| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Internet |
| Founded | New York, NY (December 1999) |
| Headquarters | New York, NY |
| Key people | Jonathan Zabusky, CEO |
| Employees | 200+ (July 2011) |
| Website | www.seamless.com |
Seamless (formerly SeamlessWeb) is an online food ordering web site and suite of mobile apps that allows users to order food for delivery and takeout from restaurants.
Seamless was launched in 1999 as SeamlessWeb, providing companies with a Web-based system for ordering food from restaurants and caterers. Starting in 2005, Seamless was made available to the individual users and they currently partner with over 7,000 restaurants, serve over 3,500 companies, and have over 1,000,000 members in the United States and in London. The service is also available for personal orders in New York City, London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Houston, New Jersey, and Connecticut. They were acquired by Aramark in April 2006. On June 8, 2011, Spectrum Equity Investors made a $50 million minority investment in Seamless and the company has now been spun out of ARAMARK into an independent entity.
On June 28, 2011, SeamlessWeb notified their clients they will change their name to "Seamless."
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Users have the option of ordering from the website or from a Seamless mobile app for iPhone, Android, or BlackBerry.
Users enter their address and Seamless returns a list of restaurants that will deliver to the submitted address. Users then select a restaurant, create an order from the online menu, and submit the order electronically by entering their credit card or a company billing code. Ratings, reviews, photos, tags, and other information is provided to help the user find the most appropriate meal.
Seamless does not prepare or deliver any food. Once a user submits an order, it is automatically sent to a dedicated computer terminal or fax machine at the restaurant. The restaurant confirms the order with Seamless and then prepares and delivers the order. At many restaurants, users also have the option to pick up their meals from the restaurant. The ordering process works in the same way, except that the user goes to the restaurant for his food instead of having the food delivered.
SeamlessWeb was recognized as the 4th-fastest growing private company in the United States in the 2004 Inc. 500 list.[1] The company had the highest rate of revenue growth among New York state technology companies in the 2005 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 program,[2] and was selected as one of Time Magazine's 50 Coolest Web Sites for 2006.[3] In August 2009, SeamlessWeb was featured on the MSN web series Cool Runnings. In the episode, entitled "Carving a Niche in Online Food Delivery", host Antonio Neves interviewed key personnel at SeamlessWeb, along with the restaurants and companies they work with, providing important insights into how SeamlessWeb began and how it thrived.[4]
In addition to company-wide recognition, Jason Finger, co-founder and president, won the 2007 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for E-Services,[5] and has received a number of other honors.