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Uber is making a major move beyond the individual meal order, announcing plans to acquire catering platform ezCater in a $2.3 billion all-cash transaction that brings together two powerful food-delivery networks.

The deal, unveiled Tuesday, was assembled with legal guidance from three law firms as Uber looks to combine ezCater's business-to-business catering expertise with the enormous consumer and restaurant reach of Uber Eats.

Under the agreement, Covington & Burling LLP advised Uber, while Freshfields LLP provided counsel to Uber on global antitrust matters. Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP represented ezCater.

The proposed acquisition would give Uber another route into the corporate food market while giving ezCater access to Uber's global ecosystem of customers, restaurants and couriers.

Uber Bets Big on Business Catering

EzCater is a food technology company that helps organizations manage workplace and event food needs. Its platform allows customers to order from more than 140,000 restaurants across the country, according to the companies.

Its services cover employee meal programs, meetings, events and recurring enterprise catering needs. The platform also provides tools designed to help organizations manage orders and track food spending.

The numbers behind the business show why Uber sees an opportunity. EzCater generated more than $2.5 billion in gross bookings over the past 12 months, giving Uber a sizable business operation to fold into its food ecosystem.

EzCater CEO Welcomes Uber Deal

EzCater CEO Nihad Rahman said the company is ready to join forces with Uber after building what he described as a leading workplace catering platform and an important growth channel for restaurant partners.

Rahman said ezCater's catering and business-to-business expertise will now be brought into Uber's broader network of customers, merchants and couriers.

The combination could create a new engine for growth: restaurants could gain access to larger catering orders and additional diners, while customers could have a more dependable way to arrange food for groups.

Uber Sees Catering as a Major Revenue Opportunity

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said catering represents a significant business opportunity and can provide restaurants with an important source of revenue.

He praised Rahman and the ezCater team for building the platform and said Uber's scale could expose the service to millions of additional customers.

The strategy effectively puts Uber's enormous delivery infrastructure behind a business where orders can be much larger than the typical individual meal. Instead of one dinner arriving at one doorstep, a single catering order can feed an entire office, meeting or event.

That potential makes the ezCater acquisition an important extension of Uber's existing food-delivery business.

Three Law Firms Guide $2.3 Billion Transaction

The transaction is also drawing attention for the legal work behind the deal.

Covington's team advising Uber was led by partners John Fisher and Tomas Rua.

Freshfields handled global antitrust matters for Uber, with partner Mary Lehner leading that team.

Davis Polk advised ezCater, although complete information about the firm's legal team was not immediately available Tuesday.

Deal Expected to Close in Coming Months

The Uber's $2.3B EzCater Buy is expected to close in the coming months, subject to customary closing conditions.

If completed, the transaction will bring ezCater's specialized corporate catering platform under Uber's expanding food and delivery umbrella.

For Uber, the acquisition represents a push into a market where restaurant relationships, larger orders and business customers converge. For ezCater, it opens the door to Uber's global scale — potentially transforming a specialized catering platform into a much larger piece of the food-delivery giant's business.