Technology

ezCater wants to boost the profile of restaurants owned by underrepresented groups

The digital catering marketplace has added new filters so customers can seek out restaurants run by people with diverse backgrounds.
Catering
Catering tech firm ezCater is adding new filters to its marketplace. | Photo: Shutterstock

Catering tech firm ezCater wants to make it easier for its customers to work with small businesses and restaurants owned by historically underrepresented groups.

The Boston-based platform, which connects businesses with restaurants and caterers via its online marketplace, on Tuesday announced two new filters to expand its search options. The “Diversity of Ownership” filter allows catering customers to search for and order from restaurants whose owners identify as Asian-American, Pacific Islander, Black, disable, Hispanic, Latine, Indigenous American, LGBTQ, Middle Eastern, North African, veterans and women.

The new “Business Size” filter allows ezCater customers to find and support small businesses, the company said.

“We’re committed to using our platform to uplift traditionally underrepresented restaurants and build an equitable network that reflects the diversity of our community,” Chief Revenue Officer Diane Swint said in a statement. “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.”

Participating restaurants must provide demographic information about their ownership in their ezCater account. To qualify as a small business, participating restaurants must generate no more than $13.5 million in annual revenue, as per Small Business Administration guidelines.

ezCater said it would use the demographic data it gathers to assess the equity of its network of more than 100,000 restaurants, while also creating heritage month spotlights and generating reports on diverse supplier spending for corporate account customers.

The catering marketplace also said it has partnered with EatOkra, the largest database of Black-owned restaurants, to proactively identify restaurants to include in the new filter.

“We see food as another way to bring diversity, equity and inclusion to our workplace,” Michele Barron-Resto, workforce planning manager for ezCater client Marcum LLP, said in a statement. “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.”

ezCater was founded in 2007. In July, the company named former Lyft executive Ashwin Raj as CEO, taking over from longtime chief executive and co-founder Stefania Mallett.

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