Director of Engineering

7-Eleven adding catering to restaurant locations. The company has partnered with ezCater on bulk ordering at its Speedy Café and Laredo Taco Company locations, further supporting its foodservice ambitions. Published April 23, 2026 First published on Dive brief: * 7-Eleven is partnering with food technology platform ezCater to bring catering to its restaurant locations, the company announced on Monday. * Items from its Speedy Café and Laredo Taco Company restaurants as well as most Raise the Roost locations, will be available for catering orders. While select 7-Elevens have offered bulk ordering before, "this is the first time 7-Eleven, Inc. has introduced a scaled, national catering program across our restaurant brands," Chris Switzer, senior director of restaurants, said in an email. * This is the latest move 7-Eleven has made to bolster its foodservice aspirations in North America as it prepares for a potential IPO. Dive insight: 7-Eleven has been adding new food options and limited-time offerings for years, but the addition of catering opens it up to an entirely new cohort of diners - those at meetings, company functions, parties and other events where having everyone order individually would be cumbersome. At Speedy Café, customers can choose from items like pizzas, breakfast sandwiches, lunch boxes and salads. Laredo Taco catering orders can consist of options from its taco bar, as well as breakfast taco boxes and chips and queso. Raise the Roost locations' offerings include chicken tenders, wings, sandwiches and sides. Food has been a central aspect of 7-Eleven's revitalization plan. At the forefront has been a push to build larger, food-focused stores and more restaurants. President and CEO Stephen Dacus also said in April 2025 that the retailer expected to roughly double the number of stores with QSRs from 1,080 at the time to 2,100 by 2030. The company opened 30 restaurants in fiscal 2025. 7-Eleven also sees catering as a way to augment its 7Now delivery arm. 7Now earned nearly $1 billion in fiscal 2025 and is targeting $1.25 billion by 2030, according to an earnings report last year. Company leaders noted in a Q4 fiscal 2025 Q&A that with gas prices soaring, 7Now has been seeing a boost, as consumers skip driving themselves to the store. Editor's note: This story has been updated with the correct capitalization and spacing in ezCater's name and to add comments from 7-Eleven.

ezCater, the leading US food tech platform for workplaces, has appointed Shaila Parikh as chief operations officer. Parikh brings over 20 years of experience in operations, strategy and consulting at high-growth companies. As COO, Parikh will oversee customer care and supply chain operations serving ezCater's enterprise customers and restaurant partners nationwide. She previously held leadership roles at Papa, Lyft and DaVita Kidney Care, where she drove profitability and reduced operational costs whilst improving customer experience. ezCater connects workplaces with over 100,000 restaurants across the US, providing flexible solutions for employee meals and meetings. The platform helps restaurants grow their catering business by bringing them high-value customers.

ezCater appoints Shaila Parikh as Chief Operations Officer. Parikh will lead customer care and operations to drive end-to-end supply chain effectiveness ezCater, the #1 food tech platform for workplaces in the US, announced today that Shaila Parikh has joined the company as Chief Operations Officer, effective February 4, 2026. BOSTON-(BUSINESS WIRE)-ezCater, the #1 food tech platform for workplaces in the US, today announced the appointment of Shaila Parikh as its new Chief Operations Officer (COO). Parikh brings more than 20 years of experience in operations, strategy, and consulting at high-growth companies to ezCater. As COO, she will lead ezCater's customer care and supply chain operations to serve the company's enterprise customers and restaurant partners nationwide. "Shaila's experience in scaling marketplaces and leading operations in high-stakes environments is exactly what ezCater needs," said Nihad Rahman, CEO, ezCater. "Her track record of building data-driven teams will be invaluable to the success of our customers' food programs and our restaurant partners' catering businesses." Parikh's previous experience includes leadership roles in operationally intensive environments such as Papa, Lyft, and DaVita Kidney Care. Her success in driving profitability and reducing operational costs, while improving customer experience, uniquely position her to serve as ezCater's COO. "ezCater solves the complexity behind workplace food - making it easy for enterprises to feed their teams at scale - while helping restaurants grow their catering business," said Parikh. "After two decades building operations in marketplaces and high-growth companies, I'm excited to modernize operations at ezCater and deliver even greater value to our customers and partners." About ezCater ezCater is the #1 food tech platform for workplaces in the US. The company makes it easy for any organization to manage its food needs and order from over 100,000 restaurants nationwide. For workplaces, ezCater provides flexible and scalable solutions for everything from recurring employee meals to one-off meetings, all backed by beyond helpful 24/7 service and business-grade reliability. For restaurant partners, ezCater helps grow their business by bringing them more orders and new high-value customers. To learn more, visit www.ezcater.com.