What CaterCow does

CaterCow is an online corporate catering marketplace founded in 2012 and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, that connects businesses with a curated network of vetted restaurants for office meal delivery. The platform operates across 22+ major US metropolitan areas and has served 12,000+ companies and facilitated 4+ million meals since inception. It targets small-to-mid-sized offices as its primary segment, with secondary coverage of large enterprises and tax-exempt organizations (nonprofits, schools, government entities), addressing pain points such as restaurant reliability, dietary accommodation, group-order coordination, and corporate billing.

The platform's core technology combines a self-service marketplace with restaurant browsing, dietary tagging (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, nut-free), and curation based on operational data including punctuality monitoring. Differentiated product components include a Group Ordering system that allows teammates to individually choose meals via shared links delivered labeled with each name, a Managed Catering/Concierge offering with dedicated account managers for recurring office lunch programs, and Enterprise features (user permissions, single sign-on, purchase orders, spend monitoring). Additional product lines include individually boxed meals, family-style catering, minority-owned and sustainability restaurant filters, seasonal collections, and a CaterCoins rewards program tied to review submissions.

CaterCow monetizes via a transaction-based commission on completed catering orders placed through the marketplace; customers pay per order with no subscription or contract fees. Pricing varies by city and cuisine, averaging roughly $15-22 per person across major metros, with flexible billing via credit card, ACH, or check and automated tax-exempt processing for qualifying organizations. The company operates with a lean 1-10 person team, was co-founded by Sean Li and Chris Collins (both listed as co-CEOs), and has raised only $25,000 from Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator in 2012, indicating a largely bootstrapped, capital-efficient operating model.

Name

CaterCow

Legal name

CaterCow

Website

https://catercow.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

CaterCow is an online corporate catering marketplace that connects 12,000+ businesses across 22+ US cities with a vetted restaurant network for office meal delivery, offering self-service ordering, group ordering, and managed concierge services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Corporate Catering Marketplace

NAICS

Caterers (722320), Caterers (72232), Food Service Contractors (72231)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

Corporate & Office Catering (THAFAIAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Corporate Catering & Office Food Programs (HSACAGAC), Catering Logistics & Delivery Management (HSACAGAK)

Keywords

• Corporate catering
• Office meal delivery
• Group ordering
• Restaurant marketplace
• Catering platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Brooklyn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Transaction-based Catering Orders: Platform charges restaurants a commission on completed catering orders placed through the marketplace. Customers pay per-order with no subscription or contract fees. Revenue generated from transaction take-rate on each catering delivery.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

CaterCow operates an online marketplace that connects businesses with a vetted network of restaurants for corporate catering and office meal delivery. Orders can be placed via self-service website checkout, a group-ordering link for teammates, or a managed concierge program handled by dedicated account managers. The platform supports individually boxed or family-style meals, dietary tagging, enterprise billing features, and serves 20+ major US metro areas.

Product overview

CaterCow is an online corporate catering marketplace built around a curated network of vetted restaurants. The platform operates as a unified system combining self-service ordering, group ordering (where teammates choose individual meals via shared links), and managed concierge services with dedicated account managers. Key products include the core Marketplace for browsing and ordering, Self-Service Ordering for direct transactions, Group Ordering for team meal selection, Managed Catering/Concierge Service for white-glove account management, Individually Boxed Meals and Family-Style Catering for meal presentation options, a Rewards Program (CaterCoins), Enterprise Features including SSO and purchase orders, Minority-Owned Restaurant Filters, and Seasonal Collections. The platform covers 20+ major metro areas nationwide.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CaterCow Marketplace Platform An online marketplace connecting businesses with a curated network of vetted restaurants for corporate catering delivery. Supports self-service checkout, group ordering, managed concierge programs, dietary tagging, enterprise billing, and tax-exempt processing across 20+ major US metro areas.
• Group Ordering Service Team ordering feature that sends teammates a shared link to individually choose their own meals; deliveries are labeled with each person's name for easy distribution and dietary accuracy.
• Managed Catering / Concierge Service White-glove concierge service where dedicated account managers plan menus, coordinate deliveries, and may arrange on-site attendants or hot chafing dish setups for recurring office lunch programs and enterprise events.

Quantifiable outcome

• 4+ million meals served
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• ezCater: ezCater is the dominant US corporate catering marketplace, connecting businesses with restaurants for group meal delivery. It is CaterCow's most direct competitor, and CaterCow explicitly positions itself as the '#1 ezCater competitor' with overlapping product, target market, and take-rate revenue model.
• Fooda: Fooda runs both corporate cafeteria programs and an online marketplace for office catering from local restaurants. It targets the same office-meal use cases as CaterCow with a marketplace plus concierge model in major US cities.
• ZeroCater: ZeroCater provides recurring corporate meal programs (lunch, snacks, catering) to offices through curated restaurant partners. Comparable business model (commission on orders) and customer base (corporate offices needing recurring meals), making it a direct peer in managed office catering.
• Forkable: Forkable (now part of ezCater) was an office lunch delivery service that paired offices with rotating local restaurants. It serves the same office-catering use case with a curated-restaurant subscription that closely mirrors CaterCow's group-ordering model.

Broad incumbents

• DoorDash for Work: DoorDash operates a massive food-delivery marketplace and offers 'DoorDash for Work' corporate accounts for office meals. While broadly positioned across consumer food delivery, it increasingly competes for enterprise catering spend through its scale and restaurant supply.
• Uber Eats (Uber for Business): Uber for Business includes Uber Eats for corporate meal delivery and group orders, leveraging Uber's broad restaurant marketplace. It targets the same office-meal occasions as CaterCow with a much larger restaurant supply network, but CaterCow's curation and dietary focus differentiates it.
• Caviar: Caviar operates a premium food-ordering and delivery marketplace, with restaurant partners spanning major US cities. It serves office and event orders, placing it as a broader incumbent delivering into the same corporate-catering demand pool as CaterCow.

Others

• ChowNow: ChowNow is an online ordering platform and marketplace that helps independent restaurants offer direct ordering and delivery. It is a restaurant-tech / marketplace peer to CaterCow rather than a direct competitor, since it powers first-party restaurant sites rather than aggregating office catering orders.
• Ordermark: Ordermark (now Otter) consolidates restaurant orders across multiple delivery platforms and offers tools for catering operators. It is adjacent to CaterCow's restaurant-supplier side, providing operations technology to the restaurants CaterCow relies on.
• Slice: Slice is a technology and ordering platform serving independent pizzerias and restaurants, often used for catering. While not a direct competitor to CaterCow, it serves the same supply-side restaurants CaterCow aggregates and competes for those restaurants' technology budgets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/CaterCow
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/catercow
• Instagraminstagram.com/catercow
• Xx.com/catercow

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CaterCow