Dive Brief:

• Waitr on Monday named restaurant industry veteran Matthew Coy as its chief information officer. Coy most recently served as vice president of technology at Donatos Pizza. Before that Coy was the director of IT for Chipotle. It appears Coy will be the first to hold the CIO position at Waitr. 
• Coy's experience includes transitioning both Donatos and Chipotle's business to the cloud. His work has cut costs, added functionality and reduced risk at the companies he's worked for, per a Waitr press release. 
• Coy's hiring follows Waitr's addition of Timothy Newton as its first chief technology officer in January. Waitr has also announced it will rebrand as ASAP to emphasize the company's expansion into delivery categories beyond restaurants. That branding change is expected to take effect later this year. 

Dive Insight:

The role of CIO has grown across industries as the need to adopt and integrate digital technologies intensifies. That shift is evident in the restaurant space, which has experienced rapid growth in technology adoption by both consumers and operators throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent survey from IBM found CEOs expect CIOs and CTOs to be the most critical C-suite roles in the next few years.  

Coy's experience in cloud-based solutions and efficiencies could help position Waitr for growth as the company expands its business model into new verticals, like cannabis. In 2021, the company announced its intent to acquire two cannabis dispensary POS companies, Cova and Flow Payments.

By adding a CIO and CTO, Waitr is showing its focus on integrating acquisitions while strengthening core competencies in delivery services and newer payment processing business. 

"Matthew brings the necessary insight and experience to advance the organization's digital and technology outlooks as we move into multiple delivery verticals," Carl Grimstad, Waitr's CEO, said in a statement.

CIOs could help delivery firms with is data security, an increasingly key protection. In 2019, a data breach within DoorDash affected 4.9 million people. Uber and Chowbus have also experienced breaches and the space is particularly vulnerable to hackers, according to a recent FBI warning. An AARP-sponsored study found that 18% of non-financial identity fraud cases in 2020 occurred in the delivery service space.

Since its launch in 2014, Waitr has struggled to gain much market share in the competitive foodservice delivery space, claiming less than 1% share alongside other small players. The company went public in 2018 but is at risk of being delisted from the Nasdaq market if its stock doesn't reach $1 by July.