EatStreet moves into bigger space
Fast-growing online food ordering software provider EatStreet Inc. has moved into a new headquarters in downtown Madison, more than doubling the amount of space it occupies.
The move signals a continuation of EatStreet's growth, as well as a new chapter for an old AT&T building that is being transformed into a technology company hub.
"There are two great stories here," said Zach Brandon, president of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce. "What EatStreet has done in terms of putting a marker in Wisconsin around technology and what Eric Hovde has done in terms of putting a marker on that building.”
EatStreet's new office, on W. Washington Ave. near the state capitol building, covers 20,000 square feet, up from 9,000 previously, a spokesman said. The office has two levels, a rooftop terrace and a game room with shuffleboard, pingpong tables and a 30-foot bar with three beer taps.
“The game room and terrace are where people are going to come together, create friendships and work together," said Matt Howard, EatStreet's chief executive officer and co-founder. "Collaboration has led us through three successful rounds of investor funding and national growth, and it doesn’t happen in cubicles.”
When gener8tor invested in EatStreet, the start-up had one full-time and one part-time employee in a small, one-room office at a University Research Park facility near EatStreet's new office, said Joe Kirgues, co-founder of the group, which runs start-up training programs.
"They told us all these big dreams they had of becoming one of the country's largest online food ordering platforms," Kirgues said. "Four years later, this office reflects that they've lived up to that promise."
EatStreet, founded in 2012, now has more than 100 employees. It supplies 15,000 restaurants in more than 250 cities with software for handling online orders.
EatStreet was qualified by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. for its early investors to receive state tax credits. The start-up went on to raise nearly $30 million of outside funding.
"The fact they've been able to make this work in Wisconsin is a real testament to the team's vision and tenacity, and to the support from local investors and start-ups," said Aaron Hagar, WEDC's vice president for entrepreneurship and innovation.
The old AT&T building that now houses EatStreet and other technology companies was a fortress-like building designed in a style known as new brutalist architecture, said Hovde, chief executive officer of Hovde Properties. Brutalist architecture, characterized by heavy use of exposed concrete, was popular with governments and institutions from the 1950s through the mid-1970s.
"This is one of the biggest buildings in downtown Madison, but nobody knew it because it was so bland and boring," Hovde said. "My guess is that within a year it will be one of the best-known buildings in Madison.
Hovde Properties put $30 million into the renovation, ripping it down to its core and rebuilding it. Future plans include an outdoor fountain and a waterfall mural descending one entire side of the 13-story building, the first piece of major public art on a building in the city of Madison, Hovde said.
Along with EatStreet, other tenants in the building include Filament Games, an education-focused gaming company; and Catalyze Inc., a health tech start-up. Hovde Properties is in negotiations with more technology companies and with an incubator that could take an entire floor, Hovde said.