Zerocater

We offer AI-powered corporate dining solutions. This includes personalized catering, cafeteria management, and custom event services for businesses. Our technology, CaterAI, helps us provide diverse menus, efficient operations, and reduce costs through flexible payment options based on office attendance.

Our main offerings are: Corporate Catering, providing daily meals (buffet or boxed) with onsite teams; Corporate Cafeterias, which are fully-managed dining experiences without the need to build a kitchen; and Event Catering by CaterAI, which handles event planning from menus to staffing and decor. We currently serve major US cities, including the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Austin, Denver, Seattle, Washington D.C., Phoenix, Dallas, and Atlanta. We plan to expand further in the U.S. and Canada.

We started in San Francisco in 2009 and completed Y Combinator in Winter 2011. We expanded to New York in 2013, Chicago in 2014, and Austin and Washington D.C. in 2015. In 2016, we raised $4.1M in Series A funding and expanded to Los Angeles, introducing our Snacks & Kitchens product in 2017. A Series B funding round of $12M followed in 2018. We have raised a total of $38.5M from investors such as Cleveland Avenue, Remus Capital, Romulus Capital, Struck Capital, SV Angel, Keith Rabois, Yuri Milner, Paul Buchheit, and Justin Kan.

We serve over 500 companies, including Robinhood, Datadog, Airtable, and McKinsey. Our clients range from offices with 50 to over 7500 employees. We report that 96% of meal services occur without errors. 91% of companies highly rate our personalized menus. We also offer 20 times the quarterly menu variety of a traditional caterer or cafeteria, with 30% less waste.

Our mission is to help companies build better workplaces through food. We believe great companies treat their employees like family and aim to improve our customers’ lives by making every meal experience count. Our core values include:

• Be Customer Obsessed: We prioritize customers and culinary partners in every decision.
• Make Hard Decisions: We lead by making difficult decisions, being honest, and engaging in challenging discussions for the team’s benefit.
• Never Give Up: We demonstrate resilience, continuous effort, and a commitment to daily improvement.
• Take Smart Risks: We plan thoroughly and embrace building extraordinary solutions.
• Lead with Trust & Respect: We foster teamwork, build trust, collaborate, and treat colleagues with respect.

Zerocater has 51-200 employees. Its headquarters are in San Francisco’s SoMa district. The office is designed to encourage collaboration, with breakout areas, rooftop decks, and conference rooms. Zerocater also has a warehouse in South San Francisco for its Snacks & Kitchens team, and offices in New York City, Chicago, Austin, Washington D.C. Metro Area, and Los Angeles.

Zerocater is led by Ali Sabeti (CEO), Prabjot Jaaj (Chief Product and Technology Officer), Jim Waggoner (Chief Financial Officer), and Ryan Smith (SVP Culinary Partnerships & Hospitality Experience). Zerocater works to build and maintain a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture. This includes a Diversity & Inclusion Taskforce and twice-yearly Unconscious Bias Interview Training for hiring managers. Offices are dog-friendly. AI tools streamline hiring processes, such as refining job descriptions and crafting interview questions, but human judgment remains central to hiring decisions. Zerocater is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. It does not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. Accommodations for disabilities are available upon request.

We offer employees daily catered lunch from local vendors. Benefits include a 401(k) with an immediate match (we match half of the first 6% deferred). We provide a generous time-off package, including paid holidays, vacation days, and floating holidays. Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits are available at low to no cost. We cover 100% of the monthly premium for HSA options. Employees receive a $100 monthly stipend for a gym membership, and stock options. We also provide an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for mental and emotional well-being. Additional benefits include 15 days PTO, 12 days sick leave, 10 paid holidays, Health, Personal Accident, and Life Insurance, an Annual Health Check-up & Wellness Benefit, Retirement Benefits, and Broadband Reimbursement.