Maple

Maple was a New York-based food delivery startup founded in 2014 by Caleb Merkl, Akshay Navle, and Will Gaybrick. The company aimed to control the entire food delivery process, from meal preparation in its own commissary kitchens to delivery by its own staff, a business model often referred to as "full-stack". This vertical integration was intended to solve common takeout issues like delivery time and food quality upon arrival. The founding team brought a blend of operational, e-commerce, and business backgrounds to the venture. Merkl, the CEO, and Navle, the COO, met while Merkl was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Navle was a Venture Partner at High Peaks Venture Partners. Navle had a decade of experience in e-commerce and logistics, notably at Quidsi before its acquisition by Amazon.

The company launched in Manhattan in the spring of 2015, backed by prominent investors including celebrity chef David Chang, who served as Chief Culinary Officer. Maple attracted significant attention and funding, raising a total of $29 million from investors like Greenoaks Capital and Thrive Capital. The business model revolved around offering a daily rotating menu of three chef-designed meals for lunch and dinner, with prices initially including tax, tip, and delivery. The meals, developed by a culinary team led by Executive Chef Soa Davies, formerly of Le Bernardin, focused on high-quality, often locally and sustainably sourced ingredients. Maple's proprietary software and logistics system were central to its operations, designed to predict demand, streamline kitchen production, and optimize delivery routes to meet a 30-minute delivery target.

Despite its ambitious model and strong backing, Maple faced significant financial challenges. Leaked investor documents revealed the company lost money on each meal sold in 2015, accumulating an operating loss of $9 million on $2.7 million in revenue. The high cost of premium ingredients and the all-inclusive pricing model contributed to these losses. Although the company began to achieve a small profit per meal in early 2016 and made adjustments like adding delivery fees, it struggled with the high cash-burn rate characteristic of the on-demand sector. Ultimately, the business was not sustainable. In May 2017, Maple announced it was ceasing operations and had been acquired by Deliveroo, a U.K.-based food delivery company. As part of the acquisition, Maple's technology was integrated into Deliveroo's platform, and some of its leadership team, including the co-founders, relocated to join Deliveroo in London.

Keywords: Maple food, food delivery, David Chang, Caleb Merkl, Akshay Navle, full-stack restaurant, on-demand meal delivery, commissary kitchen, ghost kitchen, New York food tech, venture capital, Deliveroo acquisition, food logistics, Soa Davies, restaurant technology, meal delivery service, startup failure, Thrive Capital, Greenoaks Capital, high-end delivery