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 compostable 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 compostable 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 December. Storn was one of Zume's earliest executive hires, joining in January 2018 after building the recruiting and benefits programs at Lyft as its vice president of people.
Mark Crumpacker, the chief marketing officer of Zume and president of its 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 chief-marketing-officer position at Chipotle for more than 9 years before joining the startup. Zume Culinary will now operate as part of the broader Zume Forward business division, according to a source close to the company.
After the departure of general counsel Kira Druyan in October, Reggie Davis took over as Zume's chief legal officer after a five-year stint leading DocuSign's legal department. Davis is also departing Zume in 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 over the past six months. Zume terminated its interim chief financial officer in June, and both its general counsel and vice president of talent left in October, Business Insider previously reported.
This all comes as Zume seeks new funding tied to a $4 billion valuation, according to Vox. 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 was struggling to rein in spending amid an aggressive hiring spree, even as it made 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 Zume was "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 nonwork phone, email at mhernbroth@jkmperu.com, or Twitter DM at @megan_hernbroth.
