ezCater Unveils New Supplier Diversity Program to Uplift Small Businesses and Restaurants Owned by Underrepresented Groups

ezCater, the leading food for work technology company in the US, ​​today announced its new supplier diversity program designed to highlight and amplify small businesses and restaurants owned by members of an underrepresented group.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240123506914/en/

As part of its supplier diversity program, the company has launched two new filters to provide more search options on ezCater’s marketplace. The “Diversity of Ownership” filter allows workplaces to seamlessly search and order from restaurants whose owner identifies as Asian-American, Pacific Islander, Black, Disabled, Hispanic, Latine, Indigenous American, LGBTQ, Middle Eastern, North African, a veteran or a woman. The "Business Size" filter allows workplaces to discover and support small businesses.

To participate in ezCater’s supplier diversity program, restaurants can provide demographic information about their ownership in their ezCater account. ezCater defines restaurant ownership as the person(s) with at least 50% ownership of the independent business, franchise, or corporation; and adheres to the Small Business Administration definition for small restaurants as having less than $13.5 million in revenue. The demographic data provided by restaurant partners will also be used to gauge the equitability of ezCater's network of over 100,000 restaurants, power enhanced search results and heritage month spotlights, and generate reporting on diverse supplier spend for corporate account customers.

“We’re committed to using our platform to uplift traditionally underrepresented restaurants and build an equitable network that reflects the diversity of our community,” said Diane Swint, Chief Revenue Officer, ezCater. “We want to make food for work awesome — and to be awesome, food has to be inclusive. Our customers have increasingly expressed their desire to have more visibility into restaurant ownership, and now they do."

Workplaces are looking for ways to support underrepresented suppliers, and some have goals for how much they spend with these groups. As part of this new program, ezCater’s corporate customers will have access to custom reports for visibility into their company’s food spend with diverse suppliers.

“We see food as another way to bring diversity, equity, and inclusion to our workplace,” said Michele Barron-Resto, Workforce Planning Manager, Marcum LLP. “We choose to order from restaurants owned by underrepresented groups to reflect the diversity of our staff, celebrate different cultures, and support the local economy. ezCater’s new initiatives make it much easier for us to continue embedding DEI into our food program.”

In an effort to proactively identify restaurants owned by members of an underrepresented group and to help them grow their business, ezCater is now partnering with EatOkra, the largest database of Black-owned restaurants. ezCater is also a corporate member of organizations that provide economic opportunities to underrepresented groups, including the National Minority Supplier Diversity Council (NMSDC), Center for Women Enterprises (CWE), Disability:IN, National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), and National Veteran-Owned Business Development Council (NVBDC).

For more information on ezCater’s supplier diversity program, visit: https://www.ezcater.com/company/supplier-diversity/.

About ezCater

ezCater is the leading food for work technology company in the US, connecting anyone who needs food for their workplace to over 100,000 restaurants nationwide. For workplaces, ezCater provides flexible and scalable solutions for everything from recurring employee meals to one-off meetings, all backed by 24/7 customer service with real humans. ezCater also enables companies to manage their food spend in a single, customizable platform. For restaurant partners, ezCater helps them grow their business by bringing them more orders and new high-value customers. To learn more, visit www.ezcater.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240123506914/en/