How ezCater used FlexDesk to facilitate team meetups in over 40 coworking spaces

Situation

ezCater is the #1 food tech platform for workplaces and has over 1,000 employees in the United States. The company is headquartered in Boston, but it began accelerating its remote hiring during the pandemic.

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Problem

As ezCater continued hiring remotely, it found clusters of employees in several cities. The company was keen to enable – but not require – team gatherings among these collocated employees.

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Given the high-cost and long-term length of signing a traditional lease, the company decided to leverage coworking spaces as an affordable and flexible solution.

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After initial research, it was clear to ezCater that provisioning access to coworking spaces would be no small feat. Employee expense reimbursements felt like a poor user experience, coupled with unnecessary administrative burdens on the accounting team. And it was important to the company that employees had a sense of agency to choose their own workspace.

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ezCater found FlexDesk, and less than 6 weeks later they made their first reservation on the platform.

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Solution

ezCater leveraged FlexDesk’s Coworking Management Platform to provide remote employees with drop-in access to coworking space.

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Through FlexDesk, ezCater employees can reserve desks and meeting rooms across the world’s most comprehensive network of coworking spaces.

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For collocated employees in remote hubs, FlexDesk helps promote a sense of engagement and connectivity.

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Alan Bautista, Mid-Market Acquisition BDR Manager at ezCater, describes this in more detail.

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“I wanted to organize sales meetups in Austin, and FlexDesk has made the booking experience seamless. I can make reservations on behalf of my colleagues, which helps avoid excessive coordination logistics and places our focus on collaboration and bonding while also having the ability to remain a remote team.”

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And for the company administrator, FlexDesk facilitated all aspects of the program across employee hubs, processing invoices, and ensuring adherence to policy.

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Nikki Ellis, Office and People Operations Manager at ezCater, explained this in more detail.

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“Since working with FlexDesk, I have spent very little time managing our company’s coworking program. Each time a new employee wants to get access to a coworking space, I simply point them to FlexDesk.”

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Results

ezCater has seen employee adoption grow organically outside of its Boston and Denver offices, with bookings in over 40 different coworking spaces. Over 50% of employees return after their first use, and nearly 80% of bookings are for team gatherings.

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Employees are also making use of the diverse coverage, with 80% of repeat users booking space at more than 1 coworking brand.

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Alan expanded on this: “Different spaces serve different purposes, and I love having access to a wide variety of options – depending on whether I am meeting with a client, hosting a team meetup, or simply getting out of the house for solo work.”

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