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! :-)
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.<p>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!
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 <a href="http://cater2.me" rel="nofollow">http://cater2.me</a>). What's interesting is how much better the clean ZC style looks compared to Cater2's ... frankly, amateurish resembling-developer-designed logo.
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.
<i>the free-food culture is so ingrained in the tech world that it would be much harder to eliminate there.</i><p>free food in tech startups isn't free at all. You (as the employee) are just donating more time & money to the employer.<p>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