- Zume, the pizza-robot startup backed by SoftBank, is losing its chief marketing officer, its chief legal officer, its head of human resources, and president of the robotic pizza business division, Business Insider has learned.
- The departures come amid a restructuring of the overall business to focus on growing revenues, a person close to the company said.
- Ron Storn, the departing head of HR, was the longest-tenured executive at Zume, having joined in January 2018. Reggie Davis, the chief legal officer, is departing after only several weeks in the role.
- The exodus is the latest in a steady stream of executive departures at Zume: the company's interim CFO, general counsel, and VP of talent all left the startup within the last 6 months, amid broader questions over the company's strategy, Business Insider previously reported.
- Zume started with a concept for a robotic arm that could make and serve pizzas, but has since expanded into biodegradable packaging and food truck services as it pursues more ambitious business goals and higher valuations.
- Zume was most recently valued above $1 billion in November 2018, and is now said to be seeking additional funding at a valuation above $4 billion.
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Zume, the SoftBank-backed startup famous for its pizza-making robots, is losing four top executives and shuttering the standalone pizza business division, Business Insider has learned.
Initially, the startup was created to develop a robotic arm to efficiently make and serve pizzas, and has since expanded to biodegradable packaging and food truck services as it pursues lofty growth targets and additional funding.
Rhonda Lesinski, the president of Zume's original pizza business, is leaving the startup in January. The business unit known internally as Zume Pizza will be rolled into Zume Forward, a newly-dubbed division that will oversee its technology and services for the food-truck industry, according to a person close to the company.
Another new division, called Zume Source, will manage the startup's burgeoning business of providing biodegradable packing to companies like Pizza Hut.
Ron Storn, the head of human resources and recruiting as the chief people officer at Zume, is departing the company in early December. Storn was one of Zume's earliest executive hires in January 2018, joining after building the recruiting and benefits programs at Lyft as its VP of people.
Mark Crumpacker, CMO of Zume and president of its now-defunct Zume Culinary food-truck technology business, is leaving the startup on December 2. Crumpacker joined Zume in February, according to his LinkedIn profile. He held the CMO position at Chipotle for more than 9 years before joining the startup.
Following the departure of General Counsel Kira Druyan in October, Reggie Davis took over as Zume's chief legal officer after a 5-year stint leading DocuSign's legal department. Davis is also departing Zume in early December, after only a few weeks in the role.
Latest in a string of executive departures
This exodus is the latest in a stream of executive departures that have rocked the high-flying pizza startup the last 6 months. Zume terminated its interim CFO in June, and both its general counsel and VP of talent left in October, Business Insider previously reported.
This all comes as Zume reportedly seeks new funding tied to a $4 billion valuation. It secured $375 million in funding in November 2018 tied to a valuation above $1 billion, with SoftBank as an investor.
Sources previously told Business Insider that the startup is struggling to rein in spending amid an aggressive hiring spree, even as it makes rapid changes to its business model.
The robots for which the startup first rose to prominence have effectively taken a back seat to these other endeavors, a shift in direction that employees and leadership have struggled to keep up with, Business Insider reported. At the time, a spokeswoman said that Zume is "focused on being a B2B provider of practical technology solutions to other food brands," but that it still operates at least one of its robotic pizza systems.
Do you work at Zume or another SoftBank-backed startup and want to share your story? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (331) 625-2555 using a non-work phone, email at mhernbroth@businessinsider.com, or Twitter DM at @megan_hernbroth.