Facing tight budgets and even stricter timelines, forward-thinking companies turn to technology to solve complex challenges every day. With the right tools, employees don’t just work faster — they work smarter, making everyday tasks suddenly more efficient. 

Take ordering food for the workplace, whether it’s catering a team lunch, a new client meeting, or providing food for employee onboarding sessions. Remember how long it used to take to research restaurants, coordinate deliveries, and manage orders? Not anymore. Thanks to new advancements in tech and third-party platforms like ezCater, those days are long gone.

But food tech innovation hasn’t stopped there. ezCater has just introduced a new Smart Ordering feature powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. It takes convenience to a whole new level, making the complex task of combing through menus and selecting food options for groups faster and more manageable. Here’s a taste of what the future of smart ordering looks like.

What is ezCater’s Smart Ordering feature?

ezCater’s new Smart Ordering feature is a simpler, faster way to order food for groups in the workplace. It transforms complex tasks — like curating a lunch menu for 45 people — into a few simple steps. How? With the help of ezCater’s historical order data, augmented by machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Smart Ordering analyzes nearly two decades of proprietary data on ordering behavior. It then provides two fully built menu recommendations at different price points in an instant. One menu covers just the essentials and includes top-ordered entrées at a lower cost per person. The other offers a more complete meal that includes sides, drinks, and desserts. From here, users can modify menus as needed, by adjusting headcounts, setting dietary restrictions, and entering eater preferences.

Food orderers are in good hands with Smart Ordering. After all, the technology builds menu combinations that have historically satisfied corporate diners for over seventeen years. Whether ordering meals for multiple locations or feeding a group of picky eaters, food orderers can feel confident that the menu recommendations will be a hit. 

Smart Ordering is currently available in over 50,000 restaurants on ezCater, with more rolling out throughout this year and next.

5 ways that ezCater’s Smart Ordering feature simplifies workplace food ordering

Food is a feel-good part of most people’s day, but for people tasked with ordering multiple meals for their co-workers, it can be time-consuming. Smart Ordering is here to automate the process — and make the workday a little easier.

1. Saves time

Employees’ time is valuable and limited, so why spend it selecting individual menu items for group orders? Smart Ordering takes care of the repetition of adding menu items manually. After entering their headcount, ezCater orderers get instant access to pre-built menus. Now, placing an order for that 45-person lunch takes just a few clicks. Users save precious time, and those time-savings add up — especially when they regularly need to order meals for multiple teams working from different locations.

2. Reduces decision fatigue

Food orderers know that variety matters to eaters, so they strive to order new, exciting meals for client meetings and workplace lunches. However, constantly putting together a wide range of high-quality food options everyone will enjoy (especially multiple times per week) can be exhausting.

Smart Ordering addresses decision fatigue. It suggests two menu combinations based on what other diners have liked. Instead of sorting through dozens of different dishes, you can pick just one of two options. Now, ordering food for a client lunch on Tuesday, a team meeting on Wednesday, and a training session on Thursday takes far less brain power.

3. Simplifies budget management

Besides variety, food orderers also have to balance budgets. Employees and clients crave high-quality meals, but companies allocate limited funds for food. To avoid overspending, professionals often have to devote extra time (and brain power) to complex budget calculations. 

Fortunately, Smart Ordering helps ordering professionals stay on top of their spending by providing clear per-person pricing that makes it easy (and far less painful) to find a menu that fits different budget requirements. The feature also suggests menus in two price tiers — a full meal or just the affordable essentials — so you can choose to either splurge or save. 

4. Ensures adequate food quantities

“How much food should I get?” is another calculation weighing on ordering professionals’ minds. Translating headcounts into the right amount of catering trays or liters of soda can be challenging, as too much food leads to waste and not enough leads to hungry, unsatisfied eaters. 

An easier way to get quantities right is to leave the calculations to Smart Ordering, which provides menu recommendations that are customizable based on group size. This ensures workplaces order the right amount of food. For example, the Smart Ordering menus may suggest getting a large lasagna tray for eight people, but a combination of twelve sandwich trays for a crowd of 50. Relying on these smart suggestions saves time, money, and potential food waste.

5. Empowers decision making

Opinions about food are as diverse as pizza toppings: everyone has their own idea of what’s delicious. When food orderers are already overwhelmed with food quantity and budget calculations, the last thing they need is to second-guess the dishes they’ve picked.

Let’s say that a consulting experience coordinator wants to order lunch from a local Mediterranean restaurant but isn’t sure what to order. Instead of going through the menu countless times and overthinking every option, they can rely on the Smart Ordering suggestions. Stakeholders will likely enjoy the recommended spread of dips, pita, kebabs, falafels, and drinks just as much as ezCater corporate diners have for decades.

How to place an order using ezCater’s Smart Ordering feature

Smart Ordering instantly curates menu combinations based on millions of successful workplace orders, making it easier than ever to source (and enjoy) high-quality meals into the workplace. How does it work? The first step is to select a local restaurant on the ezCater marketplace, as you normally would. Once you’re on the restaurant’s page, you will see a new banner that reads “All-in-One Orders” on your screen. From here, placing an order takes just a few clicks.

1. Select one of the two pre-assembled menus to see what items are included, estimated total, and per-person total. (Tip: Select “Customize” to modify menus based on headcount.)
2. Click “Add all items to cart” to move forward with your order.
3. Review your order details and make any changes you need, like adding or subtracting items.

That’s it! You can then complete the checkout process as usual.

Order smarter, not harder, with ezCater Smart Ordering

The food ordering process is more convenient and efficient than ever before with ezCater. Thanks to ezCater’s historical order data — paired with AI and machine learning — complex tasks now require just a few clicks. Start an order today to discover how to build crowd-pleasing menus effortlessly with Smart Ordering.