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Munchery

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Munchery Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryHospitality
Founded2010; 14 years ago (2010)
FoundersTri Tran
Conrad Chu[1]
DefunctJanuary 21, 2019 (2019-01-21)
FateBankruptcy
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
,
United States
Key people
James Beriker (CEO)[2]
Websitemunchery.com

Munchery Inc. was an online food ordering and meal delivery service that served parts of San Francisco, Seattle, and New York City.[3] The company shut down abruptly on January 21, 2019.[4] It was valued at $300 million.[5] The website currently relaunched as a recipes-only website.

Overview

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Munchery was a conglomeration of chefs who offered continually changing menus to users. Chefs chose their dishes and sourced ingredients, and users rated the meals. Meals could be ordered up to 6 p.m. the same day or a few days in advance. A fleet of drivers delivered the dinners within a chosen one-hour window between 5 and 9 p.m.. The chilled food needed to be reheated before serving.[3][6] After trying the meals, diners could post reviews online, and they could also directly message chefs through the site.[1]

History

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Munchery was founded in 2010 in San Francisco, California.[7][8]

In 2015 the company raised $85 million in Series C funding and was speculated to be valued at $300 million, though a company spokesperson did not confirm that number.[9][10]

In 2016, the company launched a corporate lunch delivery program.[11] James Beriker became CEO, taking the place of co-founder Tri Tran.[12]

On October 2, 2020, Rolliyo, Inc., a DE corporation doing business as ("DBA") Munchery.com, sent an email to Munchery, Inc's email list announcing that "Munchery is back (as a recipe site)."[13]

Bankruptcy

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In late 2018 the company laid off 30 percent of its employees. In January 2019 Munchery abruptly ceased all operations. In a March 2019 bankruptcy declaration, the company claimed assets between $1 and $10 million with liabilities totaling $28.5 million in secured debt to lenders as well as $6 million in unsecured debt to its 230 vendors and suppliers.[5] In all, investors — Greycroft, Sherpa Capital, Menlo Ventures, E.ventures, Cota Capital, and M13 — sank $125 million in the company, with an $87 million round in 2015.[14]

“To be honest, it was a house of cards,” said an anonymous well-known chef who worked at Munchery for two years.[15]

In May 2019 the bankrupt company sold its 70,000-square-foot South San Francisco headquarters for $5 million. Munchery's CEO James Beriker planned to pay himself a $250,000 “success fee” for the sale of the company's headquarters and other assets.[16]

References

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  1. ^ a b Gold, Amanda High-quality meal delivery offers takeout alternative San Francisco Chronicle. July 21, 2015
  2. ^ Dickey, Megan Rose (21 November 2016). "Munchery appoints new CEO amid reported struggles". TechCrunch. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  3. ^ a b Gold, Amanda Cook Your Week: Munchery and Belcampo Team Up San Francisco Chronicle. July 21, 2015
  4. ^ Murphy, Mike (21 January 2019). "Meal-delivery startup Munchery shuts down". MarketWatch. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  5. ^ a b Said, Caroline (4 March 2019) "Munchery bankruptcy filing leaves little for food vendors." San Francisco Chronicle. (Retrieved March 5, 2019.)
  6. ^ Kosoff, Maya Food startup Munchery has hired a bunch of gourmet chefs to answer the most popular question in your household Business Insider. July 21, 2015
  7. ^ Gayomali, Chris Inside the Secret New York Launch of Munchery, the Delivery Startup that Might Upend Seamless Fast Company. July 21, 2015
  8. ^ Huet, Ellen Dinner Take All: How Munchery Wants To Win The Evening Meal Forbes. July 21, 2015
  9. ^ Lein, Tracy Munchery raises $85 million in bid to make healthy meals accessible to all Los Angeles Times. July 20, 2015
  10. ^ MacMillan, Douglas Munchery Valued at About $300 Million Amid Food Fight Wall Street Journal. July 21, 2015
  11. ^ "Munchery challenges Amazon and Peach with new corporate lunch delivery program". GeekWire. 2016-10-06. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  12. ^ Dickey, Megan Rose (21 November 2016). "Munchery appoints new CEO amid reported struggles". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-11-23.
  13. ^ Guszkowski, Joe. "Ghost kitchen precursor Munchery relaunches as recipe site". Restaurant Business.
  14. ^ "After raising $125M, Munchery fails to deliver". TechCrunch. 22 January 2019. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
  15. ^ Said, Caroline (January 28, 2019) "Munchery, Sprig: What went wrong with on-demand, artisanal food." San Francisco Chronicle. (Retrieved January 28, 2019.)
  16. ^ Pershan, Caleb (May 9, 2019) "CEO of Failed Startup Munchery Gets Massive Payout for Selling Company HQ." Eater San Francisco. (Retrieved May 10, 2019)
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