Gopuff Recruits Pizza Hut Exec to Lead Fresh Food Operations

Gopuff is doubling down on Gopuff Kitchen, its private label line of freshly prepared food, by bringing on former Pizza Hut and YUM! Brands executive Amelia Riba to lead the effort.

Gopuff Kitchen was unveiled in July 2021 and operates all-electric mobile kitchens stationed within or adjacent to the instant delivery company’s micro-fulfillment centers. These kitchens can produce foods, such as pizza, chicken tenders or breakfast sandwiches, which can then be delivered alongside Gopuff’s stock of packaged consumer goods and essential household items.

As VP of Gopuff Kitchen, Riba will tap into her more than 15 years of growing and marketing fast food brands to set the unit’s strategy and lead its expansion, innovation and strategic partnerships.

Prior to Gopuff, she was the Chief Brand Officer for Pizza Hut in the UK and Europe. She also spent time in charge of the pizza chain’s brand strategy in Latin America and the Caribbean. Before that, Riba led a turnaround effort for YUM! Brands’ Latin America and Caribbean operations with a focus on Mexico and Brazil and held senior marketing roles at Burger King, Nestlé and Mattel.

“Since introducing Gopuff Kitchen, we’ve found that the differentiated offering leads to better customer engagement including larger basket sizes and more frequent purchases,” Gopuff’s VP of Business Expansion, Max Crowly, said in a statement provided to The Org. “We’re thrilled to have Amelia’s experience building global food brands and innovating new offerings for customers as we look to scale Gopuff Kitchen across the country.”

Riba joins Gopuff as it expands across the U.S. This past October, the Philadelphia-based company began making deliveries in New York City, and today it operates in at least 42 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. When Gopuff Kitchen launched over the summer, the company said it offered food delivery from kitchens at more than 20 micro-fulfillment centers in Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Arizona, leaving room for significant growth.

“I couldn’t be happier to be joining the Gopuff team to lead strategy, expansion and innovation for Gopuff Kitchen,” Riba added. “Throughout my career, I’ve focused every effort on the customer’s wants and needs, and I look forward to bringing this same customer-first mindset to Gopuff as we change the way consumers access high-quality food instantly.”

Riba’s foreign market brand strategy experience could also pay off for the company as its eyes turn abroad as well—Gopuff established operations in the U.K. in November 2021 and France in March 2022, its first foreign markets. The company is looking to build on this expansion and named Bryan Batista as its SVP of International just last month to bring its services to new foreign markets.

Alongside news of Riba’s hiring, Gopuff revealed that it had added Jacalyn Lee, the former Head of Communications at Equinox Media, as its Director of Consumer Communications and veteran legislative staffer Annie Palisi as the leader of its Federal Affairs team.