EAT Club, the fastest-growing provider of corporate lunch programs, announced today that it raised a $30 million Series C round, led by a strategic investor, Sodexo, the worldwide leader in Quality of Life Services, with participation from existing investors August Capital and Trinity Ventures. The $30 million investment will fund expansion to New York City and broaden the company's existing footprint in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.
EAT Club is a Silicon Valley startup that is revolutionizing the way people eat at the office at thousands of companies in California today. The company sets itself apart from the overcrowded food delivery segment with a unique logistics model driven by its own proprietary technology, providing offices with individually selected employee meals at scale. Today, EAT Club serves tens of thousands of individual meals per day with a 99.7% on-time delivery rate, and is generating a profit with healthy contribution margins, a measure of success others have not been able to achieve in this large and growing segment.
"This new investment and partnership with Sodexo will accelerate our ability to offer EAT Club to more offices in cities across the country. We look forward to delighting many more customers in the months ahead with outstanding food and service," said EAT Club CEO, Mike Griffith. "Our virtual cafeteria model is unique because it allows employees at multiple offices to choose individual meals from a wide variety of options while enabling EAT Club to produce and deliver those meals at economic scale."
Mark Bickford, CEO, corporate services, Sodexo North America said, "Workplaces are changing every day. More businesses – particularly in high-density urban markets where real estate costs are high – are looking to us to help provide cost-effective dining solutions that improve their employees' quality of life. With EAT Club, we are investing in learning and understanding more about offerings that are complementary to what we do – and can ultimately benefit our clients and end users."
"We appreciate the innovation that can come from a start-up model and have prioritized ways to adapt these key learnings to better serve our clients," Bickford adds. "EAT Club's strong business model and technology platform make them a good strategic fit for us. We are excited to learn from their success, particularly in helping us enhance flexibility and agility, and ultimately increase growth in this important market."
By taking away the high infrastructure cost of building out cafeterias, an office of any size that wants to attract and retain top talent can offer their employees lunch as a benefit with EAT Club. Companies subscribe to the service and employees make their food selections from a "virtual cafeteria" on EAT Club's easy-to-use mobile app or website. With extensive daily options – including hot and cold, wholesome and hearty, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo and diverse ethnic foods – EAT Club satisfies individual tastes and dietary preferences at offices with up to 1,000 employees.
ABOUT EAT CLUB:
Founded in 2010 by Kevin Yang and Rodrigo Santibanez, EAT Club is a leading provider of corporate lunch programs with employee choice via an easy-to-use platform. EAT Club has grown to provide tens of thousands of individual meals each day to corporations with 20 - 1,000 employees in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. With this new strategic investment, EAT Club will be expanding into more cities across the US. Visit EAT Club here.
ABOUT SODEXO:
Founded in Marseille in 1966 by Pierre Bellon, Sodexo is the global leader in services that improve Quality of Life, an essential factor in individual and organizational performance. Operating in 80 countries, Sodexo serves 75 million consumers each day through its unique combination of On-site Services, Benefits and Rewards Services and Personal and Home Services. Through its more than 100 services, Sodexo provides clients an integrated offering developed over 50 years of experience: from foodservices, reception, maintenance and cleaning, to facilities and equipment management; from Meal Pass, Gift Pass and Mobility Pass benefits for employees to in-home assistance, child care centers and concierge services. Sodexo's success and performance are founded on its independence, its sustainable business model and its ability to continuously develop and engage its 425,000 employees throughout the world.
Sodexo is included in the CAC 40 and DJSI indices.
About Sodexo USA
Sodexo USA is an American business that is part of a global, Fortune 500 company with a presence in 80 countries. Delivering more than 100 services across North America that enhance organizational performance, contribute to local communities and improve quality of life, Sodexo is a leading provider of sustainable, integrated facilities management and food service operations. It employs 123,000 Americans at 12,500 sites across the country and indirectly supports tens of thousands of additional U.S. jobs through its annual purchases of $9.2 billion in goods and services from small to large American businesses. In support of local communities across the U.S., the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation has contributed close to $30 million over the past 20 years to help feed children in America impacted by hunger.
Learn more about Sodexo at its corporate blog, Sodexo Insights.
