SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Seasoned, a San Francisco-based company, announced today that it has secured $20 million in Series A funding led by TPG Growth to build out a state of the art professional networking platform for Foodservice workers. The company will be led by former Lynda.com Executives, Andrew Wait and Madhav Mehra.

Seasoned is a spin-off of HotSchedules, a leading provider of technology solutions for the restaurant and hospitality industries. The company will aim to remove friction, reduce cost and improve matching outcomes of current hiring solutions within the foodservice industry.

"There is tremendous potential in helping restaurants solve the number one issue that determines their success or failure--reducing the cost and dramatically increasing the success of recruiting and retaining quality employees," said Kevin Costello, Chairman of HotSchedules. "This investment of $20 million from TPG Growth in Seasoned is a tremendous vote of confidence in our ability to create a professional network that will help those in the industry create better teams, help workers really thrive and ultimately build better lives," said Andrew Wait, Executive Chairman.

"At TPG Growth, we've identified companies that bring highly impactful, innovative solutions to businesses and consumers and are led by visionary management teams like Andrew and Madhav. We look forward to scaling this business and see tremendous potential for it to revolutionize the foodservice industry," said Bill McGlashan, Founding Partner of TPG Growth.

Seasoned will be led by Executive Chairman, Andrew Wait and President, Madhav Mehra--both highly experienced technology executives with proven track records of success. Wait has deep background in consumer Internet and B2B subscription, education technology, and international companies and investments. Most recently, Andrew was President of Lynda.com and was a key contributor to its sale to LinkedIn and its subsequent integration. Mehra has spent his career building and launching consumer products and services that enhance people's lives—learning, photography, art, books, and health and wellness. Madhav has held senior executive positions at Lynda.com, CellScope, Alibris (the web's second largest bookseller), Art.com, and Kodak.

The Foodservice industry remains an economic powerhouse fueling our economy and providing full and part time employment to millions, many of whom are women and minorities living below the poverty line. According to the National Restaurant Association, the industry spends more than $4 billion on hiring and:

half of all adults have worked in the restaurant industry at some point

1 in 3 Americans got their first job experience in a restaurant

8 in 10 owners say their first job in the industry was entry level

diversity impacts bottom line

Though women and minorities make up more than half of hourly employees, their presence drops dramatically in management and corporate leadership positions.



Millennials and younger consumers expect diversity in their workplaces and prefer to patronize businesses that reflect that same value.

About Seasoned

Based in San Francisco with offices in Austin, Seasoned is the first foodservice-centric community designed to connect workers with jobs, talent and career development opportunities. From cooks and dishwashers to servers and hosts, gig workers to lifers--we aim to help improve the lives and livelihoods of those who work hard serving others. Seasoned is a sister company to restaurant industry veteran, HotSchedules--also a TPG Growth funded company.



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SOURCE Seasoned