Senior Data Analyst, Menu Analytics

Company: Tovala
Location: Chicago
Posted on: January 16, 2026

Job Description:

Job Description Job Description We’re Tovala, a food-tech company reinventing home cooking to save consumers time. Through an innovative combination of hardware, software, and fresh food delivery, we make it incredibly simple for anyone to prepare and enjoy delicious, home-cooked meals without sacrificing time to do whatever matters to them. Through our superior technology, product experience and food quality, we have separated Tovala from the busy pack of other meal delivery businesses. In the process, we’ve amassed a loyal, rapidly growing following and our retention, product engagement and customer NPS are all best-in-class. We’ve raised over $100mm from great investors like Left Lane Capital, Origin Ventures, Y Combinator and Comcast Ventures and have invested strongly in building a unique culture that fosters growth, personal development and camaraderie. Position Summary: At Tovala, we eat data for breakfast… along with our delicious biscuits. Our data team is a small but mighty group of analysts and engineers who help teams across the company make smarter, faster, and more confident decisions. We are looking for a Senior Data Analyst to lead Menu Analytics, focusing on understanding and optimizing how customers engage with Tovala’s menu and product experience. The ideal candidate combines analytical rigor with a deep curiosity about customer preferences, always asking what drives performance, why customers choose (or skip) certain meals, and how to balance trade-offs associated with different menu decisions. This person will partner closely with our Menu, Product, and Operations teams to answer critical questions such as: What makes a great menu each week? How do menu decisions influence customer engagement and satisfaction? How can we design a menu that maximizes both customer satisfaction and business efficiency? This role will own Tovala’s menu analytics ecosystem: generating and validating hypotheses, modeling menu performance, and feeding learnings back into weekly decision-making and longer-term menu strategy. They will own core analytics products such as menu performance dashboards, engagement reports, and optimization models – ensuring these tools are actionable, trusted, and accessible for business stakeholders. Success in this role means building a trusted, data-driven foundation for weekly menu decisions and long-term product improvements that delight customers and strengthen Tovala’s business. Location : Chicago, IL (Hybrid) How you will spend your time at Tovala Lead Tovala’s menu analytics ecosystem in partnership with Menu, Product, and Operations: frame hypotheses, predict menu performance, and measure the impact of changes on engagement, satisfaction, and margin. Support weekly menu optimization by building clear, data-backed recommendations that balance customer delight, menu variety, and financial targets. Design and maintain core menu analytics tools such as menu dashboards and menu scoring/optimization models. Deliver insights that improve the menu and product experience by analyzing behavioral data in SQL and collaborating with Menu, Product, and UX teams to identify friction points and opportunities. Evaluate menu and product experiments (e.g. new menu items, curated menus, feature changes) to quantify their impact on customer behavior and menu metrics. Contribute as a leader on the analytics team by driving projects from ideation to implementation and promoting sustainable, high-quality data practices. About you Analytics expertise: You bring 5 years of experience in data analytics, ideally focused on product, merchandising, or customer behavior. You are highly proficient in SQL and comfortable navigating large-scale data warehouses (Snowflake experience a plus). Experimentation and modeling: You have hands-on experience with A/B testing, modeling customer choice or product performance, and evaluating tradeoffs. Decision influence: You excel at turning complex data into clear, actionable insights that shape product decisions. You seek to understand not just what the data says, but how it connects to customer research, broader insights, and business impact Business partnership: You have proven experience working directly with product managers, culinary or merchandising teams, and UX researchers, translating business questions into analyses and decision frameworks. Project and product ownership: You have strong project management skills with the ability to balance quick-turn analyses and scalable analytics product development. Bonus points: You have familiarity with BI tools (Sigma, Looker, Tableau, etc.), Python or R, version control (e.g. Git), experimentation platforms, or optimization frameworks. Familiarity with food or menu analytics is a plus. Compensation / Benefits Tovala uses market data, geography, and placement of internal employees to determine salary. Additionally, we offer all employees real ownership in the company in the form of a competitive equity package. • Flexible paid time off (with a minimum of 15 days off you HAVE to take) (change if hourly or production) • Comprehensive healthcare coverage we really invest in • 401k with match • Free Tovala Smart Oven and discounted Tovala meals Paid holidays and our winter holiday office shutdown where the offices and facilities close for a week around Christmas and New Years • Various other perks - recognition programs, continued learning stipend, casual dress code, in-office coffee, snacks and drinks, and Tovala swag The values we hold dear Put the team first We put what is best for the broader team ahead of what is best for ourselves or our immediate department. Get s!t done (well) We celebrate people at all levels for delivering high impact work that expands the bounds of what we’re able to do. Connect the dots We engage with curiosity to learn how our work impacts others so that we can problem-solve holistically and work collaboratively. Be Direct We share our perspective openly and directly, even when it feels difficult to do so. Embrace the obstacles We rise to meet challenges with a sense of urgency, resolve, and optimism. Champion the customer We consider and prioritize our customer in all of our decisions At Tovala we‘re committed to building a workplace that represents a variety of backgrounds, skills, and perspectives and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. Everyone is welcome here! We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

Keywords: Tovala, Chicago , Senior Data Analyst, Menu Analytics, Hospitality & Tourism , Chicago, Illinois