Menufy sale scales HungerRush to more than 500 workers, 20,000 restaurants, KC co-founder says

October 27, 2021  |  Channa Steinmetz

Sharmil Desai, Menufy

Growth isn’t new to the menu for Menufy’s Leawood based team, said Sharmil Desai, noting the online platform for restaurants had grown to 140 employees before its freshly announced acquisition by HungerRush.

“I can’t think of any point when Menufy has not been adding and expanding,” Desai, co-founder and CEO of Menufy, told Startland News. “We’ve always been bringing in new hires, so we’ve gotten used to managing a company with a growing team. The team here is used to change.”

Click here to read more about why Menufy sold to HungerRush, a Houston-based cloud software provider for the restaurant industry.

Menufy announced Tuesday that its e-commerce platform for restaurant ordering will be incorporated into the HungerRush 360 cloud point-of-sale (POS) system — which is complementary to solutions already offered by Menufy.

Details of the acquisition deal were not disclosed. The local team is expected to operate under the “Menufy by HungerRush” brand.

“We covered two different parts of the market with HungerRush being more mid-market and us being more SMB [small and midsize business] focused,” Desai explained. “We saw a lot of strengths that would be good for us and for both of the combined businesses.” 

“When you look at the combined businesses, the scale is impressive,” he continued, noting the 20,000 restaurants under the unified company. “The team now has over 500 employees.”

Click here to read more about how Menufy grew its operations with a diverse team built in Kansas City.

Although the company didn’t release specific hiring plans, Kansas City can expect to see more local job openings, Desai said.

“We have some job postings that are still open, and we definitely want to fill them,” he added. “We’re just going to keep growing.”

HungerRush’s headquarters is expected to remain in Houston, but Leawood, Kansas, will be added to the company’s list of offices. Other locations include: India, Austin, New York and Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

As organizational changes lie ahead for the company, Desai said, the Menufy team is ready to dive in while still focusing on its business and customers — old and new.

“We’re really excited about the acquisition,” Desai said. “I think it’s going to be great for our employees; I think it’s going to be great for our customers; and I think it’s going to be great for Kansas City.”

This story is possible thanks to support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create uncommon solutions and empower people to shape their futures and be successful.

For more information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn

startland-tip-jar

TIP JAR

Did you enjoy this post? Show your support by becoming a member or buying us a coffee.

Tagged , ,
Featured Business
    Featured Founder

      2021 Startups to Watch

        stats here

        Related Posts on Startland News

        Nerdery

        ‘Nerds’ want to retool Kansas City nonprofits’ websites

        By Tommy Felts | December 21, 2016

        ‘Tis the season to help your fellow man — and their website. That seems to be the driving force behind a volunteer-led program to improve the digital presence of several Kansas City nonprofits. The Nerdery and its foundation will host the Overnight Website Challenge, which over the years has tapped hundreds of volunteers to complete…

        Chris Brown: How to split equity in your startup

        By Tommy Felts | December 20, 2016

        Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. This article is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice. Readers with legal questions should consult an attorney. When founding a new startup it is common to have disagreements over how much equity each founder should receive. In this post, we will…

        Sustainable apartments in KC’s River Market will be among the world’s largest ‘passive houses’

        By Tommy Felts | December 20, 2016

        The future of sustainable real estate development may be taking shape in Kansas City. The $60 million, 276-unit Second and Delaware project aims to not only be one of most environmentally conscious residential buildings but also a global example in sustainable housing, said Jonathan Arnold, CEO of Arnold Development Group. The Arnold Development Group along…

        Idle Smart founder Jeff Lynch shares three lessons from an accelerator

        By Tommy Felts | December 16, 2016

        I’ve been aware of accelerators for some time, but honestly never really thought of them for Idle Smart. We were so heads down trying to grow our own company that I didn’t really have time to learn about the advantages of a quality accelerator. Earlier this summer, however, we were connected to Village Capital through…