Just Eat Takeaway founder Jitse Groen steps down after 25 years

Jitse Groen will step down as chief executive of Just Eat Takeaway on January 1, 2026, ending a 25-year tenure at the company he founded.

The meal delivery firm announced on Tuesday that he will be succeeded by Roberto Gandolfo, currently chair of Just Eat’s supervisory board and head of Prosus Europe.

The leadership change follows Prosus’s €4.1 billion takeover of Just Eat Takeaway earlier this year, which resulted in the company delisting from the Amsterdam stock exchange.

Prosus had initially said in October, shortly after the takeover closed, that Groen and the rest of the management team would stay on. Gandolfo only became head of Prosus Europe this year, having spent a decade at Brazilian delivery service iFood, which is also owned by Prosus.

Groen founded Just Eat 25 years ago from his student room in Enschede. The firm initially operated as Thuisbezorgd.nl, which remains the Dutch arm of Just Eat and  now serves around 60 million customers globally, who placed some €19 billion worth of orders in 2024.

In a brief statement, Groen described his time at the company as a “special journey” and said he was “incredibly proud” of what the team has built.

In a video message to staff seen by the Financieele Dagblad, he acknowledged that the announcement “will come as a shock to many” and said that “change is never easy”.

In 2019, Takeaway was demoted to Amsterdam’s Midkap index and its place was taken by then arch rival Prosus. At the time, the two companies were embroiled in a takeover battle for British delivery firm Just Eat, which Takeaway won.

Prosus, a technology stock and part of South African group Naspers, listed in Amsterdam in September 2019.