Caterwell: On Changing the Name

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dani Bchara of Caterwell (formerly The Daily Demand) about the company’s recent name change.

The change came as part of a rebranding effort, which the company decided to undertake after two months of interviews gave it a more refined understanding of its potential customers.

“Every interview, we could almost predict what they were going to say,” said Bchara during the venture’s standup on Tuesday. In our later conversation, he elaborated that the interviewees—largely Darden students and UVA office workers—were cost-conscious, busy individuals who felt they had good lunch food options in Charlottesville but lacked the time to take advantage of what was there.

“The Daily Demand,” which some felt sounded more like a newspaper and less like a lunch delivery service, didn’t quite communicate what they were offering—a double-whammy value proposition for healthy options and savings on time—so the goal was to find a name associated with that.

After creating a long list of new possible names and narrowing them down based on preference and domain availability, the company finally settled on its new name, “Caterwell,” which aspires to communicate what they actually do. Which is to… well, cater well.