Uber Buys ezCater for US$2.3B in Cash to Win the Office Lunch Order

Uber agreed on October 6, 2026, to buy ezCater, a Boston-based platform for catering and workplace meals, for US$2.3 billion in cash. The deal, led by Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, is expected to close in the coming months, subject to regulatory approval. ezCater lets companies order large meals from more than 140,000 restaurants across the United States, with average orders above US$400. According to Uber, it generated more than US$2.5 billion in gross bookings over the past 12 months, growing in the high teens, and is profitable on a non-GAAP operating basis. Uber expects the deal to improve its margins.

ezCater is led by CEO Nihad Rahman, a former JPMorgan Chase executive who joined as CFO in 2022. The company was founded in 2007 by Stefania Mallett, who stepped down as CEO in 2023, and has about 900 employees, roughly 300 of them in Boston. Uber plans to combine it with Uber Eats and Uber for Business so restaurants can win bigger orders and new corporate customers, and so Uber couriers get more delivery work.

Market Context

ezCater took a long road to this price. It was bootstrapped for seven years before raising its first US$4 million in 2014, and it was valued above US$1.6 billion in a 2021 funding round. During the pandemic its sales fell 85% and it laid off 420 workers, then recovered by selling to factories and hospitals whose staff still worked on site. The company had also explored an IPO a few years ago.

The purchase is part of a busy year of deals for Uber. In July it agreed to buy Germany's Delivery Hero for about US$14.8 billion in cash, and in 2026 it also bought chauffeur service Blacklane, committed up to US$1.25 billion to a robotaxi partnership with Rivian and partnered with drone delivery firms Zipline and Flytrex. The ezCater deal gives Uber a stronger position against DoorDash in corporate food, a segment with larger and more predictable orders than individual delivery. Uber had US$4.78 billion in cash as of June 30, and its shares are down about 31% over the past year.

Key Signal

"Catering is a big business, and can be a huge revenue stream for restaurants." Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO, Uber

Regional Relevance

For the United States, the deal shows where food delivery platforms see their next growth: business customers. Office meal programs, team lunches and events produce fewer orders than consumer delivery but much bigger tickets, and they come with corporate accounts that repeat. Buying a profitable, growing marketplace also helps Uber show investors that its delivery business can expand without hurting margins, at a time when its stock is under pressure.

For Boston, ezCater is one of the city's best-known homegrown tech companies, and the sale raises questions about its future there. The city has seen this before: Uber bought local liquor delivery service Drizly for US$1 billion in 2021 and shut the brand down about three years later. Babson College professor Peter Cohan told The Boston Globe that Uber could speed up ezCater's sales process and find savings, possibly by moving headquarters functions to San Francisco and trimming finance and HR roles, though Uber has announced no such plans.

The Other Side

Will ezCater keep its brand and team? Drizly is the obvious precedent. Uber has not said whether ezCater will keep its name, headquarters or current leadership after closing, and that matters for its 900 employees and its restaurant partners.

How much of the US$2.5 billion stays with ezCater? Gross bookings measure the total value of orders, not the revenue ezCater keeps. Neither company disclosed ezCater's revenue or its take rate, so the real price paid relative to income is unclear.

Can Uber absorb two deals at once? Uber is integrating a US$14.8 billion purchase of Delivery Hero at the same time. Catering also brings operational challenges for restaurants, from kitchen capacity to food temperature on large orders, which can strain the experience as volume grows.

Sources & Transparency

• Uber is spending $2.3B to get into catering
• Uber is acquiring Boston online catering company ezCater for $2.3 billion
• Uber Eats Enters Catering Space With $2.3 Billion ezCater Deal
• Uber Expands into Workplace Catering with $2.3 Billion ezCater Acquisition
• Uber targets corporate food delivery with ezCater acquisition