By RTN Staff - 5.17.2021
Restaurant ecommerce solution provider Goldbelly has secured a $100 million Series C investment to “build the future of the at-home restaurant experience and to empower chefs and restaurants to reach new customers nationwide,” according to a press statement. The funding round was led by growth equity firm Spectrum Equity with participation from existing investor Intel Capital.
Goldbelly got its start in San Francisco in 2013, shipping foods on behalf of restaurants like Lou Malnati’s in Chicago and Salt Lick in Austin. The company provides restaurant owners and operators with all of the mailing materials they need, including boxes and cold packs, for shipping orders from their premises directly to consumers while offering a turnkey ecommerce logistics platform.
The company reportedly enjoyed massive growth over the last year, during a pandemic that closed indoor dining (with more than 110,000 U.S. restaurants permanently closed by last December) and had tens of millions of people quarantining at home, now with 850 restaurant partners on the platform, covering all 50 states.
Last year alone, the company is said to have added over one million new customers and saw its overall business growth increase more than 300 percent year over year. The average order size has also increased by approximately 20 percent over the past year, and Goldbelly’s team now has more than 130 employees.
With this new round of funding, the company will continue to scale the technology and operations of the platform and accelerate the onboarding of new chef and restaurant partners. Current partners include renowned restaurants like New Orleans’ Commander’s Palace, Philadelphia’s Zahav, San Francisco’s Wayfare Tavern, NYC’s Union Square Cafe and Savannah’s The Grey.
The new funding will also reportedly be used to launch new content initiatives, building on the success of Goldbelly’s interactive, virtual cook-along series, Goldbelly LIVE!, and provide different ways for consumers to interact with foods, experiences and chefs outside of the restaurant setting.
“At Goldbelly, we believe that food has a magical, emotional power. So we’ve created the first platform that connects people with the foods, the places and the experiences that mean the most to them — no matter where they are,” said Joe Ariel, founder & CEO of Goldbelly.
“As pioneers of the world of food e-commerce, this investment enables us to continue redefining the ways in which consumers can interact with the foods and restaurants they love at home. We’re thrilled to partner with Pete Jensen and the Spectrum team as we build an omnichannel future for the restaurant industry.”
“The restaurant technology space has seen tremendous innovation over the last decade, but Goldbelly is the first company to offer restaurants the opportunity to turn what has historically been a hyper-local business model into one with a national reach,” said Pete Jensen, Managing Director at Spectrum Equity.
“Goldbelly enables restaurants to more easily access e-commerce, opening up new markets that were previously unreachable, and it allows consumers to experience the most iconic food makers and best regional cuisines, regardless of where they live. We’re excited to collaborate with Joe to help the company and its restaurant partners realize the huge potential of this opportunity in food e-commerce.”
