# Zerocater

> Zerocater is a San Francisco food-tech company that helps businesses build better workplaces through food. It runs three core products - corporate catering, fully managed corporate cafeterias, and event catering - in a dozen U.S. cities, blending local restaurant and caterer partnerships with onsite hospitality teams and an in-house AI platform (FoodIQ) that personalizes menus and forecasts demand. Founded in 2009 out of a Y Combinator class, it serves companies like Robinhood, Datadog, Airtable, and McKinsey and is going after a roughly $182B corporate catering and cafeteria market.

- **Founded:** 2009
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founders:** Arram Sabeti (Founder & Chairman of the Board), Ali Sabeti (CEO & Cofounder)
- **Team size:** ~180 employees
- **Products:** Corporate Catering, Corporate Cafeterias, Event Catering, Snacks & Micro-Kitchens, FoodIQ
- **Notable:** Placed first on Y Combinator Winter 2011 Demo Day., Grew from a bootstrapped spreadsheet business into a multi-city corporate food-service company., Raised approximately $38.5M total from investors including Cleveland Avenue, SV Angel, Keith Rabois, Yuri Milner, Paul Buchheit, and Justin Kan.

## Products & services

- **Corporate Catering** — Customized, recurring office meal programs sourced from local restaurants, caterers, and food trucks, with menu variety and dietary accommodation.
- **Corporate Cafeterias** — Fully managed onsite cafeterias featuring chef-led cooking across globally inspired cuisines, custom build-outs, and onsite hospitality teams.
- **Event Catering** — Themed and family-style catering for company events, with decor and menu customization across multiple cities.
- **Snacks & Micro-Kitchens** — Curated office snacking and micro-kitchen replenishment with premium brands and managed coffee/barista bars.
- **FoodIQ** — In-house AI and analytics platform that personalizes menus, forecasts demand, and helps customers and suppliers run food operations more efficiently.
- **CaterAi** — AI agent that plans catering for any event in under five minutes.

## Achievements

- Placed first on Y Combinator Winter 2011 Demo Day.
- Grew from a bootstrapped spreadsheet business into a multi-city corporate food-service company.
- Raised approximately $38.5M total from investors including Cleveland Avenue, SV Angel, Keith Rabois, Yuri Milner, Paul Buchheit, and Justin Kan.
- Built FoodIQ, an in-house AI/analytics platform, and launched CaterAi for automated event catering.
- Tripled revenue and more than doubled its team in the year before its 2023 Series C.

## Latest updates

- **2023-02** — Raised $15M Series C led by Cleveland Avenue to build the future of the corporate cafeteria for the hybrid workplace, expanding to 10+ cities and investing in AI and analytics.
- **2023-02** — Detailed plans to expand its FoodIQ AI platform and introduced CaterAi, billed as an AI agent that plans catering in under five minutes.
- **2019-01** — Celebrated a decade of operations and launched Enterprise Catering for companies with 500+ employees.

## Links

- Website: https://zerocater.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zerocater
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/zerocater
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zerocater

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/zerocater
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-11