French food delivery startup FoodChéri, which operates an online only restaurant along the lines of EatFirst in the UK or Munchery’s original model in the US, has raised €6 million in Series A funding led by 360 Capital Partners, and Breega Capital.
Spanish VC Samaipata Ventures (a fund managed by the founders of online takeout ordering marketplace La Nevera Roja) also participated, along with food and beverage “growth fund” Ambrosia Investments.
Also noteworthy is that Samaipata Ventures is already an investor in Jinn, the Europe same-hour delivery startup, which counts food delivery as one of its most popular categories.
Currently serving 1,000 meals per day to “busy professionals” in Paris and various suburbs, including Neuilly-sur-Seine, Levallois, Boulogne-Billancourt, and Issy-les-Moulineaux, FoodChéri lets you order fresh chef-prepared meals that are chilled and ready to reheat and consume upon delivery.
It’s a model that avoids some of the pitfalls faced by restaurant delivery services, such as UberEATs and Deliveroo, in that orders can be pooled for delivery as food doesn’t need to be delivered hot. FoodChéri also enables orders to be placed “on-demand” or days in advance.
“[We help] city dwellers eat fresher, healthier home-style meals with the convenience of fast food delivered to your doorstep,” explains FoodChéri co-founder and CEO Patrick Asdaghi, who was previously CMO of La Fourchette.
“We solve it with a ‘full-stack’ food operation, from creating the recipe and preparing the ingredients to last-mile delivery, and everything in between”.
Asdaghi tells me the initial focus for FoodChéri was serving dinner for busy professionals, but in April 2016 added lunches. The startup also targets smaller companies that don’t have their own cafeterias or are looking to provide an alternative and healthier lunch option for staff.
“Many of our customers work full-time and don’t always have the time or energy to make their own meals, or want a change from the local cafeteria or snack shop, but still want to eat well without exploding their budget. In France our main competitor is Frichti even though they have a slightly different positioning in terms of the food offering”, he adds.
Meanwhile, FoodChéri says the funds will primarily be used to extend delivery areas within the Greater Paris region before potential international expansion. In addition, the startup plans to spend on recruitment to add a further dozen or so staff to its current 40 person headcount, and for further product development.