Alimentation Couche-Tard exec joins Food Rocket's board

Dive Brief:

Guillaume Leger, vice president and controller of convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard, has joined the board of directors of ultrafast grocery delivery startup Food Rocket, according to a Tuesday press release sent by email.
Food Rocket is looking to tap Leger’s financial background as it considers the possibility of holding an initial public offering, the e-commerce company said.
Leger’s addition to Food Rocket’s board deepens the company’s existing relationship with Alimentation Couche-Tard, which is also an investor in the delivery company.

Dive Insight:

The announcement that Alimentation Couche-Tard is contributing management expertise to Food Rocket follows the retailer’s decision earlier this year to commit an unspecified amount of money to the startup.

Alimentation Couche-Tard, which operates stores under the Circle K and Couche-Tard banners, was the lead investor in a $25 million Series A funding round Food Rocket closed in April. The retailer made the investment through a venture capital fund it set up to support convenience-focused startups, which include e-grocer Farmstead in addition to Food Rocket.

Leger, who has served in his current role with Alimentation Couche-Tard for about two years, is in charge of financial reporting for the company, according to the announcement. He also is involved with the retailer’s investment activities in different parts of the world, including mergers and acquisitions.

“[Food Rocket founder and CEO] Vitaly [Alexandrov] runs a unique business model, and I want to contribute, offering expertise and helping Food Rocket access Couche-Tard’s global network in ways that can support Food Rocket’s development plans and help Couche-Tard shape the future of convenience,” Leger said in a statement.

Before joining Alimentation Couche-Tard, Leger served as chief financial officer of Citigroup in Hong Kong, according to Tuesday's announcement. He also served as a member of the bank’s mergers and acquisitions group in New York and was a regional controller in Asia.

Based in Chicago, Food Rocket offers 15-minute delivery from a network of dark stores in that city and San Francisco, and plans to expand to Boston; Los Angeles; Philadelphia; and Washington, D.C., this year, according to Alexandrov.

Alimentation Couche-Tard is exploring how high-speed delivery can benefit its network of more than 14,000 convenience stores around the world and concluded that it would be better off partnering with Food Rocket than experimenting with quick commerce on its own, Kevin Lewis, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Alimentation Couche-Tard, said in a recent interview.

Food Rocket plans later this year to open a dark store in Chicago adjacent to a new Circle K location in the city. The startup intends to offer 15-minute delivery of selected items from the Circle K store, Alexandrov said.