Economic rebound serves up increased sales for web-based caterer

Vmeals amps up technology, service to make on-line catering a top choice for meeting planners

News Highlights:

¨ Economic rebound drives increased demand for corporate catering

¨ Vmeals continues to focus on technology and marketing

¨ Customers are a Web site away from convenient, quality meeting menu options

(CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – January, 2010): After a widespread freeze on corporate meal spending, one web-based corporate catering service is seeing renewed activity around business meetings and the meals that fuel them. Vmeals (www.vmeals.com), a leading online meal ordering service for business customers, reports growth in meal order sales in December 2009 in many of its key corporate markets.

“It’s no surprise that 2009 was a tough year in our business,” said W. Carter Hoerr, chief executive of Vmeals. “Our corporate customers slashed their discretionary spending in response to the economic downturn, and delivered meals for business meetings took a hit. Customers told us they were sending out for pizza before meetings instead of ordering their usual box lunches or hot buffets.”

Despite the economic downturn, Vmeals increased its investment in technology, marketing, and customer service. “We felt that it was critical to continue investing in our brand and web services,” says Hoerr. “As the economy strengthens, we are in a strong position to provide our customers with expanded choices and better service.”

Today, Vmeals customers in more than 30 metropolitan East Coast and Midwest markets have an easy-to-use catering service that allows them to customize menus and business meal services with a variety of quality local and national restaurants and food services. Vmeals customers can place a single group order or allow meeting participants to order from a selected menu.

“The advantage to our service is that a meeting planner can visit the Vmeals site and see menus and pricing information for a variety of local restaurants at once, rather than having to spend time contacting each one,” Hoerr said. “It’s a convenient service that adds flexibility to planning and adds interest to business meal choices.”

Vmeals reports sales growth for corporate catering in December versus the prior year in Baltimore (up 44%), Atlanta (up 5%), Dallas (up 20%), New Jersey (up 15%) and Philadelphia (up 100%), among others. Hoerr said, “While some markets remain soft, the overall signs of growth are encouraging. We plan to continue to invest and grow by adding new meal providers and expanding our customer base through aggressive marketing outreach and enhanced customer service.”

About Vmeals:

Vmeals (www.vmeals.com) is an online service for business people who order group meals for meetings and events. The Vmeals website features menus and delivered meals from a wide variety of over 1,400 local restaurants and caterers in 30 U.S. cities. Vmeals customers include Fortune 1000 offices, professional services firms (investment banking, law, accounting, technology, consulting, and training), pharmaceutical sales reps, colleges, non-profits, and medical centers.

The web-based Vmeals system handles all aspects of the delivered meal transaction – marketing, customer acquisition, menu presentation, pricing, order processing, payment, and customer service – except the actual preparation and presentation of the food.

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