Toast CEO Steps Down in Latest Shakeup
Toast CEO Steps Down in Latest Shakeup
Glovo may owe €400M, Wonder's van tech revealed, delivery app tech comparison
Welcome back from Labor Day! Hopefully you had a better one than Toast’s CEO, who’s parting ways with the payments and ordering giant. Glovo’s also having a bad time, as the Spanish government looks to fine it some serious Euros. And read on for teardowns of both Wonder’s cooking and delivery vans as well as every major 3PD app.
Today:
Toast’s CEO is toast
Glovo In €400M of Trouble
Chart Time | Delivery App Teardown
Sneak Peek of Wonder’s Delivery & Prep Vans
PAYMENTS | Toast CEO Steps Down in Latest Shakeup
Well, that’s quite the way to come back from the long weekend! Toast’s longtime CEO and Board Chair Chris Comparato is giving up the reins of the company, effective January 1st. Comparato has run the payments and ordering software company since 2015; as part of the transition, he will remain a board member.
The Big Picture: Comparato is set to be replaced by Aman Narang, who co-founded the Boston-based company in 2011, and currently serves as Co-President and COO. The company has been pummeled since it announced a sneaky 99 cents per order fee, which it walked back a few weeks later after massive outcry. With the stock still down about 20% since the incident, it will be up to Narang to restore trust with both clients and investors.
3PD | Glovo Could Owe €400M in Legal Costs
Barcelona-HQed Glovo looks to be in serious trouble with the Spanish government, as legal authorities are investigating if the Delivery Hero-owned 3PD has been misclassifying delivery workers. Should the company need to reclassify self-employed / contracted deliverers as employees, the fines, retrospective taxes and social security contributions could total “in an overall range between approx €200 million and €400 million,” the company revealed in its recent half-year update.
The Big Picture: If that comes to pass, it will burn a serious hole in Delivery Hero’s pocket, swallowing about 20% of the company’s cash on hand, and scuttling plans to be adjusted EBITDA positive by year’s end. Even if the company prevails, the legal fees and need to “provide bank guarantees” will be another drag on the company’s margins. Glovo’s two main competitors in Spain are Uber Eats and Just Eat (owned by Just Eat Takeaway.) While Uber’s deliverers work under similar terms to Glovo’s, Just Eat may be breathing a sigh of relief over the collective agreement it signed in late 2021.
CHART TIME | Delivery App Comparison
Katya Rozenoer’s analysis of a recent Watchful.AI report shows some interesting differences between the apps of all the major food delivery players. While DoorDash updates its app most often, Rappi and Foodpanda actually pack in more changes per release. Perhaps due to all those improvements, their apps are also quite speedy, while Grubhub and South Africa-based Mr. D run the pokiest software. Also interesting is which apps are missing certain features: Deliveroo and Grubhub don’t let users share or gift meals, Grubhub and Rappi don’t allow users to save favorite locations, Deliveroo’s premium subscription trial program is shorter than the competition’s…
VEHICLES | Go Inside Wonder’s Cooking & Delivery Vans
Hat tip to HNGRY for discovering that Wonder’s iconic food prep and delivery vans have quietly gone on sale via a New Jersey-based used car lot. While Eastern Automotive seems to think buyers will care about the van’s stock GPS, eager industry eyes will want to click in to see how Wonder equipped its kitchen and prep areas — note some employee instructions still taped to the wall, Winco rethermalizer troubleshooting details, the layout of once-proprietary prep tech, etc. No wonder this 2020 Sprinter is listed at $69k, about $14k over list price.
The Big Picture: Marc Lore’s Wonder raised nearly a billion dollars to cook nice-ish meals in vans outside of customer homes, in a concept that combined delivery with fine dining. The plan never quite seemed to work, despite blanketing Northern New Jersey in ads, although city councils did get mad at the idea that every driveway was now a commercial kitchen. Early this year, the company pivoted to more of a ghost kitchen / food hall concept. And it’s no wonder — this three year old van only has about 21,000 miles on it, suggesting customers weren’t exactly demanding its services.
A Few Good Links
Who should eat the cost of pricier delivery menus? Bonchon appoints new Chief Growth Officer, Pokeworks new CEO. Gopuff launches ad platform in U.K. Visa, Mastercard look to raise fees. Korean internet giant Naver exploring food robots. Update on Taco Bell + DoorDash Taco Tuesday promo. Uber Eats partners with Gordon Ramsay in Britain. Zomato is latest to launch AI chatbot. How Walmart empowers employees via generative AI. DHL expands offerings in Argentina. UST and Quicklizard roll out dynamic pricing product. CloudKitchens cuts staff. New details on Uber Quests.
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