Mountain View, California Zume, the pizza-building robot startup backed by venture capital, appears to be executing a major restructuring effort to staunch bleeding cash. Approximately 400 employees out of about 496 employees, 80% of their staff, including administration, engineering, and operations support personnel are impacted. The company will not renew the lease on its Seattle, Washington facility.
It appears that Zume CEO Alex Garden is relying on non-disclosure agreements to keep employees from discussing the company, its status, and future plans. Causal factors include over-zealous employment as the company attempted to scale rapidly without the proper infrastructure and management. Especially targeted at a number of top-level executives who have already left the company.
According to published sources that the company has pivoted to Zume Forward to supply technology, sustainable packaging, and services to the food truck industry, or in company jargon, mobile cooking platforms. A very limited market when compared to bricks-and-mortar food establishments.
It appears that the company is attempting to position the company as a hi-tech venture featuring artificial intelligence and automated learning which involves the analysis of external factors such as day, time, weather, etc. to predict pizza consumption demand and then satisfy that demand with its mobile cooking platform. Something that was done decades ago by Mrs. Field’s Cookies whose predictive modeling allowed the company to scale rapidly while curtailing costs.
From the company’s website …
Here’s how it works
Zume Forward makes this data actionable, with mobile kitchens, connected appliances and predictive analytics that enable food brands to expand operations closer to customer demand and use resources more efficiently.
Zume Source brings data to the supply chain, creating smarter and more sustainable methods for how food is grown, produced and delivered, including 100% compostable fiber-molded packaging that, at scale, is more affordable than paper or plastic.
And Zume Culinary ensures that quality never suffers by elevating hospitality throughout the delivery experience with menu design, advanced commissary techniques and process automation.
Zume is creating a connected technology infrastructure across the entire food supply chain. We’re hopeful that, together with our partners, we can create better outcomes for businesses and a healthier planet in the process.
Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?