San Francisco is home to over 85,000 small and new startup businesses and today is the start of San Francisco Small Business Week! To celebrate the vibrant small business community and connect with other business owners, entrepreneurs can participate in a series of educational and networking events throughout the week. Check out the full schedule of activities here: http://www.sfsmallbusinessweek.com/category/event/

ZeroCater is a startup, so naturally we have a huuuuuuuuge soft spot for fellow small businesses. After starting as a one-man-with-a-520-column-spreadsheet operation, we now have a lovely (and growing) team.

Most importantly, our business wouldn’t exist without the 100+ vendors we work with, who prepare and deliver delicious food for nearly 200 companies in the Bay Area. None of the vendors are corporate chain restaurants because food tastes better when it’s made from the heart. Ordering from ZeroCater is a choice to support the mom-and-pop joints that serve the best fried oyster po’ boys, the tastiest tamales, and many more superlative dishes. We can send you satays made with a secret family recipe from Indonesia, or bento boxes inspired by the owner’s Japanese heritage and design aesthetic.

In return for their delectable handiwork, ZeroCater coordinates the ordering and payment processes so we can not only promise our vendors consistent bulk orders well in advance, but also a new distribution method for their restaurants, catering companies, food trucks and pop-ups. The top vendors we work with (the ones that are always on-time and in highest demand) generate tens of thousands of dollars per month from the orders we send them.

If you’re a vendor making extraordinary food and you want to start catering or expand your business, we want to hear from you! Send us a note at hello@zerocater.com.

P.S. Below is a picture of YaYa, owner of Jannah, when he came to deliver lunch for us. And below that is a photo of a plate of Middle Eastern food from Jannah. We love you, YaYa!

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Last Thursday night, we festooned our beloved workplace with lanterns, put on our dancing shoes, and proudly hosted the after party for Taste of the Nation San Francisco. We were so pleased to hang out with many of the chefs who participated in the event, including Michael Tusk and his team from Cotogna and Quince, and David Taylor from A16.

Mucho thanks are in order:

To Cody Rose and Katie Bone of the Taste of the Nation SF committee, for trusting their After Party to a little food startup with big ambitions. We hope you’ll let us play host again next year!

To the Taste of the Nation volunteers, who managed check-in and tried their best to keep out the riff-raff before realizing we were already inside.

To our two fearless EXECs, for cheerfully handling our coat check despite the fact that 9:30 pm - 1:30 am is far past their normally scheduled hours.

To GreenBar Collective, for sharing not only their phenomenal Tru Organic spirits, but also the wizardry of mixologist Adam Stemmler from Blind Tiger Cocktail. People were buzzing about (and from) the cocktails all evening.

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To Barbary Coast Catering, for expert beverage service at two bars, and providing beer, wine, garnishes and juice for the cocktails, as well as glassware. We felt so. damn. classy.

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To B Street Waffles, TomKat, and The Grilled Cheez Guy, for making all our late-night snack dreams come true, and then some. Nom nom noooooooooooooooom.

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To Matt Masih and the Messengers, for keeping the party going with their seriously groovy tunes.

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And finally, an “explosive” sequence of Smugger’s Cove photos from Taste of the Nation itself:

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A wise man named Stephen Colbert once said:

"I always want to be on the cutting edge of sitting perfectly still while food is being brought near my mouth.”

We whole-stomachedly agree, and that’s why today ZeroCater is proud to announce our newest feature, made possible by a partnership with TacoCopter: food delivered by UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles).

From now on, ALL of your ZeroCater orders (not limited to tacos but excludes soup for obvious reasons) will be delivered by flying drones rather than humans.

“Yes, I realize there are challenges involved, from numerous FAA restrictions to avoiding birds, balconies and telephone wires,” said Arram Sabeti, founder and CEO of ZeroCater. “Nevertheless, we are committed to overcoming such barriers to entry, because we know how important food is to our customers, and we empathize with their laziness.”

Despite “tacoblocking” government regulations, ZeroCater will begin deploying its fleet of aerial delivery robots as soon as April Fools' Day is over.

For those not currently immersed in the launch of Apple’s newest iPad (today’s not a great time to put out any important tech news, fools), ZeroCater is excited to announce that we’re going to SXSW. Awwwwwww yeah.
 
It’s our first trip to the massively popular conference/festival/party and we are ready to rock.

AND we’re giving away free food! It’s cool, do your happy dance.

We’ve partnered with Austin’s beloved Stubb’s BBQ for a BBQ giveaway. Follow @ZeroCater on Twitter during SXSW to find Arram, Casey or Steffi, who will be handing out tickets to tastiness. Just bring the card to Stubb’s BBQ (801 Red River Street) to snag a free BBQ sandwich and side between March 9-18.

Looking forward to meeting (and feeding) you!
Arram, Casey and Steffi

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Just 1 day left to sign up for the ZeroCater Food-For-All tomorrow night! We hope you'll join us for an evening of delicious food and drinks. You won't want to miss out on dishes like "Berkshire Pork Kushikatsu with Snowy Cabbage and Black Miso" from Peko-Peko, "Maple Bacon" Belgian Street Waffles, or "Thai Samosas" from After Osha. There's a lot more and we could go on...but you'll have to come and try everything yourself.

Get your tickets here: http://zerocaterfoodforall.eventbrite.com/

Invite your friends with that Facebook thing: http://www.facebook.com/events/255109171230582/

Also, a reminder to register for the Google Places contest: https://sites.google.com/site/zerocaterfoodforall/

Just write some reviews of your favorite places in San Francisco (restaurants, bars, shops, salons, etc.) and you could win a $150 dinner at a restaurant of your choice! We are extending this contest through Monday, so you have plenty of time to write quality Places reviews about any business in SF. The winner will be announced on Monday by 6 pm PST, so stay tuned!