Zerocater YC Application

Winter 2011Active

Zerocater went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2011 batch as a B2B company. Below: what the company does, who founded it, and its application to YC, reconstructed question by question in the real YC form.

YC batch: Winter 2011
Industry: B2BOffice Management
Team size: 140
Status: Active
Launched: 2026

Founders

Arram SabetiFounder/CEO

What Zerocater does

Zerocater builds revolutionary corporate catering and cafeteria solutions employees love while saving companies millions of dollars as they transition to the hybrid workplace. With its Cloud Cafe, Hybrid Cafe, Managed Cafe, and Event Cafe products; Zerocater has built corporate cafeteria and office catering programs for companies of all sizes from growing startups to the Fortune 500. Thousands of companies choose Zerocater for the customized, consistent, and diverse meal experiences its products offer, while also reducing costs by giving companies the flexibility to only pay for the employees who come into the office. Zerocater currently offers its corporate cafeteria and office catering products in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Austin, Denver, Seattle, Atlanta, Dallas, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Since completing YCombinator in Winter 2011, Zerocater has raised $38.5M from leading investors including Cleveland Avenue, Remus Capital, Romulus Capital, Struck Capital, SV Angel, Keith Rabois, Yuri Milner, Paul Buchheit, and Justin Kan. For more information visit zerocater.com and follow @Zerocater on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Zerocater's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Zerocater, Winter 2011 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Zerocater

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Corporate catering tailored to hybrid workplaces

What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.

We build corporate cafeteria and office catering programs that allow companies to provide food employees love while controlling costs. Our products - Cloud Cafe, Hybrid Cafe, Managed Cafe, and Event Cafe - give companies flexibility to only pay for meals for employees actually coming into the office, helping them transition to hybrid work smoothly.

Where do you live now, and where would the company be based after YC?

We live in San Francisco, and the company will be based here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco is where most of our early users and food partners are located, and it gives us access to tech talent and investors aligned with our business.

21 more answers in the full application

Founders, Progress, Idea, Equity, Curious, Batch Preference are in the full version. Create a free account to open it in YC Insights, next to every other YC batch.

See full application

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the real Zerocater YC application?

No. Y Combinator keeps submitted applications private. This is a reconstruction: the real YC form questions, answered from Zerocater's public data (launch notes, founder backgrounds, product description). It shows how a company like Zerocater would present itself to YC, not the text they submitted.