- CloudKitchens’ head of Americas is leaving for a healthtech startup, the second exec exit in a month.
- Rodrigo Arévalo oversaw the general managers in the Americas. Two ex-Uber leaders will take up the reins.
- Arévalo’s departure marks the second major executive exit in a month, after the startup’s head of recruiting left.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
CloudKitchens’ wave of departures has hit the startup’s top level with Rodrigo Arévalo, the Americas regional general manager, leaving the company.
On Wednesday, CloudKitchens CEO Travis Kalanick emailed employees to announce Arévalo’s exit in a note reviewed by Insider. Per the email, Arévalo is heading to an unspecified healthcare startup to be chief operating officer.
The ghost kitchen startup has seen significant employee churn this year. In the first three months of the year, Insider previously reported that more than 300 of the company’s more than 2,000 employees left, some of whom told Insider they quit over what they perceived as paltry bonuses and a contentious new leveling system instituted in March. Last month, the ghost kitchen startup’s head of recruiting resigned after a misconduct investigation, Insider previously reported.
In a statement to Insider confirming his departure, Arévalo thanked Kalanick and the company. While he declined to name his new employer, he said his new job focuses on home-based healthcare.
“I lost my father last year and witnessed first hand how heartbreakingly challenging it can be for patients to manage their healthcare from the place they want to be the most – home,” he said.
CloudKitchens did not respond to requests for comment.
Arévalo joined the ghost kitchen company in January 2020, per his LinkedIn, after more than six years at Uber. He was the first Latin America employee at Uber when he started as general manager of Mexico in 2013, and he rose to be head of Uber Eats for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Kalanick, who cofounded Uber, hired at least dozens of ex-Uber employees in his three years at CloudKitchens.
Two CloudKitchens employees, also from Uber, will take over for Arévalo, per Wednesday’s email. Jess Morton, who joined the startup in August 2018, per her LinkedIn, will run the US and Canadian sales and operations team and take Arévalo’s direct reports. She was previously the general manager for Los Angeles and then the general manager for the southwest US, per her LinkedIn. Before CloudKitchens, she spent three years at Uber, where she last was the head of Japan for Uber Eats.
In Latin America, general manager Marc Mitchell is expanding his scope from multiple territories to oversee all of the region. Before Mitchell joined CloudKitchens in January 2019, he was Postmates ‘ general manager for Mexico and earlier worked for Uber in Colombia for nearly two years.
Both Morton and Mitchell will report to Kalanick. In Wednesday’s email, the CEO thanked Arévalo and wrote about the strong leadership among general managers.
“This is an opportunity for me to get much closer to our business in Latam with a particular focus in Brazil,” which Kalanick called “one of our most successful regions.”
In his three years at CloudKitchens and parent company City Storage Systems, Kalanick has kept the ghost kitchen venture under wraps, so it’s impossible for outsiders to get a sense of the company’s size and scope. In April, Insider counted 46 total US locations, with just over half up and running. Because the company operates under various local names internationally, it’s unclear how many locations the company operates in Latin America and in total.
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Axel Springer, Insider Inc.’s parent company, is an investor in Uber.