Hospitality entrepreneur Stevan Premutico is stepping down from the board of me&u, the ordering platform he founded, and away from the business in the wake of its merger with Mr Yum.
“I am immensely proud of what the team has achieved. We began with an ambitious idea to transform how we order and pay in restaurants & bars around the world,” he said on LinkedIn, calling last orders on his time at business he founded in 2019,” he said in a post on LinkedIn.
“Today, we are the #1 order and pay platform globally with $2 billion in annual sales and 6,000 restaurant partners across three continents.”
Me&u lets restaurant and pub customers order and pay for food and drink via a QR-code on tables.
Premutico previously founded restaurant booking platform Dimmi (rebranded as The Fork), which was acquired by TripAdvisor in 2015.
Me&u went on to raise $66 million, including $30 million in a round led by ASX-listed Acorn Capital in December 2022. While dominated the Sydney market, bolstered by the Merivale hotels empire, having a 70% market share of the country’s top pub groups.
The tech startup attracted several hospitality industry heavyweights, most notably Merivale CEO Justin Hemmes, chef Neil Perry, Urban Purveyor Group founder John Szangolies, and former Facebook, Uber, MYOB and Google execs William Easton, Mike Abbott, Tim Reed, and Jason Pellegrino.
Having built the business to more than 1,250 venues in Australia, Premutico focused on offshore expansion, launching in the UK in 2021 and the US in 2022.
The startup was locked in an epic battle with Melbourne’s Mr Yum when things took a surprising turn in May last year when the rivals confirmed they were in merger talks, going on to strike a deal last September that saw the me&u brand live on.
The merged business supplied 6,000 venues, generating around $39 million annually in revenue from processing orders in Australia, New Zealand, UK and USA. Me&u was on track to hit profitability this year.
Reflecting on the last six years Premutico said “it’s been a true startup rollercoaster of ups and downs, tears and joy, and unforgettable memories” spanning the Covid lockdowns and restaurant closures, the loss of his father and birth of his son.
Premutico’s promised to return with startup number 3 after “a much-needed sabbatical and Dad time to clear my head and heart”.
“Both of my startups to date have been near decade-long chapters. In my 20s, we disrupted restaurant bookings with dimmi. In my 30s, we changed the way we order food & drinks with me&u,” he said.
“In my 40s – who knows? Only one thing is certain – it will be back in the restaurant space again. I love this industry, the people & deeply believe in the magic that happens when great tech meets great humanity and hospitality.
“Thank you to everyone who stayed by my side and supported me (us) through this journey. The incredible team, the board, our believers & backers, our thousands of restaurant partners and our millions of diners. Thank you. You are why this idea became possible.”
Read his full LinkedIn post here.
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