Today, DoorDash announced DoorDash For Work, a corporate meal program designed to serve both remote employees and those who have returned to the office. According to a blog post from DoorDash, the Work program is a a suite of products that offers companies different options for feeding their workers in lieu of the old way of offering in-office catered meals.
Companies can choose from four main options. The first is DashPass for Work, which consists of employers paying for their workers’ DashPass subscriptions. The DashPass normally costs $9.99/month and gives members free unlimited delivery. Employers would be covering that $9.99 cost. Clients for this option already include Charles Schwab and Hulu, according to today’s blog post.
Companies can also choose to “purchase and distribute” DoorDash meal credits that employees can use at the office or at home. All credits can be redeemed through DoorDash and its subsidiary Caviar.
The third option is Group Orders. Employees in a single place can choose meals from a preselected restaurant. Think of it as a pandemic-friendly version of the employee buffets of old. All meals go into the same shopping cart and are delivered at once to the group’s location. The entire order can be charged to a company expense account.
Finally, companies can purchase DoorDash gift cards for employees. DoorDash says that since remote work went mainstream, it’s seen “an increase in demand to use DoorDash gift cards in the corporate setting.”
DoorDash joins multiple other companies hoping to reinvent the concept of corporate catering in the wake of the pandemic. Rival third-party delivery service Uber Eats launched a Vouchers program in June that lets businesses customize meal plans for employees working remotely. The program can even service 1,000-person-plus virtual events. Elsewhere, Forkable now delivers to both offices and at-home employees.
DoorDash’s move into office catering also means the service is further diversifying its platform, a necessary move given the perilous state of the restaurant industry these days. DoorDash recently added grocery and convenience store delivery, and even launched its own “ghost convenience” store.