JOKR, an on-demand meal delivery service, announced on June 19 that it would cease operations in New York and Boston and exit the United States entirely, with co-founder and CEO Ralf Wenzel stating that the firm would instead focus on Latin America.
Wenzel said in a statement,“We have decided to stop our business activities in the U.S. for now, which have lately only accounted for about 5% of our business and with a very differently structured opportunity,” “Given our unique position in Latin America, we decided to increase our investments in the region organically and by exploring complementary inorganic opportunities, expand our geographic footprint and expand on our service offering to become the leading and most customer-serving online grocery business across Latin America, a 1.2tn retail market with less than 10% online penetration.”
According to Bloomberg, the New York and Boston businesses accounted for nine micro-fulfillment sites out of JOKR’s global network of around 200. The company’s 950-person office personnel will be reduced by around 50 people as a result of the transfer.
