lunch?
Employees get to see a webpage on zerocater.com that has all of their upcoming menus for the next couple of weeks. On the day the food is delivered, they can use that page to rank the food and comment on it. That feedback is critical to us because we use it to figure out what to order in the future (I tell people we're "Pandora for food").
What is the minimum order? I didnt see it in "Learn More" -- I work from home and am a single consultant. Can I use ZeroCater?
It would be great to have a premium option where an office can also order some flowers/plants to be delivered as well.
it would also be great to have new senior programmers delivered with the skills that are needed upon request - of course as a premium service.
In all seriousness, let's keep in mind that startups need to remain focused on their core business.
In all seriousness, let's keep in mind that startups need to remain focused on their core business.
Well, sure, I agree that they need to focus on their core service; in this case - delivering "lunch" -- which by my comment could be inclusive of accompanying floral arrangements.
I.E. you order a zerocatered meal for a team/exec briefing/whatever - and choose to add some arrangement along with it.
Personally - I have been wanting the netflix of floral delivery for some time at my home. There are already services that do whole corporate plant service, but this is a much broader scope (e.g. showing up regularly to service said plants). Adding simple floral arrangements to an already delivered product is not such a far reach from their core service - there would be no service - just delivery.
I.E. you order a zerocatered meal for a team/exec briefing/whatever - and choose to add some arrangement along with it.
Personally - I have been wanting the netflix of floral delivery for some time at my home. There are already services that do whole corporate plant service, but this is a much broader scope (e.g. showing up regularly to service said plants). Adding simple floral arrangements to an already delivered product is not such a far reach from their core service - there would be no service - just delivery.
We use ZeroCater at our SF office. It really does make choosing what to get a lot easier.
These guys have been providing us lunches at Blekko and we are a lot happier.
[edit: dang I suck at tenses]
[edit: dang I suck at tenses]
I assume you mean "we are now a lot happier"?
[deleted](1)
I'm curious what percentage of their customer base is startups and what percentage is other types of businesses (ie, businesses they'll encounter in other markets than the valley).
Will they be signing up all the large ad agencies on Michigan Ave when they hit Chicago? Or is this more for the 10-40 person "in the know" startup?
Will they be signing up all the large ad agencies on Michigan Ave when they hit Chicago? Or is this more for the 10-40 person "in the know" startup?
I suspect that their goal is obviously to expand into other major metro markets like Chicago and NYC. Thus the funding.
But, you have a good point, being, many companies in the NYC/Chicago area already have very defined pre-arranged catering avenues in place. From the trained executive assistant with a drawer full of menus, to the executive dining room, to the go-to deli on the bottom floor, to the local pizza delivery place. These guys certainly have their work cut out for them with regards to penetrating this market and expanding. I would not be surprised if they are only working the startup ecosystem in San Francisco. It's a good start though.
But, you have a good point, being, many companies in the NYC/Chicago area already have very defined pre-arranged catering avenues in place. From the trained executive assistant with a drawer full of menus, to the executive dining room, to the go-to deli on the bottom floor, to the local pizza delivery place. These guys certainly have their work cut out for them with regards to penetrating this market and expanding. I would not be surprised if they are only working the startup ecosystem in San Francisco. It's a good start though.
Exactly my thoughts. My hunch is these guys are surviving solely from the saturation of startups in San Francisco and the surrounding area.
I'm curious what happens when they venture out into "the real world". Seems to me like a company that survives only in the bubble of the valley. Cool idea nonetheless.
I'm curious what happens when they venture out into "the real world". Seems to me like a company that survives only in the bubble of the valley. Cool idea nonetheless.
I'm not in SF, so maybe this is ignorance on my part, but how common is it for employers to provide lunch for their employees? Is that a Thing now? A few years ago, it was a big part of news stories about Google, how they have in-house chefs and lunch is free to all employees and all that, and that seemed like a big deal at the time. Has "lunch for employees" trickled down to small companies and startups? What % of startups do that? And is there a split between VC-backed startups and bootstrapping startups regarding who does/doesn't do it?
ZeroCater seems like a good solution to that problem ... I just had no idea there were so many companies doing that. Would love to hear experiences of people here.
ZeroCater seems like a good solution to that problem ... I just had no idea there were so many companies doing that. Would love to hear experiences of people here.
Do people really think working on problems like this is impactful? Guessing the guys running this are pretty smart engineers, bums me out that they are making "solving the office lunch problem" their big hack.
This is only the starting point. If such a company were able to hit critical mass, think about the potential they could have feeding residents and helping healthcare monitering. Perhaps even disrupting the concept of needed super markets. The possibilities are endless beyond whats on the surface
I'm not sure the "possibilities are endless". At best they are lowering transaction costs between ppl selling food and ppl buying food. Feels like there are bigger problems out there.
Would anyone from ZeroCater care to comment on whether there were additional difficulties in raising money due to the recent stock market crash?
Anytime you read about a funding announcement, you can be certain the round closed anywhere from 1 month to 3 months beforehand, and that the funds are now safely deposited.
Consequently, we'll see ramifications later this winter if rounds were negatively impacted.
Consequently, we'll see ramifications later this winter if rounds were negatively impacted.
For those who may have missed a great discussion on "lunch at the office" a few months ago from a Joel Spolsky blog post:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2494398 http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2011/04/28.html
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2494398 http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2011/04/28.html
An interesting solution from Campaign Monitor solves this problem for them and was coded by an intern...
http://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/post/2871/how-campaign-m...
http://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/post/2871/how-campaign-m...
Am I the only person who brings lunch from home? Eating out every day gets expensive.
Individual employees don't pay for zerocater, their employers do.
If you do a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation involving the hourly wage of a software engineer (for example), and the amount of time saved by not going out for lunch then it's a no-brainer for most employers to do this.
If you do a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation involving the hourly wage of a software engineer (for example), and the amount of time saved by not going out for lunch then it's a no-brainer for most employers to do this.
This is awesome, but how do they deal building with crazy security. Would I still have to go all the way down to the building messenger center to pick up the food?
If you are in the Portland or Denver areas, check out http://d-dish.com/ for both personal and catering needs.
This seems like a perfect company for the culture of SF. I'm not sure how well it will scale to other cities though.
Congrats Arram!
Congrats Zain!
"Lunch is for wimps." - Gordon Gekko
What distinguishes this from waiter.com? So far it sounds like the primary distinction is "you don't get to directly choose what you get every day", which is a big loss.
But at the same time kind of a big win. I spend a nontrivial amount of time on picking my food on waiter.com. We also have 2 offices that people switch between, and people order to the wrong office all the time. That would be a little problematic for ZeroCater too (we'd have to be able to give them a sense of how many people will be where on a given day, and a sense of where the people with diet restrictions are going to be), but it's a little more flexible.
But the day ZeroCater misunderstands a dietary restriction, or just shows up with something I can't stand, there would be a big problem.
I intentionally order only things I know I'll like and can eat so I don't go through the day hungry and pissed off. The model of "tell us when you don't like something" might eventually approach something semi-reliable, but in the mean time there's going to be a lot of wasted food and low blood sugar.
I intentionally order only things I know I'll like and can eat so I don't go through the day hungry and pissed off. The model of "tell us when you don't like something" might eventually approach something semi-reliable, but in the mean time there's going to be a lot of wasted food and low blood sugar.
That's true, but nothing's perfect. Once so far I have misread a (somewhat-confusing) menu item and ordered meat by mistake.
But that's probably a little rarer than a failure of ZeroCater's model to satisfy every person, and I came away from my Waiter.com error primarily blaming myself, whereas since ZeroCater claims they can satisfy everyone without having you explicitly choose, it's really their fault when they fail at that
But that's probably a little rarer than a failure of ZeroCater's model to satisfy every person, and I came away from my Waiter.com error primarily blaming myself, whereas since ZeroCater claims they can satisfy everyone without having you explicitly choose, it's really their fault when they fail at that
If this isn't the peak of the bubble, I don't know what is.
Funny, of all the recent YC companies I've been reading about lately, this one makes the most sense to me.
They provide a real service that lots of people (judging from these comments) seem to appreciate, which is easily monetizeable. In addition, I can see some great economies of scale here, including cheaper food due to mutually beneficial deals with restaurants.
They provide a real service that lots of people (judging from these comments) seem to appreciate, which is easily monetizeable. In addition, I can see some great economies of scale here, including cheaper food due to mutually beneficial deals with restaurants.
Really? Because a company regarded extremely well by its peers and advisors, with a solid business model and clear plans for expansion, raises a seed round?
If you're going to say that when a company announces funding, at least provide some backup.
If you're going to say that when a company announces funding, at least provide some backup.
This company is killing it. Real, serious revenue and they haven't even scaled yet. Do some research before you criticize.
Unless this service is targeted mainly at companies that eschew personal assistant-style employment? I'll admit I've only run teams or worked at companies in the Seattle and Chicago area, where there is an abundance of "young liberal arts grads" to handle straightforward tasks.
I've never done the startup thing, so please feel free to correct me if C-levels are really handling this sort of work themselves (as the testimonials seem to hint).