Layoffs hit another restaurant technology company
Lunchbox's team had grown to as many as 250 people as of February. / Photograph courtesy of Lunchbox
Restaurant technology layoffs have come for Lunchbox.
The fast-growing online ordering company cut jobs last week, CEO Nabeel Alamgir wrote on LinkedIn, specifically in its engineering, customer success, marketing and delivery departments.
The news was first reported by Business Insider, which said 33% of the company was laid off. Lunchbox had not responded to multiple requests for comment as of publication time.
The New York-based company has raised $70 million since October 2020 and had grown its headcount from 50 people to 250 as of February. It had also made two acquisitions in Spread and Novadine.
Luncbhox offers online ordering, marketing, loyalty and integration tools for restaurants. Since raising $50 million in February, it has been in the process of expanding its horizons beyond midscale restaurants to include large chains as well as mom-and-pops.
“Yesterday, we made an incredibly difficult decision to reduce our workforce,” Alamgir wrote. “This was tough for all of us, but especially for those who we’ve parted ways with. These people were friends, colleagues, and parents.”
It’s the latest restaurant tech provider to make cutbacks after a frenzy of venture capital-fueled growth, joining Reef, Nextbite, Sunday and ChowNow. The trend is not limited to the food industry: Tech companies big and small have been laying off workers all year in the face of an uncertain economy and impending recession.
Industry observers said restaurant tech companies are buckling down after growing quickly over the past two years and without more funding in sight. Venture capital firms have warned they’ll have to be more conservative and urged startups to cut costs to get through the economic downturn.
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