St. Louis food and technology startup GiftAMeal has made two key hires for roles it says will be crucial to its ongoing geographic expansion efforts.
GiftAMeal has hired Albano Latifi as chief growth officer and Jamie Placht for the role of Kansas City restaurant relationship manager. Both are newly created positions at the startup.
Latifi joins GiftAMeal after having more recently been head of Midwest partnerships for ghost kitchens startup CloudKitchens. As GiftAMeal’s chief growth officer, he will lead the company’s national expansion initiatives. Placht, who has previously worked at hunger relief nonprofits, will manage the company’s expansion and restaurant outreach efforts in Kansas City.
“Now that we’ve proven that our concept can work at hundreds of restaurants, it’s time to grow. And with the recent success of our first large-scale chain partnerships, bringing on top-tier staff with industry experience is crucial. We’re beyond excited to be having Albano and Jamie join the team,” said Andrew Glantz, founder and CEO of GiftAMeal.
Launched in 2015, GiftAMeal has developed an app that provides a meal to someone in need each time a user takes a photo on its app at a partner restaurant. GiftAMeal says its app includes 275 restaurants and has helped provide more than 760,000 meals to those in need. The two new hires for GiftAMeal come after the startup in June said it had raised $500,000 from investors and that it would target the financing to facilitate expansion outside St. Louis.
GiftAMeal earlier this year inked a deal with St. Louis-based quick-serve roast beef chain Lion’s Choice to join its platform, which gave the startup a foothold in the Kansas City market. Glantz said his company is now working with 10 restaurants in Kansas City. In addition to Kansas City, Glantz said GiftAMeal is working with 12 restaurants in the Chicago area, with plans to pursue further expansion there. Latifi, GiftAMeal’s new chief growth officer, is based in Chicago. In addition to its presence in St. Louis, Kansas City and Chicago, it is also exploring national expansion through partnerships with chain restaurants.
GiftAMeal has 10 employees on its staff.
