EAT Club Acquires Farm Hill's Personal Meal Business to Fuel Growth of Corporate Lunch Delivery Service

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- EAT Club, the corporate food delivery company personalizing the way employees lunch, announced today that it has acquired the personal meal business of Bay Area-based Farm Hill. The acquisition will enable EAT Club to extend the reach of its virtual cafeteria service to a new customer base, increase employee fresh meal options, and accelerate overall company growth. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"Farm Hill's extensive customer base, combined with its impressive offering made it the perfect choice as an acquisition target for EAT Club. Together, we will expand the EAT Club service to a larger customer footprint and solidify our leading position in the market," said Rodrigo Santibanez, founder and COO of EAT Club.

"Farm Hill has always had a mission of bringing the best quality food to the right people at the right time," said Farm Hill CEO and former Head of Innovation at GrubHub, Collin Wallace. "I believe in this vision as a friend of the founders, as an investor, and now as an executive. Combining with EAT Club will allow this vision to continue to grow."

Also announced today is the appointment of longtime internet executive, Doug Leeds, as CEO. Formerly the CEO of IAC Publishing, leading storied brands Dictionary.com, Ask.com, Urbanspoon, and The Daily Beast, Leeds brings decades of hands-on leadership and internet expertise to EAT Club. Leeds also has extensive M&A experience, driving prior acquisitions of Dictionary.com, About.com, Investopedia, and more by IAC Publishing. He joins EAT Club from August Capital, where he served as an executive in residence and advised August Capital's portfolio companies. Previous experience includes executive positions with Yahoo!, Overture, Vodafone, and others.

"Having worked closely with Doug at August Capital, it was clear that he was the right person to take EAT Club to the next stage – from a growth-phase startup with availability in select cities to becoming the leading corporate food delivery service in major metro areas," continued Santibanez. "Doug has proven his ability to scale companies at this stage in their lifecycles, with specific expertise in driving demand for internet services, M&A, and new monetization strategies."

EAT Club is the only corporate food delivery service that owns every part of the customer journey – from ordering, to food preparation and procurement, to on-time delivery – all within one integrated solution. With EAT Club, employees have the power to choose their meals each day, within a tech infrastructure that meets the needs of today's businesses, including digital products for companies to customize and manage their food programs.

"EAT Club takes a completely unique approach from the rest of the market in feeding today's workplace by providing personal choice to hungry employees," said Doug Leeds, CEO of EAT Club. "I understand firsthand just how valuable high-quality individual meals are to employee productivity, retention, collaboration, and overall company culture, having been a satisfied EAT Club customer while running IAC Publishing."

EAT Club's expansive culinary offering was created by an exclusive team of talented chefs catering to a sophisticated, global palate. Employees can choose from a wide variety dishes to suit their individual preferences, dietary restrictions and tastes. EAT Club has successfully delivered more than 10 million meals to employees in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Los Angeles since launch. Member companies have the option to choose between a fully subsidized or a lunch money program, where employees can use money toward their lunches on a daily or weekly cadence.

About EAT Club

Inspired by the Dabbawala delivery system of India and the bento-box office delivery model in Japan, EAT Club was founded with a hunger to solve the office lunch problem in the US. Tailored for businesses with 20-1,000 employees, EAT Club applies sophisticated technology and logistics solutions to power a new lunch model, making it easy for businesses to offer individualized office lunch experiences that suits everyone's palate, at scale. EAT Club leverages a massive food supply network, including professional chefs and a large selection of meal options, to serve every employee's individual cravings while meeting the needs of today's businesses. EAT Club was founded in 2010 by Kevin Yang and Rodrigo Santibanez after graduating from Stanford Business School. The company has raised $50M in financing from top venture capital firms including August Capital, Trinity Ventures and First Round Capital. Their most recent round of financing was led by strategic investor Sodexo to fund expansion to new markets. For more on EAT Club, visit: eatclub.com.

About Farm Hill

Founded in 2013 Farm Hill provides a complete culinary solution for small and medium businesses. Farm Hill makes this possible by creating and curating meals/snacks for delivery directly to employees in their office. For companies, employing between 10-1,000 employees, that are seeking to provide any type of food or beverage to their team, Farm Hill remotely manages the logistics, products, dietary habits and allergies through our technology platform. To date they have delivered over 1.5 million meals in the Bay Area alone.

Additional quotes:

Farm Hill co-founder Marc Manara: "We've always admired EAT Club's dedication to creating a seamless and delightful user experience, and we're excited to make office lunch even easier for Farm Hill's customers by joining forces with EAT Club."

Coupa Software's Alanna Gatto: "Our team loves the food variety that EAT Club provides and the fact that each employee gets to pick their own meal that is always delivered hot and fresh. The service is easy to use, from its simple interface to full-service support, which makes it a seamless process from start to finish."

SOURCE EAT Club

Related Links

https://www.eatclub.com/