Zomato Finds New Bosses For Food Delivery, Hyperpure Verticals

Foodtech major Zomato on Friday (May 19) announced the appointment of three new top executives in the company. Rakesh Ranjan has been appointed as the CEO of the food ordering and delivery business, Rinshul Chandra as the COO of the same, and Rishi Arora as the CEO of Zomato’s Hyperpure business vertical.

The new appointments will be effective from June 1, 2023, for a period of two years, the company said in an exchange filing.

The development came hours after the company reported its financial results for Q4 FY23.

Ranjan, Chandra, and Arora have been with Zomato and Blinkit for more than five years across various roles, said the startup in a statement.  

“We believe that a change of leadership every now and then with capable people at the helm brings new perspectives to the business enabling it to evolve faster. Such leadership changes are also great for people development, and we are confident that our people strategy will set us up for success even decades from now,” the statement added.

It is pertinent to note that the new appointments follow the mass exodus of several top-level executives in the company since last year.

First, in September last year, Nitin Savara resigned as the chief financial officer of Zomato. Later, in November, there were back-to-back exits, which ranged from Zomato’s head of new initiatives Rahul Ganjoo quitting the company to vice president of global growth Siddharth Jhawar and cofounder Mohit Gupta also stepping down.

In January this year, the company’s other cofounder and former CTO Gunjan Patidar also resigned.

During Zomato’s Q3 FY23 results In February, MD and CEO Deepinder Goyal said, “…sometimes, for some people, the distance between their form (their mindset and skill set) and the company’s context becomes such that it is necessary to take a break from each other.” 

He had then emphasised that Zomato was not looking to fill the positions of CTO and head of food delivery.

Portraying a more positive picture, Goyal also said recently that more than half of the top fifty executives spent seven years at Zomato.

In its Q4 FY23 results, which were also published today, Zomato reported a significant decline in its employee benefit expenses quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), along with a decline in a few other expenses, which helped the company report a narrower loss.

Zomato’s employee benefit expenses fell to INR 339.8 Cr in the reported quarter from INR 395 Cr spent in Q3 FY23.

During the earnings call today, Zomato did not directly attribute the decline in employee benefits expenses to the managerial-level resignations and said it was more to do with the decline in ESOP charges.

Also helped by growth in its Blinkit and Hyperpure business verticals, Zomato has posted a net loss of INR 187.6 Cr in Q4 FY23 as against INR 346.6 Cr in Q3 FY23. There have also been improvements in its numbers on a year-on-year basis and Zomato said that its business, excluding quick commerce, also turned adjusted EBITDA positive in the quarter. 

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