Working at heycater!
Germany’s first online booking platform for catering services in the reverse interview.
Almost everybody with a track record in a startup knows how working in a young company can be a very unique, once-in-a-life-time experience. We want to deliver you this experience on a weekly basis and that’s what our reverse-interview section is for — we take you on a journey to some of the world’s most exciting companies every other week. So without a further ado, let’s start with this week’s featured startup: heycater!
For the readers who don’t know heycater! — please introduce your product or service.
heycater! is the first online booking platform for catering services and events in Germany, founded in the summer of 2015. Working with over 200 of the best caterers, private chefs and food trucks in Germany, heycater! provides companies with delicious food and excellent service. heycater! aims to make the organisation of catering and events as simple as possible, whilst guaranteeing the highest service and quality standards for business clients.
Who are the founders of heycater!? What are their backgrounds? How did they get the idea for your startup?
heycater! was founded two years ago by two young and ambitious women: Therese Köhler and Sophie Radtke. The two business economists met each other during their time at Rocket Internet when Therese had the idea of founding a platform for high quality and individual catering solutions.
Looking back at the first 3–6 months after founding your company — how was this time for you? What were the biggest challenges you encountered? What are the most memorable impressions of this time?
The first 3–6 months were an absolute rollercoaster. In the beginning nobody believed in our model. We were the first ones in Europe trying to address food tech for B2B only which was challenging and exciting at the same time.
Absolute memorable were the days where we started working in our living rooms and within the shortest time launched our first website, build up the team, whilst having no money, no security and not many followers. But we already had and still have the passion, the capacity and the right attitude to fundamentally change something in our market. We look back to these days with lots of love and pride.
Why do people want to work at your company?
What makes our team unique are the various characters. Everyday our team works at its best combining the diversity of varied personalities to create a unified working force. We really grew together as a unit while overcoming smaller setbacks as well as major successes. There is always a sympathetic ear for our team members and we help each other develop and achieve great work together.
What are the first three products, we would see in your fridge/ in your kitchen?
Good Coffee, fresh milk and most probably yummy leftovers from our last catering.
Describe us your most fun team event.
An awesome boat trip at Spree and our Christmas Party in August. Although all the small events in our office kitchen and at our rooftop are always lots of fun as well.
Looking back at the whole development story of heycater! — what makes you most proud?
We are most proud of our team: we have the opportunity to work with amazing people, who are talented, motivated and committed. As well we are proud for being so bold, simply going out there and change things in the market and build a market. Especially because it takes a lot of courage to build a new company. Sometimes people tell you you are not good enough, copy your work and for sure you’ll make mistakes or fail at some point. The magic is to keep going — to continue to listen to that inner flame and source energy from those great things that you achieved.
Describe us your team with 3 hashtags.
The day-to-day work may get really tough sometimes. What keeps you guys going?
Our Feelgood Manager Gina ensures our workplace happiness. We benefit from flexible working hours, home office and our weekly team lunches.
Furthermore we always try to keep our team spirit. Even in tough times we communicate clearly and honestly with each other and acknowledge everyones effort and achievements.
What’s the next big update we can expect from heycater!?
We see us as leading change makers in our industry and market makers. We will continue being innovative and surprise our clients and customers with new ideas every day. So, stay tuned!
That was a short glimpse at what working at heycater! is like. Do you like this startup? Find the link to their profile below:
