Who Invented Group Food Ordering?
As recently as a few years ago, ordering lunch for the office usually involved bringing in a ton of pizza or the local BBQ joint. Sometimes the restaurant would deliver the food; in other cases, you had to pull someone (or several someones, depending on how much you ordered) away from their work so they could pick it up and then haul it back to the office. And did anyone on staff have dietary restrictions? Sometimes you could make special requests, sometimes you couldn’t.
Let’s not get into the poor soul who had to wander the workplace, taking everyone’s requests before compiling them into an order.
Fortunately, corporate meal delivery has come a long way… and the change started earlier than you think. Ordering meals for the office online became possible in 1995, when Waiter.com set up shop on the World Wide Web and introduced Silicon Valley to the joys of ordering without picking up a phone.
It’s been a long and interesting ride since then, and many competitors have come and gone. So grab a snack and get comfortable — we’re gonna turn back the (analog, of course) clocks to the end of the twentieth century.
Corporate Meal Delivery
In 1995, ordering takeout looked very different.
Yes, the internet was around, but in a far more limited capacity. “Getting online” tended to mean dial-up, usually through a portal that jammed up your phone or fax line while it was in use. If you wanted to get a meal for your office, you placed an order over the phone and then traipsed down to the restaurant to pick it up. The more technologically advanced places might let you order by email or, if they were really fancy, fax it in.
(We’re aware of how quaint this sounds.)
Waiter.com set out to change that. Founded by Craig Cohen and Michael Adelberg, the company — then called World Wide Waiter — aimed to link restaurants with offices. In a 1996 interview with Palo Alto Weekly, Cohen explained the difficulties he encountered trying to get sandwiches made the way he wanted. It would be easier, he thought, to take orders via a computer.
As Waiter.com was located in Silicon Valley at the very start of the dot-com boom, its founders saw the difficulties office administrators faced trying to bring meals into offices. They built the tech around Waiter.com specifically to allow businesses to order meals for their people. The idea was novel: go to one “web site” and access heaps of local restaurants.
Of course, they had to pitch restaurants on both the service and the internet itself — many didn’t even have websites. Waiter.com often hosted the first web presence for Bay Area restaurants.
In its early years, Waiter.com simply acted as an ordering portal, taking a small commission. Restaurants handled fulfillment. But the real innovation was the Shared Shopping Cart, allowing multiple users to collaborate on a single order. This was revolutionary for its time.
Other platforms emerged in response, some of which no longer exist. But nearly all of them borrowed features that Waiter.com pioneered — menu uploads, saved credit cards, and multi-meal ordering.
A New York Times article in 2000 described online food ordering as “very much an evolving technology.” Despite hiccups with competitors, Waiter.com worked “with hardly a glitch” and delivered lunch within 35 minutes.
Technology Ups the Game
The early 2000s were a breakthrough moment. Internet access became widespread, and restaurants joined the digital era. But the real game-changer came in 2007: the smartphone.
Now, users could order food from anywhere. With apps flooding the market, food delivery became more convenient than ever.
Workplace cafeterias started to feel outdated. Corporate catering became the new standard, offering diverse menus delivered straight to desks. Employees loved it, and employers saw boosts in morale and productivity.
By 2007, Waiter.com expanded to serve individuals, but they stayed focused on corporate tools — like scheduled deliveries days in advance.
Unlike gig-based competitors, Waiter.com employed full-time drivers. They used insulated catering bags and prioritized professionalism and food quality. Other platforms stuck with plastic bags and part-time drivers — often leading to cold or missing meals.
How the Pandemic & Remote Workforce Changed Food Delivery
The COVID-19 pandemic drastically impacted restaurants and food delivery. As remote work surged and dining out slowed, platforms like Waiter.com became essential to business continuity.
They implemented contactless delivery and strict protocols. And when employees returned to offices, food once again became a strong employee incentive. A good meal could make people want to come back to work — and stay.
Waiter.com, already optimized for large group orders, was ready. Their infrastructure was built for exactly this challenge, and they continued to thrive in regions like Silicon Valley.
The Future of Group Food Ordering Is Ongoing
Food delivery is still evolving. Many services now use AI and chatbots for customer support, making it difficult to reach a real person.
Waiter.com has taken the opposite approach. Their customer service team is US-based and reachable by phone or live chat — just like it was in 1995.
While flashy startups come and go, Waiter.com has remained focused on what it does best: feeding offices with great food and better service.
In 2000, co-founder Mike Adelberg said, “There’s going to be a day when this will be a big part of the restaurant takeout business.”
What can we say? He was right.