Simply Hired CEO James Beriker is taking over Munchery

Back in October, Munchery CEO Tri Tran revealed that he was stepping down from the company he had founded back in 2010.  A little over a month later, now we know who will be replacing him.

On Monday, the company announced that James Beriker, former President and CEO of job search engine Simply Hired, will be taking over those same positions at Munchery. Going forward, Tran will become Munchery’s Chief Strategy Officer and will remain on the company’s Board of Directors.

Beriker was in charge of Simply Hired for nearly hour years, until he left the position in June, according to his LinkedIn profile. The company was acquired by Recruit Holdings, a provider of information, services in July. Simply Hired had been rumored to be shutting down in May. 

Prior to Simply Hired, Beriker was a senior executive at Yahoo; CEO at Dapper, which was acquired by Yahoo; CEO at Efficient Frontier, which was acquired by Adobe; General Manager at Conversant; and Founder and CEO of Search123, which was acquired by Conversant.

He has served on the Boards of iSocket and Kanjoya and is currently on the Board of video advertising optimization platform EyeView. 

Speaking stage on at Vator’s 6th annual Splash LA conference, only a day after announcing he was leaving the CEO position, Tran discussed why he made decision and what he wants from the company’s next CEO.

“Candidly, a company goes through stages of growth, and I’m so proud that we’ve gotten to a level now that we can actually attract world class talent to take it to the next level. As you know, running a company means you play to your strengths. What are you good at, what am I good at? I might be very good at getting nothing to this stage, and then someone else can be very good at getting from this stage to the next stage. The next stage might be an IPO, or whatever, and I’m happy to be a part of that,” he said.

As for what he was looking for in his replacement, he said, “It really is hinging on a lot of factors.”

“No one is going to be perfect in every aspect of it. So, whether this person is really at marketing oriented productivity partnerships, or one way or the other, they’re going to bring on talent,” he said. “For us, we’re talking to a handful of candidates, the process is still ongoing, but I’m really proud that we got to where we are, to attract this amazing talent.”

“Munchery has become a leading brand in the multibillion-dollar food market, with a proven model and significant room for growth as consumers look for healthier, more consistent options to fast food and restaurant delivery,” Beriker said in a statement. 

“Their unique end-to-end model, integrating the complex chain of customer acquisition, food production and delivery, and bolstered by having direct relationships with customers, will provide ongoing opportunities to learn and refine the value proposition and drive margin expansion as we grow the business. Tri, Conrad and team have built a robust platform– and I’m honored to lead the company through this next growth phase.” 

Munchery has raised over $120 million, including an $85 million round in 2015, at a $300 million valuation.

The company offers same-day delivery to San Francisco, Seattle, New York City, Sacramento, Portland, San Diego and Los Angeles metropolitan areas and schedule-ahead delivery to Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington. 

(Image source: photos.prnewswire.com)