Meet Hyphen
We champion thoughtful, human-centered design, and we see its potential to improve the daily lives of operators.
Founded in 2020, our team is composed of leaders in food-robotics, food-tech, and foodservice – we know kitchens and the equipment that makes them run.
We’ve seen the challenges that restaurants face as dining preferences continue to shift, and we’re here to help them adapt.
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Hyphen in the news
Hyphen
in the news
Our founders
Stephen Klein
Co-Founder / CEO
Stephen has been fanatical about foodservice since childhood, a journey that took him from starting a restaurant in college to joining Instacart in 2014 to work on product ops.


Prior to founding Hyphen, Stephen served as VP of Operations for CafeX, a pioneer in foodservice automation. In this role, Stephen not only led ops, but worked with regulatory bodies to obtain the first-ever permit for a robotic restaurant in the U.S.
Daniel Fukuba
Co-Founder / CTO
Daniel grew up in the Bay Area and began competing in robotics competitions at the age of 10.


Prior to founding Hyphen, Daniel made significant contributions at L2F, integrating Tesla's Model X and S lines, designing a tack welding robot for SpaceX, and automating processes for companies in foodservice (e.g., Taylor Farms, Zume Pizza). This work led to Middleby (#1 in foodservice equipment) acquiring L2F in 2018.
Our leadership team
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Anusha Arunachalam
Anusha Arunachalam
SVP, Finance
Previous: Head of FP&A at Boom, Finance Lead at Waymo
Will Baleson
Will Baleson
VP, Software
Previous: Director of Software QA, Promethean
Lucy Voigt
Lucy Voigt
Director, Culinary Ops
Previous: Sales and operations, Moon Juice
Mark Manfrey
Mark Manfrey
Director, Design
Previous: Product Design, Meta, Apple Special Projects Group
Varun Patel
Varun Patel
Director, Product Mgmt
Previous: Senior Product Manager at Astra
Chris Patterson
Chris Patterson
VP, Production
Previous: Lead, SpaceX Raptor (rocket engine)
Maneesh Jain
Maneesh Jain
SVP, Hardware
Previous: Powertrain Lead at Tesla
Carter Branch
Carter Branch
Chief of Staff
Previous: Growth Projects and Partnerships, Sweetgreen
J Goel
J Goel
SVP, Revenue
Previous: GM at ChowNow, Strategy at UberEats
Our past lives
Ready to join the future of foodservice? We’d love to hear from you.
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