Menulog gets new chief marketing officer

Simon Cheng

Menulog has hired a new marketing director following the departure of CMO50 2018 honouree, Tasman Page.

The online food delivery business has hired former Healthy Life CMO, Simon Cheng, to take the reins from April. Cheng will report directly to managing director, Alastair Venn, and oversee a team of 13 marketing and communications professionals. He’ll also work in collaboration with an expanding analytics team as well as sales, operations and technology. The remit marketing and communications strategy, CRM and loyalty, brand marketing, PR, events and partnerships and trade marketing.

In a statement to CMO, Venn said Cheng’s extensive and diverse experience made him a perfect candidate for the position.

“In one of the most dynamic and rapidly evolving industries, Menulog is in a unique position to take advantage of the huge market opportunity online food delivery presents. With increasing competition, this requires highly experienced, commercially-minded marketing leadership, which is what Simon brings to the business,” he said.  

Venn noted that with backing from the global Just Eat network, Menulog has a number of growth initiatives planned in 2019, including continued rollout of the Menulog delivery service, optimisation of its self-delivery restaurants and a fresh consumer offering incorporating both local restaurants and national brands to customers across Australia.  

“Marketing will play a pivotal role in helping more customers in local areas find, select, order and enjoy a range of meals at the touch of a button, while driving profitable growth for the 13,000+ local businesses currently on Menulog and the tens of thousands that will join this year,” Venn continued. “Simon has been tasked with leading this strategy, driving customer acquisition, loyalty and profitability for the Menulog network.”  

Cheng has spent the last two years with Healthy Life, a health and wellness business with 60 stores across Australia. Prior to this, he spent eight years with P&O Cruises, part of the Carnival Australia group, the last 18 months of which were as VP of sales, marketing and PR.  

His resume also includes client-side marketing communications roles with Qantas Holidays, as well as agency roles with McCann Erickson and Singleton Ogilvy and Mather.

Page, meanwhile, has not yet confirmed his next move. His work at Menulog over the last three years earnt him a place on the 2018 edition of the CMO list.

The news comes as Healthy Life confirmed it was joining forces with GoVita, another retailer in the health space. Commencing from 1 May, the deal sees Healthy Life becoming co-branded alongside GoVita's 135-store network across Australia.

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