ezCater was once a company I felt genuinely proud to work for. It had a culture built around trust, transparency, people-first values, and a real sense of community. Unfortunately, much of what made this company special has been systematically dismantled.
Since leadership changes earlier this year, the company has moved further and further away from the culture and values that originally made employees feel safe, valued, and motivated. New leadership and outside consultants were brought in who, in my opinion, did not understand or preserve the culture that helped build this company.
Beginning around April, employees started noticing major changes to benefits, perks, and overall company direction. Many of us repeatedly asked leadership for transparency. We knew something was shifting, and we begged for honest communication about what was happening. Instead, leadership remained vague and distant.
Then came the layoffs.
Approximately 50 employees were let go in a cold and deeply disheartening manner. There was no meaningful warning, no transparency, and very little empathy shown. People were allowed to clock in and sit in uncertainty, only to be cut one by one. For a company that once preached transparency and care, the way this was handled felt like a complete contradiction of those values.
The most disappointing part is that this wasn’t just about the layoffs themselves—it was about how they were handled. There are humane ways to navigate difficult business decisions. This was not one of them.
Many of the people impacted were high performers who had dedicated years of hard work to helping ezCater grow. This company was built on the backs of passionate employees who cared deeply about customers and each other.
It also felt telling that values many employees respected—such as trust, transparency, inclusion, and accountability—seemed to quietly disappear as leadership changed. The culture shifted from collaborative and people-centered to increasingly corporate, profit-driven, and fear-based.
This review is not coming from someone simply upset about losing a job. I performed well and would have remained loyal to this company. I could have accepted difficult business realities if leadership had shown honesty, empathy, and respect.
Instead, trust was broken.
Morale among remaining employees is extremely low, and many no longer feel secure. The psychological safety that once made ezCater special has been severely damaged.
I still appreciate the amazing coworkers and teams I had the privilege of working with. They were the heart of this company.
But the company I joined is no longer the company that exists today.
