Uber is paying $2.3 billion in cash to acquire ezCater, the Boston-based workplace catering platform, in a deal designed to pull corporate lunch orders into the Uber Eats ecosystem. The all-cash transaction is expected to close in the coming months, and it marks one of Uber's most significant pushes yet into the business-to-business food market.
A Boston Tech Company Joins the Uber Fold
According to TechCrunch, the all-cash transaction is valued at $2.3 billion, and ezCater generated more than $2.5 billion in gross bookings over the last 12 months. The company was founded in 2007 and has grown into a major player in the workplace food space, per the same report. ezCater is based in Boston, as Bloomberg reports, and the outlet describes it as a platform where businesses can arrange food services for events, meetings and other gatherings.
Bloomberg also notes the acquisition is intended to help the Uber Eats delivery platform reach a more corporate clientele, and the transaction is expected to close in the coming months, per Uber's own statement. The Boston Globe reports that Uber says the acquisition will expand both Uber Eats and Uber for Business operations, and that restaurants working with Uber will see increased order sizes and a larger customer base as a result.
What Uber and ezCater's Leaders Are Saying
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said catering can be a huge revenue stream for restaurants, according to the Globe's reporting. He added that Uber can bring catering to millions more customers and help restaurants win more valuable orders. ezCater's chief executive, Nihad Rahman, framed the deal in similarly direct terms, saying that ezCater is joining forces with Uber, per the same Globe account.
The Globe's reporting also describes ezCater as one of the top office catering companies in the United States and identifies it as Boston-based. The outlet calls it an online technology platform that helps businesses and offices buy large food orders from local eateries, and describes it as a leading platform for workplace catering. A $1.6 billion valuation underscores the company's scale.
Conflicting Numbers on Restaurant Reach
ezCater's own company materials describe it as the number one food-tech platform for workplaces in the U.S., enabling orders from more than 125,000 restaurants nationwide.
Why Workplace Catering Is Suddenly Hot Business
The acquisition lands amid a broader surge in employer-funded food spending. ezCater's own data shows that 96% of workplaces surveyed tried a new restaurant in 2025, and 62% of employees who first sampled a restaurant at work went on to order from it personally. The company also reports that 91% of workplaces plan to spend the same or more on food in 2026, up from 82% in 2024, while daily or weekly workplace meal programs have spiked 26% year-over-year.
Restaurant operators appear to be banking on that growth too. A survey cited by Restaurant Dive found that 97% of operators surveyed by ezCater expected year-over-year growth in catering, with about three in four predicting growth of 20% or more. The same survey found that the share of businesses ordering catering weekly climbed to 39%, up from 32% the year before.
The ezCater purchase comes as Uber is also in the process of buying Delivery Hero for $15 billion, TechCrunch reports, part of a broader pattern of Uber expanding the types of services available through its Uber Eats division. This is a developing story.
