Mike Heaton, formerly of Roadchef and SSP, has been appointed managing director of easyFood, the online takeaway business EasyFood, backed by EasyJet tycoon Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, MCA understands.
Heaton was previously commercial director at Roadchef for 10 years and previous to that director of operations and loss prevention at SSP.
EasyFood, which launched earlier this year in Birmingham, gives operators an unbranded website as part of the service, which is powered by their own technology.
Its plan was to recruit 1,000 restaurant partners in Birmingham by Christmas, before expanding to other Northern cities in the New Year, and aiming for London towards the end of 2019.
The platform initially planned to compete with Just Eat by offering takeaway oriented restaurants a delivery ordering solution at a flat rate of £100 a month.
Co-founder Gurpreet Singh Sidhu said EasyFood was also planning to move into managing its own delivery function, and would look to compete with Deliveroo and Uber Eats at a later stage.
In September, it was reported it was offering its services for free to new restaurant partners in an expansion drive.
The company was offering three months’ free subscription to the next 1,000 restaurants to sign up as it expands from Birmingham into Wolverhampton, Walsall, Coventry and Dudley.
The model differs from traditional delivery operators in charging a flat fee as opposed to commission.
The company does not currently offer its own delivery function but plans to add in this element as part of its growth plan.
