Ben Kaplan 00:00
Hey, this is TOP CEO, the show about CEOs making tough decisions featuring CEOs from startups, scale ups and fortune 500 enterprises. TOP CEO is a business school case study, telling the story behind the story, and what you can learn from it from those who have faced the fire. And come out the other side. Welcome to the TOP CEO podcast
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 00:36
when you hit the ground, you realize that no one wants to this merger that was working in this companies. They were these were enemies in a way these were competitors. And suddenly, you should cooperate under one roof under one brand. So this was not what you know, the personnel was asking for.
The Detective 00:56
Imagine you're the CEO of Foodora, a cutting edge delivery service that brings not just restaurant meals, but an ever expanding variety of goods straight to your doorstep. That
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 01:09
was the big guy following the small guy.
The Detective 01:13
You are at the helm of a company that's more than just a tech startup. It's a logistical juggernaut that promises convenience. In our fast paced world, you are piloting through a sky filled with unexpected turbulence. Fresh off a recent merger, you're still in the process of integrating systems and teams. Just when you think you can catch your breath. The onset of a global pandemic throws the world into chaos.
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 01:43
The first wave where it really hit our orders when totally self actually the opposite of what you would think.
The Detective 01:53
The market responds erratically. Your order volumes plummet in the initial panic, only to skyrocket as the lockdown set in. Your team is overwhelmed, stretched thin and working around the clock.
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 02:12
If we couldn't get people to work together under one roof under one umbrella, it wouldn't work. But like let's go from this pizza delivery company to become the Amazon of the Nordics.
The Detective 02:25
You'll deliver delivery riders are on the front lines, and the influx of new restaurant partners is more than your onboarding process was designed to handle. And your external partners are anxious looking to you for stability in a world turned upside down.
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 02:44
We need to always be professional. But that also sometimes means that you become bureaucratic, more hierarchical, more processes, or you become slower.
The Detective 02:54
Every decision you make feels like a high stakes gamble with the future of your company, your employees and your partners hanging in the balance. This is the story of Hans Skruvfors, CEO of Foodora. And this is The Tight Rope.
Ben Kaplan 03:26
Hans, take me back to 2019 a pivotal moment in the company. You're a food delivery originally that now you do much more but you're a food delivery startup owned by a bigger company delivery hero, you're scaling in a lot of Nordic countries, and you've just made two acquisitions that are going to grow your business. So you're excited about that, that brings a certain amount of chaos with it, different companies, different systems. But this is even be more problematic because this is right before the COVID pandemic is going to hit which in your line of work is going to skyrocket demand when not everything is quite set up yet. So take us back to 2019 late in the year.
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 04:07
So So I joined in 2019. And I'm joined due to a couple of companies, right? It was Foodora. It was online pizza and it was hungry. All startups becoming scale ups but with offices in different places, different tech stacks, different systems, desta math. Everything was different, different cultures. And so it's always nice when you know the bankers and lawyers do to reminisce but then then someone needs to put it together into one culture one.
Ben Kaplan 04:43
Okay, so like on paper, this sounds like Oh, great. You got these startups. We put them together, we're greater than the sum of our parts. We can scale and use our collective strength but then that ignores all of the details right? That just sounds good on paper, then you actually have to go in and as CEO Yo, you're responsible for details that matter. And the problem is those details, it may seem like a little thing where these two systems don't quite talk to each other. But if they don't talk to each other, you have an irate customer that didn't get their delivery, and is telling all their friends about how bad you are, if those systems don't talk, exactly,
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 05:18
so a lot of opportunities, but also a lot of risks, right? Suddenly, we're we're actually going to dismantle two brands, two loved brands, for the customers, reducing them into one brand. Like a lot of risk, we had to transfer people from, you know, one app to another app. And to do that, in where the culture was so strong, you know, like to start up scale up culture that can be super strong, but what's super strong in like, all of these individual companies, so when you talk to people, it was, Hi, I'm Ben from online pizza, or I'm Gabriela from Foodora. And was a little bit though, you know, different cultures, different business models, and a basically a lot of works. To make all of the synergies that deliver here is so come together, that people
Ben Kaplan 06:08
want to come together. That's something sometimes that overlook sometimes where it's like top leaders, the founders want to come together, they have their own reasons, but people who are day to day frontline workers was their excitement around it, like we're growing, or they're like, I just want to I like our brand the way it is we do things well, and I don't like how Foodora does it? Yeah, it's
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 06:26
like, that's the figure, I thought no one pay for it look, the excellent. But when you when you hit the ground, you realize that no one wanted this merger that was working in these companies. They were these were enemies in a way, these were competitors. And suddenly, you should cooperate under one roof under one brand. So this was not with, you know, the personnel was asking for i So in that sense, it was like a super tough start as well. And even if like there was this culture quadrant, saying that there are roughly all of these companies have the same culture. But, you know, not really, everyone feels like we're so different, you know, we're so special, we're much better than the other ones. And all of that, and then, you know, closing down some offices to get someone to move to another offices, choosing one brand name, choosing one tech stack, using one legal entities, it's, it was, you know, breaking the hearts of a lot of people, and at the same time envisioning, like how fantastic this could be if we if we really work together.
Ben Kaplan 07:36
Had you in your personal background? Have you dealt with anything like this or experience like this that you could draw upon? I mean, you had helped run and manage other companies, you'd been a board member of different companies, what experience did you look towards,
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 07:50
as I've been part of one bigger merger and acquisition before death and airway in my previous role as CEO of a company called Napa, where we acquired a company called Blue carrot, but it was actually super, super different because Napa was a big company and established company by then. And blue carrot was a much smaller one. So yes, there.
Ben Kaplan 08:13
Okay, so it wasn't so much a merger of like rough equals, it was more of like, Oh, we're big guy kind of gobbling up the small guy in which the situation usually you'd expect is big guy culture with big guy is established small person, you kind of fit our system, this was much more equals coming to the table. Exactly.
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 08:33
So like for internet, buck is for good and bad. Like it was the big guy swallowing the small guy and trying to make it as nice as possible, right in the transition. But still, there was a big guy, and there was a small guy. But here it was equals, that had, you know, also been super competitive. And, you know, as one of the officers, there was like, this dashboard, we had like the, you know, like the brand names all of the competitors. And now all
Ben Kaplan 09:00
the all the other people. Yes, yes. And now Now we were winning. So how did you approach that? What was the first challenge? Was it more cultural and just sort of acceptance that we have a shared vision? Or was it more technological? You know, these are technology based companies, you have apps, you have back orders systems? Where was your focus when you started late 2019.
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 09:21
So it recreated like a big PMO structure project management office, because we had to solve everything. You have the tech stack, we have the legal entity or roadmap we have the but also like we really focused on on the cultural roadmap, because that was that was a huge thing. If we couldn't get people to work together under one roof under one umbrella, it wouldn't work. So we spent a lot of time on that. And we got this. After a couple of months we had this employee He served as like, you know, how do you feel about this new workplace? And the results were like, so, so bad? It's like, I was almost surprised that someone was actually staying in the company. And, and then, you know, I sat down with my head of people and culture, like, where do we start for this? And one of the things in the survey that was super clear was that we, we don't have a shared vision, shared goal, like, where are we going with all of this week? We're sort of like, just like, Okay, let's get the, into one app, let's How can we merge this into one brand? But like, where are we? Where are we going? Why? Why have we done all of this? So you know, what's the purpose of all of this? And then, then I sat down, and it was actually, you know, just after Christmas 2019. It's like, oh, we need we need a mission statement. I mean, it's, you know, where do we go with this, you're
Ben Kaplan 11:02
going back to basics. And it sounds like you're creating this from scratch, because you're not like pulling the foodora or the online pizza, or that the other missions, they lack clarity to it individually. And at what point did that make a difference? Did you start seeing, I don't know, the survey results weren't so bad anymore.
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 11:21
I think it started that the duck Big Oil and stuff, where we prefer scented in your mission statement, I was no fancy consultants, you know, having huge fees to make that off bill, basically me the late night, having trouble sleeping, just picturing that we're moving from a pizza delivery company, to a company that will deliver everything, everywhere, to everyone. 24/7 in 30 minutes. So we've, we rallied behind that mission statement of, you know, like, we're super good. We're a last mile delivery company, we just happen to deliver food, and we're really good at delivering something from point A to point B, within 30 minutes in like five kilometres or ratio. And then, you know, why? Why can we not then deliver, you know, flowers from the flower shop next to the restaurant? Where can we not deliver groceries from the grocery stores? And what says it needs to be in the big cities. You know, like we we should be able to reach everyone in 30 minutes, even if you know, Sweden or Nordic is sparsely populated, right? We, we may we can fly there with drones. But like, let's go from this pizza delivery company to become the Amazon of the Nordics.
Ben Kaplan 12:45
So culture was moving along, you did a lot sounds like personally and had to project division. What was going along the same time? I mean, you mentioned like legal compliance and Technology Operations, like you're closing down some some offices and other things. What were other challenges or opportunities there as as in this kind of early stage,
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 13:04
I think one of the biggest silences we have dwarfs that. Okay, we need to choose one that, you know, one tech platform to where we, where we have all our customers. And that meant that we need to close down to tech platforms, right. So all of the customers have, you know, online pizza, and all of the customers are hungry. Now we're used to that brand, had a connection and emotional connection, and a relationship. Suddenly, we had to say to them, sorry, no more, if you want to order. Now it's via Foodora. And we also have to make it like a hard change. So we had to say like, you actually now have to go to the app store to download the Foodora rack. So it's just like a hard stuff. And
Ben Kaplan 13:52
you're worried you're gonna lose all the customers and probably people from those companies say oh my god, if they believe like we do when we thought like Foodora was the enemy. Now you're saying it's our best friend, like people are gonna go and then were you worried about that, that you just like lose a ton of customers and valued Yeah, obviously,
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 14:08
super worried because that's what's actually six, like 60% of our customers needed to get the message in their app saying that online pizza is no more you need to go through App Store, download a completely new app that maybe you haven't even heard about before. Or think that is, you know, there's no use using that app. And suddenly, like, you forced a customer with a certain behaviors to go in, download something new, put in their information, maybe their credit card numbers. And so when I start using a new service that is completely new to them, and
Ben Kaplan 14:41
describe the market at this point, because you're consolidating different players, your three are becoming one, but was there still other rival competitors who are not part of this merger out there who were like, We're gonna try to peel off all the online pizza customers because people don't know where to go or like what was the competitive land Escape. Yeah,
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 15:00
so we had to two competitors. So it was UberEATS that you're probably quite familiar with in the US and in the US. And another company called volt that is actually a Finnish company from the beginning, but it's now is owned by DoorDash. And I think, you know, when when we did this merger, we became roughly the same size as them. But the, I guess what we were really afraid of, is that, okay, okay, now we're the same size, now we can compete on the same level, because in our industry, order, density is a little bit of everything. If you don't have enough orders, and you have your logistics fleets being busy, then there's no profitability, very thin margins, right? So. So we had that opportunity now to reach profitability. However, you know, merging all of your customers to your new tech platform, we would risk losing 60% of our customers. And then pending going to a competitor, exactly, losing all everything, like delivery here was, you know, why they did the merger. But like, if the 60% their customers just say like, okay, and Foodora sorry for my language and go to our competitors, like UberEATS involved, like this would be one of the worst mergers and acquisitions that they've ever been made.
Ben Kaplan 16:23
So what happened? How did he bring people over and how many people came over successfully?
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 16:29
So we did, we did a lot of things. So we, we, first of all, we, you know, like we we prepared them for a long, long while we started to, even if we wanted them to change the apps, we slowly introduced a little bit of like the Foodora, language, Foodora, we're selling in our app, having like a sort of a countdown actually likes now, it's just one more month on online pizza, or one more month from Hungary. And then we will go with the Foodora, and here are all the benefits. And also here are a lot of lottery incentives. It's easy to say all of the nice soft things, but it was also like, let's incentivize, you know, these customers to to really download a new Foodora and, and then while they're in let's over invest on CX, they need to like their, their first order on your new platform needs to be flawless, nothing can go wrong. And if for some reason something goes wrong, because that's life, right? Something always goes wrong, then we need to be like extra extra nice to them over, you know, voucher, all of these customers, you know, personally almost say sorry for the mistake. Here's like, please try this again, here is you know, a lot of compensation actually, to to to make it worthwhile to order again.
The Detective 18:03
In an industry where the stakes are high, and the competition fierce foodora online pizza and hungry make the bold decision to merge into a single entity. Navigating this merger is like walking through a minefield. Three distinct companies, each with its own culture and values must find a way to harmonize under a unified brand. Employees who were once rivals on the battlefield of food delivery, are now teammates. The technical challenge is daunting. Consolidating three different tech platforms risks, alienating 60% of their existing customer base. Amidst the whirlwind of change, a lack of shared vision leaves the team adrift questioning the very reason for this corporate union. And if that wasn't enough, the dark cloud of the COVID 19 pandemic looms large, threatening to either send demand through the roof or pull the rug from under them. rivals like Uber Eats and volt up poised to pounce. Ready to welcome any dissatisfied customers with open arms. The pressure is on. Can Hans navigate this complex landscape steering the ship through the storm to emerge stronger on the other side? Or will this audacious merger be remembered as a cautionary tale for the ages?
Ben Kaplan 19:50
Hans, and when does this all taking place because we're getting into 2020 March 2020s. When I think back to is like really it's still early days, but we're starting to realize as like, you know, that's when lots of things are starting to be canceled events and things are starting to be shut down a little more starting, then when is this happening and when does COVID in the pandemic become a factor in this?
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 20:11
So we did the merger into one app was in December of 2019. And then we asked, you see, we have, you know, one or two months of a little bit of peace and quiet, but still a very, very intense. And then in March, like all over the world, I guess, in COVID hit. And in Sweden, in the Nordics, it was actually rather strange, because the first weekend where it really hit our orders were totally self actually the opposite of what you would think. Because then everyone else
Ben Kaplan 20:52
you think like things are shut down, you're delivered business, you need things delivered. But people did the opposite. Initially, just suddenly, they didn't order because what was your thinking on that of why they were just like they're going out and trying to do stuff in person not get delivered thinking that this might be their last chance? Exactly.
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 21:09
So the stores were not closed yet. Right? So it's, so people were going and buying, you know, 20 kilos of rice, or cabbage, tomatoes, or, you know, toilet paper, or, you know, great magnitude. And no one actually orders from a restaurant. So I was down a weekend, whenever everyone was just buying rice in the grocery stores. I was sitting with my CFO when that we can actually like, Okay, what costs are actually fixed? What What kind of costs, can we, you know, cut or freeze immediately because this is this is not going well at all. And it's just a couple of days later, everything closed. And suddenly, instead of orders not coming in, we double in, you know, over the days, more or less.
Ben Kaplan 22:02
Okay, so suddenly, so yeah, this thing's drop off here. What's going on? Now things double? And are people like, at this point celebrating like, woo, or people panicking, like, oh, no,
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 22:14
it was a mix, I would say mostly panic in the beginning, but also some like, Okay, this is gonna work out for the best for us. So
Ben Kaplan 22:22
you start to see the direction that hey, pandemic for your type of business may be a business driver, because you're a solution, when things are closed down. Today
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 22:31
was sort of unleashing two mega trends, right, the decision and home delivery. So it was in the sweet spot for us. And
Ben Kaplan 22:38
that's good. But you were panicked at beginning because you still have to finish orders, you have to deliver orders. And when they suddenly double, that's good in a long term sense. But stressful in a short term sense
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 22:49
is very, very stressful. So I really want to be humble about all of this, because I know a lot of other industries has had total opposite, right. So But for us, doubling orders, it's, you might feel that we're a tech company, but it still needs to be delivered by someone. Right. So we had our our riders, our rider fleet, it's hard to double know, the rider fleet over a day to capture all of the new orders. And that meant that we couldn't deliver all of the orders, we had to decline orders. We or they were coming super, super late. And then customers were really angry at us and wondering, you know, I need food I cannot go out what is the food not coming. And then our customer support broke down because they were overwhelmed by all of the customers phone again, they say like, you know what's going on. And, and also back then like a I think in the US you had come much further. But in Sweden, there was still a lot a lot of restaurants there was not online, we're part of a delivery platform. So they
Ben Kaplan 23:58
trying to madly get online because they're trying to stay in business. They see this totally shifting, they need delivery. But then I imagine I don't know if that doubled overnight or not. But you're gonna have difficulty onboarding that many restaurants to get online so quickly. Yeah,
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 24:15
so we were back then we were staffed to onboard roughly 40 restaurants a month. And suddenly, just for the first week, we had 800 new restaurants just wanting to come on board. And you know restaurant owners calling saying that like okay, I need to be first in line and you know, we cannot be in place 620 It takes too long. You're ruining our business. This is not fair. So it was really like customers, customer support riders restaurants, the entire ecosystem. Even it was a super interesting and a missing opportunity. It felt In the beginning, like everything is breaking down, we cannot handle this. And how
Ben Kaplan 25:04
did you get through it? Were you just trying to like hire people left and right to do this, like new people just to have capacity were people being asked to like work all hours of the day, and you had to like get them excited say, Hey, this is a unique opportunity to do something with great purpose in a very difficult time in the world in our country and local communities that you drive people that way. How did you get through it? Did you just sort of say like, we can't make a certain percentage happy. And so we just can't take them, but we're gonna make the people we have that we can take really happy, how did you get through it?
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 25:35
I think, again, right, it starts with the culture and getting everyone to work at this in the same direction. And I gathered a management team, and we had like this big ol ants, and saying that this is the opportunity of a lifetime, like people in in general are some BS in a way in their customer behavior, you rarely change behaviors. But this is one time where you know, like, suddenly people cannot go out you need home deliveries. And you need them to adapt into the more digitalized world. This is our opportunity. This is our opportunity to go from a company that no one really knows about that delivers pizzas to your home, when you're hanging over to become like this company that can be an institution in Sweden that can deliver everything everywhere to everyone. And this is the moment when when we are at our retirement homes, you know, drinking our to our cookies, telling the stories for the grandchildren. This is what this is the story we're gonna tell
Ben Kaplan 26:45
this is the moment this is the moment we did something in a historic moment, we did something epic that mattered for ourselves, for our company, for our communities, all of that enhanced, did people buy this? Did they get rallied up were they pumped up? I
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 26:59
really think so I really believe so. And I still think that that was the pivotal moment, everyone felt like this is bigger than themselves. This is, this is the moment to grasp, like an amazing investing opportunity and to be the part of something bigger. And, and that really helps. It really helps to, to rally everyone behind this and like let's, you know, let's try to solve for this and grab this opportunity as much as possible and do as best as we can for as many, you know, customers, restaurant partners, riders, as possible. And, and also, we we started with a mantra we called act and adapt. We we don't have time, this is not the time to do fancy analysis. You know, think about different scenarios, should we go direction a Should we go direction, because we need to take super fast decisions, we need to take bold decisions. And so we need to act, and then we fail. And then we learn and then we try and fail again. And then we learn react and adapt. But there's no time for hierarchies. There's no time for big analysis, we just need to do what we feel is right in the moment as quick as possible.
Ben Kaplan 28:22
Well, it was really interesting. And I think when we get a little more time away from this period in history, and historians look back at what is the legacy of of this period of time, that notion of whether it's the business sector, startups known for a little bit more fast reaction and doing that, but big companies were throwing away entire playbooks and rules you had governments across the world coming together. And usually here are the 27 steps that we have to do to enact something, we're just like doing it, you know, cutting through the red tape overnight and doing things. It's interesting to think about how much we were able to accomplish so quickly, because it was seen out of necessity. And then it sort of begs the question, Well, why do we have all those structures to begin with? Like, do we actually need all of those things that are built up over time? So did you had to react quickly as you were doing that you had amazing fuel at your back, which is just demand? At what point did you feel like not only are we going to make it but we're going to come out and this is going to be a growth driver, we're going to be stronger for all of this.
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 29:25
I think if COVID started in March, during the summer months, maybe June, July, we've we had sort of steadied the ship, we were able to deliver a service that was you know, good enough, I would say to cater the demands. And we hadn't lost any customers for actually the opposite. And then suddenly, like you know, like we we really felt like it even if everything is still chaotic. We felt that okay, we and actually handle the order of pressure. We have enough writers we had, you know, before we used to recruit, maybe like 5050 writers a month. Now in in April, we, we recruited 500 writers in one month, and onboard them digitally. We had, we had a group, but I held group interviews in customer service, customer support, like 50 people at the same time. group interviews, obviously, we made some mistakes in the interview process. But like, Okay, if you have a good heart and a voice, and those Swedish or English, you're ready to go. And we, in a way we fruit people at at the demand. And in the beginning, it was it was really the solution.
Ben Kaplan 30:52
So kind of looking back now with better vision on the whole thing on that whole period. And then we'll project forward after that. But what did you really get right? And what would you change? If you were going to do it all over again, that maybe would enabled things to be solved faster? Or might enable even more growth? What did you really get right, that you couldn't afford to miss? And what would you go back and maybe do a little bit differently? With hindsight,
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 31:15
I think a few where we really, really didn't, right was to, obviously to get everyone gathered around this mission. And then we have this amazing opportunity at this point in time, but also that we delegated responsibility that we didn't have like this big hierarchies this, this bureaucracies that we maybe are talking about before, like Why Why does it take, you know, for a vaccine, why does it take nine or 10 years to develop a new vaccine, and suddenly, during COVID, companies could develop within, you know, in months, or maybe a year,
Ben Kaplan 31:50
put it in a practical way, like Hans your CEO, but this other person who's a frontline worker is CEO of this decision right now, which needs to get made. And they are empowered to make that that they don't have to go up through five levels to have you sign off, in this case.
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 32:05
Exactly. And for and it was really to empower that person that okay, if you're in customer support, and you see that, okay, we have a new kind of problem. You have the you have all the authority to solve that and to make a change to make something for the better. And we also like every day, we had a management team meeting in roughly two hours, where the doors were open. So everyone would come in, also on on a Saturday or Sunday. And virtually, I would say to just like if they have something that this is blocking progress, this is blocking our customer experience or how we can recruit riders, okay, you have two hours every day where you have the management team, just waiting for you to come and say like, Okay, we need this and that x and y. And we've tried to say yes to as many things as possible. And I think that was the big big thing that I would repeat over and over again.
The Detective 33:15
In a landscape radically altered by the COVID 19 pandemic foodora finds itself at the intersection of crisis and potential. Once a modest player in the delivery service arena, the company is thrust into an unparalleled situation, or does nosedive only to surge back with twice the volume. The team is in overdrive, the system teetering on the brink. Restaurants are desperate for a lifeline delivery riders are stretched to their limits, and customers are clamoring for clarity. Amidst the turbulence, a guiding force steps forward pawns takes the helm sweeping away layers of red tape to empower those on the front lines, the rallying cry, act and adapt as the first rays of sunlight break, they find themselves on the other side of the Tempest. But what has been the toll? What indelible lessons have been carved into the company's legacy?
Ben Kaplan 34:35
Hans, do you got people aligned in the vision, you're empowering people because we've got to break down long approval structures. We want to prioritize action. And then you also really tried to improve the communication channel by just being like we're here. Like, what do you need? We can do it that sounds great. What would you do differently? Was there anything you could have done to speed things up?
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 34:57
I think on speeding things up. I actually I think maybe somewhere smarter can tell me how we should have done that. But I think I think we were pretty excellent on that one. But I think what we, what I would do differently would be the communication part, especially the communication to external partners. We were not brave enough in in the beginning to say, Our head is under water, like, I know, you expect the delivery, that would like to your door in 30 minutes, is going to take one and a half hours now. We're sorry for the inconvenience. But that's, that's the best we can do for the moment or for the restaurants. I know, on our homepage, he says that you can be on boarded onto Foodora in two days. And now it actually takes two and a half weeks because we are we are overloaded with all of this demand. And I really think we failed in being honest to our customer, because we really wanted to deliver in 30 minutes that's very close to our heart, then we want to onboard all the restaurants as fast as possible. But we should have been more transparent and more honest, especially in the the first couple of months that this is, this is just a current reality we working under. And if we would have been more transparent there, it would have been easier to towards our personnel as well, that was done under a huge pressure or like, Okay, we promised onboard this restaurant into this. And it's going to take two and a half weeks. And then they in their turn got a lot of pressure on them. So I think that was one of the main things I would change
Ben Kaplan 36:38
in what do you look to from that experience? What do you look to projecting forward? I mean, now you're in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria to the Czech Republic? What is next for Foodora? What is the next obstacle or mountain to climb? To get to where you want to go on that vision of anyone anywhere? 24/7 and 30 minutes?
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 36:59
Yes, I think our development has been outstanding over the last couple of years, obviously fueled by by COVID. huge demand, that was great that still the majority of our business is delivering restaurants, food, and that that's all good. And we should continue doing that with excellence. But for me, we we are making inroads in delivering groceries i Are we getting bigger and bigger in that, but for me, I don't see were we not the new Amazon, to be honest. You know, like, why can we not deliver like you know, and be the first choice to deliver, you know, when your remote control is out of batteries, you should think Foodora, you should think that okay, I can actually get batteries to my remote control for my PS five in 30 minutes to my door. And I think we have a superior service there. But we haven't made in order customers think that when those things happen, so when you forgot flowers to your wife on your anniversary or something like ah, I can actually fix this Foodora can send home like a big bouquet of roses in 30 minutes. So I think we have the capabilities that now it's a journey of getting people to think, okay, flowers, batteries, PS five, what have you, I can get that home socks, I can get the told me for two minutes and think about like, okay, Foodora because now we think Foodora food, but you need to we need to change that perception.
Ben Kaplan 38:52
And how do you think we are a much larger company now in terms of revenue in terms of 1000s of people who are workers. And there's also some challenges with that that, you know, has been reported on a little bit in terms of some initiatives like to kind of look at, you know, risks or gaps and work practices and some maybe some hires that people didn't like their background or some other issues with customers or restaurants, you know, abusing different staff members or things like that, that have been reported. How does that whole experience go through the pandemic? How does it help you now? Are there any lessons for now just being bigger company more issues, bigger target on your back? As CEO now?
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 39:29
For sure. I think there is a target is much, much bigger than it was in 2019. And I think media is having a field with it. Sometimes because it's it's something new, it's something exciting and then you need to pick it apart, especially the media wants to, you know, scrutinize everything because it's I think for every successful company or startup and scale up in the beginning, media and external stakeholders. They love you. It's Love story
Ben Kaplan 40:00
well, and there's a little bit of just like, move fast and break things. And everyone's like startup, that's great. But then you get a certain size or like, Well, what did you break? Exactly? And can we look at that break? And then how did you break it? And what are you doing to put it back together? No one cares about that when you're a small startup, but suddenly, people care about that later. Yes,
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 40:17
and it's fair. And obviously, that has changed. And it's made us you know, in one way, it's a little bit saddening, but we obviously we need more processes, right, we need more governance structures than all of that to, to really make sure that we are compliant, and in everything we do, and that we keep to our, you know, customer promises, and they ignore the processes and promises we have. And at the same time, we need to balance that we, you know, we need to be, we need to always be professional. But that also sometimes means that you become bureaucratic, more hierarchical, more processes, or you become slower. But it's my, my, my big goal now, and my big fear is that we cannot become too much of that, we need to be this big company that can still operate as an entrepreneurial scale up company. Because if we if we lose that this industry is so young, still, if we lose that entrepreneurial mindset, that act and adapt that pace, someone is going to be just judicious. So we we need to balance this yes, we need more governance structure and, you know, professionalize some of the things we do, but at the same time, we need to keep that entrepreneurial spirit and heart. And that's my role as the CEO to balance that.
Ben Kaplan 41:46
And of course, that's the trick you need to grow, but not, you know, lose what made you great in the beginning, even as you do, and certainly what an interesting time and industry to be a CEO in and to come through that. And certainly, I can see that giving you a lot of confidence that you might not know what's coming around the corner. But if you can get through the ups and downs of COVID, and in food delivery and digitization and changes in cultural norms, and, and all of that, then maybe that gives you you know, confidence that you could get through anything I
Hans Skruvfors - Foodora 42:17
totally do. And I actually think even if we grown like 10, next, on revenue, profit, and in orders from like 2019, where I think we're just scraping the surface here. There's so much potential. And that keeps me going every day. Thank you for going with a big smile.
The Detective 42:46
foodora faced the ultimate test, navigating a merger and a global pandemic that shook the very foundation. Orders plummeted then doubled, pushing the team to their limits. Led by hands, they adopted a mantra, act and adapt. culture became their compass, uniting the team and empowering individuals to make swift decisions, cutting through bureaucracy and red tape. Challenges arose communication missteps, with external partners, overwhelming demand that outpaced their infrastructure, and a strain of rapid growth that tested their operational resilience. But they emerged stronger learning the power of transparency, agility, and a company culture that values empowerment, and open dialogue. As they look ahead, Foodora aims to be more than a food delivery service. They envision becoming a go to solution for a myriad of needs, from groceries to batteries for your remote control. They're on a mission to deliver endless possibilities, proving that in times of crisis, the ability to adapt is the ultimate triumph. And with that, it's case closed
44:25
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