While most pharmaceutical industry pros know that catered meals are an excellent way to secure pharma meetings, it’s not always easy to find a reliable food delivery service that can satisfy healthcare professionals (HCPs) and help reps stay compliant with guidelines like The Sunshine Act.

And for sales directors and team leads responsible for empowering multiple reps with the resources they need to develop strong relationships with HCPs — and meet their sales goals — the pressure is on to find the right tools.

Industry veterans know there’s only reliable option for their HCP catering needs: ezCater.

ezCater has worked with the pharma industry for over and decade, and knows just how to meet the specific requirements of pharma leaders and their teams. Let’s take a look at a few of the reasons why leading pharmaceutical companies choose ezCater’s meal delivery service.

The impact of the Sunshine Act on pharmaceutical sales reps

When it comes to feeding HCPs, nothing is more top of mind than The Sunshine Act, and staying compliant in terms of dollars spent on a per-person basis, as well as ensuring that all spend is accounted for.

The Sunshine Act requires pharma companies to report most payments or transfers of value provided to physicians and teaching hospitals — including food expenses for pharma meetings. While the Act doesn’t set spending limits, it does mandate detailed reporting to the Open Payments database. This means every sandwich, salad, and sushi roll your reps provide needs to be accounted for, no matter if it’s a one-on-one meeting or a group affair.

In addition to tracking the total cost of meals, to stay compliant, teams must also calculate the per-person value provided to each HCP who enjoys a snack or meal. This level of detail can be difficult to manage, and failing to comply can result in stiff financial penalties. But there’s good news. The right tools can simplify the process, allowing reps to spend less time calculating and reporting — and more time engaging with HCPs.

Why ezCater is a top choice for pharma meetings

Sales reps need a meal delivery service that supports their goals and makes their jobs easier. Here are five ways ezCater addresses the challenges faced by pharma leaders and makes it easy to efficiently manage meetings with HCPs.

1. Spend less time on admin, and more time calling on HCPs

For pharmaceutical sales teams, every minute counts. The less time reps spend on logistics, the more time they can dedicate to what really matters: selling.

ezCater provides access to a nationwide network of 100,000 restaurants and caterers. Gone are the days of reps wasting time frantically Googling “best lunch spots” for cities across their territories. Instead, they can quickly filter options by location and dietary preferences, cutting down research time from hours to minutes.

2. Ensure reliable delivery for your team’s high-stakes meetings 

With HCP meetings often booking out nearly a year in advance and tight time parameters hanging over their heads, reps might be inclined to pick up food themselves just to ensure nothing goes wrong. It sounds logical, but it’s far from ideal.

When high-stakes meetings are on the line, reps should be focusing on their core responsibilities, not driving to restaurants or stressing over deliveries. With ezCater, you can be confident your food will be delivered on time and exactly as ordered. In the unlikely event that there’s a glitch, our team will take care of it behind the scenes, so your meeting never misses a beat.

3. Streamline team oversight to establish consistent meal caps and ensure compliance 

Pharma team leaders need effective oversight over territory sales reps. Not only does the Sunshine Act require reporting through the Open Payments Database, but pharma companies often also have their own internal meal caps that reps must adhere to. Keeping everyone’s orders under the same account streamlines management, ensures accountability, and simplifies tracking.

With ezCater, each rep can build their own orders and check out using a house account and shared corporate card. This unified system provides a clear overview of all orders, helping leaders maintain control and ensure compliance with legal requirements and company policies. The system also allows team leaders to set hard limits on price per head, delivery fees, and more, ensuring that all spending stays within the required guidelines.

4. Simplify expense management

Managing the overall food budget for your team just got easier. With ezCater, reps no longer need to sift through old invoices and manually enter them into separate expense-tracking logs. Instead, digital receipts are consolidated in one convenient location. Sales leaders can also add custom checkout fields to track spending by rep or meeting, providing a clear and organized overview of all expenses. 

5. Improve the HCP experience

At the end of the day, few things are more important than leaving a lasting impression with HCPs. In a competitive environment where busy doctors are approached by many reps, providing an exceptional dining experience can make all the difference. Partnering with ezCater ensures you’re able to consistently offer high-quality, diverse meals that set your team apart and help your reps build strong, lasting relationships with HCPs.   

ezCater: The smart choice for pharma meetings

By choosing ezCater, reps will have easy access to reliable, efficient, and compliant food solutions that enhance their productivity and leave a lasting impression on healthcare professionals. From time savings and better team oversight to exceptional HCP experiences, ezCater addresses all the challenges pharmaceutical sales leaders face.

Empower your team with industry-leading tools designed to support their success. Get started now by exploring our catering solutions for pharma and biotech, where you can contact an ezCater specialist to discuss your team’s HCP catering needs.