Yummly, the food and recipe discovery site and app with over 20 million visitors a month, has promoted its COO Brian Witlin to CEO while the company’s former CEO and co-founder, David Feller, has stepped back from day-to-day management while remaining an advisor and board member.
The transition, which was not formally announced, took place in November of last year. When I reached out to David to ask about the change, he indicated the move was for personal reasons and “had nothing to do with Yummly.” Witlin, who has been with Yummly since 2012, previously was CEO at personal nutrition app company ShopWell.
The transition to a new CEO came within the same three month span that saw the company’s Chief Revenue Officer, Santiago Merea, leave to start a baby-food delivery startup and the company’s head of product, Ankit Brahmbhatt, depart for smart kitchen platform company Innit. The departure of Merea came just a little over a year after Yummly acquired Merea’s startup, Orange Chef. At the time of the acquisition, the combined company signaled an increased focus on more data-centric, personalized food recommendations. Not included in the sale to Yummly were Orange Chef’s intellectual property, which Merea sold to Perfect Company in December.
With the departure of Merea and Brahmbhatt (who also came over from Orange Chef), it’s unclear if Yummly still has intentions of expanding their focus.
Leave a Reply