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Maple, the\u00a0prepared food delivery startup that had raised over $25 million<\/a>, tried to differentiate itself from other startups by owning the whole process of the food cycle from sourcing the food, to preparing it and then delivering it. As the headline suggests, it didn\u2019t work out for Maple. That\u2019s why Maple is\u00a0ceasing operations in New York (the only city it served)\u00a0and teaming up with UK-based food delivery company Deliveroo.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven the overlap in our goals and the significant scale of Deliveroo\u2019s operations, working together makes sense,\u201d Maple co-founders Caleb Merkl (pictured above) and Akshay Navle wrote on the company blog. \u201cAs a result, some members of the Maple team will join Deliveroo operations in London, and our technology will be used to help accelerate growth and efficiency across the platform.\u201d<\/p>\n When I reached out to Merkl for comment, a PR rep replied that Deliveroo will be integrating Maple\u2019s technology into its platform. The spokesperson also said that Merkl, Navle and Maple CTO Dan Cowgill \u201care all definitely joining at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n Maple\u2019s work will continue to live on through Deliveroo, Deliveroo founder and CEO Will Shu told TechCrunch via email. More specifically, Deliveroo will use Maple\u2019s tech to \u201chelp accelerate the growth of Deliveroo Editions, a brand new platform that helps restaurants to launch, test and take their menus nationwide without the need for a high street premise,\u201d Shu said. \u201cIn our mission to build the very best food delivery service in the world, this is another big step as we deliver more top quality food to more customers around the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Turmoil and change is nothing new for the on-demand food delivery space. Munchery, for example, has had a rough time lately<\/a> \u2014 between the layoffs, burning through most of the money it has raised and food waste. Last year, SpoonRocket shut down its operations in the U.S. Meanwhile, Sprig\u2019s strategy has evolved to sell meals from inside its kitchen, as well as offer deliveries via Square-owned Caviar.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the full letter from the founders<\/a>:<\/p>\n Dearest Maplers,<\/p>\n We\u2019re writing to let you know that as of today Maple will be ceasing operations in New York. We\u2019re sorry to bring you this news, and want to take some time to explain why we have come to this decision.<\/p>\n We set out two years ago with a big idea about a new approach to food delivery and the lofty ambition of turning an industry on its head. Since then, we\u2019ve accomplished many things we\u2019re incredibly proud of.<\/p>\n We built a brand that struck a chord with our customers and developed hundreds of menu items, allowing us to serve millions of meals to supportive and loyal customers such as yourself. We built some truly exceptional software, allowing us not only to collect, bundle and route orders with unprecedented throughput, but to drive efficiency at every step of our process\u2014from ingredient sourcing, all the way through delivery completion (resulting in over a million miles logged by our delivery team members). Serving thousands of meals daily across Manhattan is no small operational feat, and our team orchestrated this dance with a grace that is rare in the face of such unrelenting expectations. Above all, when we consider what we\u2019re most proud of, we think of our team\u2014the exceptional group of people, from those in HQ to culinary, delivery and customer experience\u2014who made Maple great, every day.<\/p>\n That all said, and as with most maturing businesses, the Maple of today still has many challenges to overcome. Over the past several months we\u2019ve been spending most of our time thinking about the future of our business\u2014what comes next for Maple? The more time we spent trying to answer this question, the more evident it became that of all the paths we had contemplated, the most compelling next step in Maple\u2019s story involved a shift from our current approach. While an incredibly difficult decision for us given the effect on our core operations, it became clear that we needed to close the Maple operation here in New York and look for a partner with scale\u2014one that would allow us to leverage all that we had built across a broader platform.<\/p>\n Having landed on this strategy, we reconnected with a group that we knew shared our vision of delivering great food to as many people as possible\u2014a UK-based food delivery company called Deliveroo. Deliveroo has developed from a local London affair started four years ago to a business operating across 12 countries and 140 cities globally. Given the overlap in our goals and the significant scale of Deliveroo\u2019s operations, working together makes sense. As a result, some members of the Maple team will join Deliveroo operations in London, and our technology will be used to help accelerate growth and efficiency across the platform.<\/p>\n We wanted to close by thanking all of you one last time for ordering\u2014for telling your friends to order, for rating us, and for telling us how we were doing so diligently and so often. We showed up every day for all of you and we hope you enjoyed the journey as much as we did.<\/p>\n Sincerely,\n
Caleb & Akshay<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/05\/tcdisrupt_ny16-4587.jpg?w=680\")
Maple, the\u00a0prepared food delivery startup that had raised over $25 million, tried to differentiate itself from other startups by owning the whole process of the food cycle from sourcing the food, to preparing it and then delivering it. As the headline suggests, it didn’t work out for Maple. That’s why Maple is\u00a0ceasing operations in New York (the only city it served)\u00a0and teaming… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
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