Elite college-level basketball games aren’t won on empty stomachs. Athletes need to fuel up on healthy, filling meals before and after each game to reach their peak performance. That’s the sort of carefully planned diet players at the Northeastern University men’s basketball team follow.

As a member of the Coastal Athletic Association, the Boston-based Northeastern Huskies play at the highest level of NCAA Division I sports. It’s an honor but also a challenge; players juggle academics, weight training, practice, travel, family lives, and so much more.

Food is what fuels them. And these athletes eat a lot every day. More than any other team Lauren Tebsherany, Director of Basketball Operations, has ever worked with.

“Our athletes run through a lot of calories, and as soon as one meal is over, they’re already thinking about their next meal,” said Tebsherany.

The Huskies’ voracious appetite keeps Tebsherany busy, as it’s her responsibility to plan and source all meals for the players, on and off the road. Keeping the ball rolling in such a fast-paced and demanding environment isn’t always easy, and Tebsherany relies on ezCater to keep her team well-fed with food they love.

Using food to stay at the top of their game

“I’m fueling them for games, pre-game, and post-game meals,” says Tebsherany. “I have to make sure they’re getting the right nutrients and proteins to get them through all their activities.”

It’s no simple feat. During the off-season, Tebsherany provides at least one meal per week to 14 athletes and 11 staff members. As the NCAA basketball season picks up, she orders five to 10 meals a week. When the team hits the road, she feeds players four meals per day.

Each one of those meals would be a lot of work to coordinate if Tebsherany had to do it all on her own. It would add hours of work to her already busy schedule. And even though Tebsherany has a natural aptitude (and passion!) for keeping things organized, so much could still go wrong.

Fortunately, Tebsherany has ezCater in her corner. For the past three years, she’s relied on ezCater to make her life easier and keep players happy and full.

How ezCater has made it easy to score

Tebsherany discovered ezCater soon after becoming the Director of Basketball Operations in mid-2020. With many restaurants closed and the world still in limbo, finding nutritious food options for her team was a challenge. After a quick online search, she placed her first order with ezCater.

It was a slam dunk, and Tebsherany never looked back. Three years later, she still uses ezCater for at least 50% of all the team’s food orders.

No more wasted time coordinating orders

Tebsherany has been working with collegiate basketball teams for over a decade. And for most of that time, up until 2020, she was coordinating meals alone.

She still remembers how time-consuming food ordering used to be in her past roles, before using ezCater. She had to call restaurants herself, explain dietary restrictions, and hope everything got labeled correctly. She also had to explain her teams’ tax-exempt status, which was tiring and sometimes resulted in incorrect billing.

“ezCater takes the guesswork out of it. You get the email, you feel confident that [the order] is going to come when it’s supposed to come.”

Lauren Tebsherany, Director of Basketball Operations at Northeastern University

Tebsherany was spread thin, until she found ezCater. Everything changed after joining the men’s team at Northeastern University. Now, she places all her orders on the online platform with a few clicks. No more calling, no more worrying, and no more repeating tax information.

Easing the logistical worries

Embracing a better system was great for Tebsherany’s work-life balance and on-the-job performance. Before, she felt she had to constantly confirm and reconfirm the status of her orders. Now, she knows ezCater will take care of the logistics for her. She can worry less and focus on other ways to support her team.

“ezCater takes the guesswork out of it,” said Tebsherany. “You get the email, you feel confident that [the order] is going to come when it’s supposed to come.”

Diversified food options

With 20 to 40 meals served each month, the challenge is providing athletes with enough variety. Don’t think they don’t notice repeat meals. The Huskies take their food seriously.

Being based in Boston gives the team access to hundreds of restaurants and caterers. Tebsherany can use the ezCater filters to find what she needs — healthy food, prepared when the team needs it, within budget — quickly. This lets her treat her athletes to something new and delicious often on campus, so they’re never bored.

Valuable time saved

If it weren’t for ezCater, Tebsherany’s days would be hectic.

All told, ezCater saves her at least three hours per week during the NCAA season. In the busiest months when the team plays (and travels) every few days, ordering with ezCater saves Tebsherany six hours every single week.

“It’s a lot for me,” said Tebsherany. “I don’t have a free minute during the season to do anything. So saving that much time is huge.”

Reduced mental load

Before ezCater, Tebsherany’s job felt like juggling a thousand things at once. Place the right orders, help players meet their nutritional needs, give delivery drivers very detailed instructions on how to get around campus, make sure food arrives on time, and on and on and on. Tebsherany excels at her job, but she used to worry she’d drop the ball on small things (like not ordering spoons, forks, and knives).

ezCater is set up to ease this mental burden. Now, she orders with a few clicks, gets confirmation emails immediately, and knows someone else keeps things on track. She even ticks a box to request utensils without having to actively remember it.

Access to a variety of healthy food options anywhere

If you need healthy restaurant suggestions in Boston, just ask the Huskies. The athletes are big fans of Boloco, Playa Bowls, Dig, and Homegrown for their wholesome and satisfying flavor-packed meals.

But they can’t rely on those hidden gems when they’re away from home. Without ezCater, Tebsherany would have to resort to Google Maps to find local restaurants. She would have to research each restaurant individually, call to ask if they could feed an entire basketball team, and go through the entire food-ordering process over the phone.

That just wouldn’t have worked. Partnering with ezCater has meant Tebsherany can find healthy food in unfamiliar towns and cities quickly. She can enter her team’s away game location and secure nutritious meals days (or even weeks) in advance.

Stress-free meals delivered by ezCater

Joining forces with ezCater has been a game-changer for Northeastern.

“I can place an order on ezCater and know that it’s going to arrive when it says it will,” said Tebsherany. “And I’m not going to have to worry about it in the process. It lends itself to somebody who is busy and has a lot on their plate. It also gives our players the variety and nutrition they need to be successful.” This partnership has made Tebsherany an even better team player: she’s less stressed, less burdened, and more present for the athletes. Why not bring this winning strategy to your very own athletic department? Learn more about how ezCater’s sports solutions can fuel your teams for success.