Lighter load the recipe for My Food Bag CEOs
AUCKLAND: My Food Bag cofounders and cochief executives Cecilia and James Robinson are stepping down from the business after five years.
The couple, who will remain on the board, said the move was part of the company’s succession plan with the business now seeking a chief executive to take it to the next stage, which was likely to include a public listing.
‘‘Both James and I are incredibly proud of the business we have built,’’ Mrs Robinson said.
‘‘We are excited to continue to help grow the business and contribute to the strategic direction as founder shareholders through our ongoing directorships as part of the My Food Bag Board.’’
The company said its succession plan had been in place since last year to give the board and business time to find a suitable chief executive.
Mrs Robinson said the decision was also based on wanting to spend more time with their young family.
The couple has a 5andahalfyearold son, Thomas, and a 20monthold daughter, Leila.
‘‘We have a really young family and we’ve been working for a really long time, so we’re going to take some time out for our family.
‘‘Clearly, My Food Bag is a focus for us in a governance capacity, but we’re really going to enjoy our children and do some travelling.’’
The Robinsons founded My Food Bag in March 2013 with Masterchef winner and dietitian Nadia Lim and her husband Carlos Bagrie as well as former Telecom chief executive Theresa Gattung.
The concept is based on delivering a week’s worth of healthy and easytomake recipes as well as the ingredients needed to make them.
Within the first three years, the company reached $100 million in annual revenue and 30,000 customers across 14 cities in New Zealand and Australia.
The most recently reported figure of the company’s revenue was $150 million annually. In October 2016, My Food Bag announced it had secured investment from Waterman Capital, saying at the time the partnership would support the company in achieving its IPO ambitions within the next three years.
Mrs Robinson said the company was still on track with this timeline, meaning an IPO was likely before the end of next year.
Since its partnership, the company had been focused on building a strong leadership team.
Last week, it was awarded the Supreme Auckland Business Award 2017 at the Westpac Auckland Best of the Best Business awards.
Mrs Robinson said having achieved all of the goals they set out when they launched, it was time for a new leader who could help the company achieve its next plans.
The company was seeking a leader who could continue to foster the innovative and winning culture, and who was a strong people leader with a clear vision of how to deliver on the company’s promises, Mrs Robinson said.
Asked if the pair would look to set up another company in the future, Mrs Robinson laughed.
‘‘Well, you can never say never,’’ she said. — NZME