Menufy sale scales HungerRush to more than 500 workers, 20,000 restaurants, KC co-founder says
October 27, 2021 | Channa Steinmetz
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
2021 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
nbkc launches Entrepreneur in Residence incubator: ‘I have a whole company behind me’
Less than a year after its inaugural Fountain City Fintech accelerator debuted, nbkc bank has launched a new incubator program designed to tackle common banking industry problems with start-up-style ideation, problem solving, and tenacity, said Megan Darnell. The goal: building new companies along the way, the nbkc program manager said. “Kansas City has every single…
Investors, students find potential and power in High School eSports League
Benjie Lewis saw potential in eSports from the beginning — first as a mentor, then an investor, he said. Rapidly evolving from recreational pastime to official leagues and high school sports programs, the competitive multiplayer gaming concept has created a new space for startup opportunity, he said. “When I was growing up … they weren’t…
Startup advocates to next mayor: Make KC more attractive to tech talent, women, innovation
Months of candidate forums are complete. The door bells have been rung. Selfies taken. As the Kansas City mayor’s race heads to the polls Tuesday, the candidates are all business when it comes to courting the startup community’s vote. Jolie Justus — who has branded herself as the next “neighborhood mayor” — and Quinton Lucas…
Jolie Justus’ open letter to startups: In many ways, the city has failed you — let’s do better together
[Editor’s note: Startland News invited Kansas City mayoral candidates Jolie Justus and Quinton Lucas to compose open letters to address their potential constituents in KC’s entrepreneur community of startups, makers, creatives and risk-takers. Justus’ response is below. Lucas did not participate. The vote is set for Tuesday, June 18.] I trust this community to see…