talabat, a leading food delivery and q-commerce platform, announced the steeping down of the organisation’s Chief Operating Officer Toon Gyssels and his move to its long standing partner Kitopi, the cloud kitchen platform.
In a series of moves, Jérémy Doutté and Tareq Barto have been appointed to talabat’s C-suite, while Tatiana Rahal will take the reins of the organisation’s UAE market.
Change at the top
Gyssels has been instrumental in transforming talabat’s operations and expansion success over the last four and a half years. He built a truly world-class team from 200 people to well over 3,500 people, and guiding the expansion of the organisation from food delivery to include q-commerce with talabat mart, and also, flowers, pharmaceuticals and other non-food verticals. He also oversaw the development of the talabat’s rider fleet, where the organisation moved away from a marketplace model (fleet managed by restaurants) to a full service model, providing delivery through dedicated logistics partners.
Doutté, who is currently heading up talabat’s UAE business as Vice President, will take on a regional leadership role, overseeing talabat’s nine markets as Chief Business Officer, while Barto, who works for talabat’s parent company, Delivery Hero SE in Berlin, as the Vice President of International Markets, will move to Dubai to oversee talabat’s core operations as Chief Operations Officer. Rahal has also been appointed as Managing Director of talabat UAE, after two years as MD of talabat Oman where she accelerated and grew the organisation.
New opportunities
Gyssels said, “My time at talabat has been some of my greatest professional achievements, and I’m truly thankful to every employee, every partner restaurant, and every rider who continues to make this organisation, in my opinion, the best tech organisation in the MENA region. Now I’m excited to have joined Kitopi – starting a new chapter, a new opportunity. I cannot wait to get into the saddle and help the business to grow exponentially!’
