Uber Buying EZCater for $2.3 Billion

<p><span class&equals;"bw-dateline-wrapper"><strong>SAN FRANCISCO<&sol;strong> &&num;8212&semi; <&sol;span>Uber Technologies plans to acquire ezCater&comma; a national platform for businesses to order catering and workplace meals&comma; in an all-cash transaction valued at &dollar;2&period;3 billion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Based in Boston&comma; ezCater makes it easy for any business to manage its food needs and order from over 140&comma;000 restaurants nationwide&period; Its platform supports everything from meetings&comma; events&comma; and recurring enterprise catering needs&comma; with tools to manage ordering and food spend and 24&sol;7 customer support&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The acquisition will bring together ezCater’s proven catering and B2B expertise&comma; Uber Eats’ global reach among consumers and restaurants&comma; and Uber for Business’s deep relationships with organizations of all sizes&period; Restaurants will be able to grow through larger orders and new diners&period; Customers will be able to find and order food for a group more simply and reliably&comma; from workplace meals&comma; to events&comma; and social gatherings&period; And couriers on Uber Eats will have attractive new opportunities to earn&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>ezCater generated over &dollar;2&period;5 billion in Gross Bookings over the trailing twelve months&comma; growing high teens year-over-year&period; The business is profitable on a Non-GAAP Operating Income basis&comma; and is expected to be margin accretive&period; ezCater’s average order values are over &dollar;400&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Catering is a big business&comma; and can be a huge revenue stream for restaurants&comma;” said Dara Khosrowshahi&comma; CEO of Uber&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Nihad and his incredible team have built an amazing platform&period; With Uber’s reach&comma; we can bring that experience to millions more customers and help restaurants win more of these valuable orders&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We&&num;8217&semi;re thrilled to be joining forces with Uber&period; Our team is proud of what we&&num;8217&semi;ve built — the leading platform for workplace catering&comma; and a major growth channel for our restaurant partners&comma;” said Nihad Rahman&comma; CEO of ezCater&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We&&num;8217&semi;re energized to bring our catering and B2B expertise to Uber&&num;8217&semi;s global ecosystem of customers&comma; merchants&comma; and couriers&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;