After raising $14 million in Series B funding, WoodSpoon plans to expand its home-cooked food delivery company.Restaurant Brands International was the lead investor in this round, along with World Trade Ventures.WoodSpoon, a New York-based restaurant, was founded in 2019 by Oren and Merav Kalish Rozengarten. They are both Israelis living in America who long for the same food as their parents. They started reaching out to local chefs and created a platform where they could share their passion for food and culture with others.The company has over 16,000 customers in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, and is growing at 50% per month. WoodSpoons customers can order dishes from all over the world through their app or website and get on-demand delivery at their door. Customers can also schedule service or place orders. TechCrunch was told by Saar that 35% of WoodSpoons customers ordered four times within 17 days.The company now has $16 million in total funding. It raised $2 million to fund its operations at the end 2020. Saar stated that the Series A will allow the company to grow through R&D, marketing, and to increase its workforce so that it can expand into new markets like major cities in the United States over the next twelve months.WoodSpoon brings in customers from all walks of life. It also generates income for its home chefs. This mix includes 150 professional chefs and immigrants who cook for the company at least 3 times per month. WoodSpoon interviews every chef and inspects their kitchens. Then, they provide training to ensure consistent quality.Saar stated that scale can cause you to lose touch with customers and reduce the personal connection you have with home chefs. Every home chef is a part of our family, and we want to help build their brand. It is therefore important that the food they prepare is top-quality.WoodSpoon employs about 30 people and plans to add more engineers to help it continue to develop its technology. Saar stated that a new product would be launched at the end August and WoodSpoon's app will undergo a redesign to reflect this change.WoodSpoon can also use the Series A to add hundreds of home chefs to its waiting list to be included in the market.According to Research and Markets, the market for online food delivery services is expected to reach $192.16 million in 2025 and $126.91 billion by 2021.Chris Brigleb is the head of corporate development for Restaurant Brands International. He said technology was a major focus of his company and that he spent a lot time searching for investments outside of the traditional fast-food restaurant sector.Four months ago, he began to meet with tech-enabled companies and discovered WoodSpoon. Brigleb loved WoodSpoon's company more the more he learned about it. He encouraged Saar even to accelerate WoodSpoon's growth and funding plans.WoodSpoons isn't a new concept, but he felt it was unique in that its user experience included the ability to search the market by cuisine or chef, and support for the chef with regards to packaging and logistics management.Brigleb stated that delivery was key to our success and a competitive advantage. They remove all the hassles of delivering home chefs' orders so that they can concentrate on the special cooking.
