When Dilip Rao was hit by a car while walking in New York City in 2014, he thought his life was over. In fact, it was just beginning.
On that day he suffered a concussion and other injuries, which took several months to heal. Suddenly, his fast-paced life as an investment banker had slowed down and he had time to consider what he really wanted to do. It wasn’t financial advising. It was Sharebite.
Sharebite is a meal-benefits platform built exclusively for companies, in which food vouchers are provided to employees and donations are made for every meal ordered on the platform.
According to its inaugural Impact Report, which it recently released, it has facilitated the donation of 10 million meals to such organizations as City Harvest and Feeding America.
Dilip Rao, co-founder and CEO of Sharebite
“Last year was a very reflective year for me as it was 10 years since the accident,” Rao said in an interview. “The fact that I am still here getting to do this work fills me with gratitude.”
There are plenty of people he’s helped who are also grateful. Rao cites a statistic that 47 million people in this country are food insecure. He looks around the globe and sees how things can be different.
“In Brazil it’s the law that your employer is required to give you a daily meal voucher. That’s also the case in Italy, France, Portugal, a lot of countries,” he said.
It’s unlikely this country will start acting like those countries, Rao realizes, but he figures employers could provide cuisine from them.
Companies are biting this year more than any other. “Our last four weeks have been record weeks for us,” he said.
The reasons are fairly obvious to him.
“Everyone eats. Employers often offer other perks, like a gym membership, which not everyone will use, but meal allowances have a 95 percent utilization rate. Nothing else even comes close,” he said.
The platform fills an urgent need with a social cause, which has been a winning formula. But Rao emphasizes that market education was required at first.
“I felt that I had been yelling into the wilderness for years,” he said. “But we had faith this would work. We’ve always put our mission up front. Feeding every worker in America has been in our DNA since our inception.”
It’s no small goal as there are an estimated 162 million workers in America. But Rao is confident given the opportunity Sharebite can deliver. And he’s not worried that AI is going to significantly reduce the size of the workforce.
“One thing is clear: companies will continue to have employees, because their intelligence is not artificial,” he said. “Engaging with them is going to be continue to be top of mind for C-Suite executives. For them to spend $10 and allow an employee to order a bowl from Sweetgreen, or a favorite local meal, is a tremendous value. It’s a smart investment.”
Moving forward Rao envisions more of the same, understanding that the need will likely always be there.
“The thing about food insecurity is that it’s invisible and a hidden epidemic in this country. It doesn’t fit the pattern that we all think it does. It’s not just people who don’t have a place to live. It’s people who work two jobs but don’t have enough money to make ends meet. It’s people who are taking care of their parents. It’s people paying back speedy loans. You never know who needs help. Companies are figuring out that if they can provide a small amount of money for a meal, the amount of loyalty and productivity that comes back to them is surreal,” he said. “We can help companies deliver this. We want to be the change agent to help people achieve the American Dream for generations to come.”
