Square Makes Zesty Catering App Acquisition

Square has acquired “certain assets” of Zesty to strengthen and scale Caviar, its food ordering platform. The acquisition will help grow Caviar’s corporate ordering business, Caviar for Teams, Square said in an announcement.

“Restaurants turn to Caviar to reach more diners and grow their businesses. Expanding our corporate catering product with Zesty enables us to offer our restaurant partners another way to boost sales through higher-margin, large-format catering orders,” Gokul Rajaram, Caviar lead at Square, said in the announcement. “Caviar is thriving, and we’re excited to supercharge its success with Zesty and double down on an area with great opportunity to drive more growth for our business.”

Through Zesty, Caviar for Teams will be able to expand its product offering with additional features. With the expansion, Caviar for Teams gains menu planning tools and white-glove catering logistics, among other features. While Caviar has had ordering functionality for groups since 2014, the service introduced a new ordering portal for large groups with Caviar for Teams in 2016.

Square purchased Caviar, a food delivery service, for an undisclosed amount in 2014. The app had operations in Boston, Chicago, New York, Seattle, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. TechCrunch reported the price, originally said to be $100 million, ended being about $90 million in stock.

“Caviar has made it easy for customers to get food delivered from some of the most popular local restaurants in the country,” Jason Wang, co-founder and CEO of Caviar, said at the time of the acquisition. “With Square’s national scale and commitment to making commerce easy, we’ll be able to help buyers get food delivered from more of their favorite restaurants, while helping restaurants reach new customers and simplify their operations.”

And, earlier this year, Square acquired 32-year-old Entrees on Trays. Rajaram told TechCrunch the goal of the purchase was twofold: to speed Caviar’s growth in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and to profit from the partnerships Entrees On Trays has established with local Texas restaurants.