Neil Merritt
Co-founder & CRO
Strategic growth leader with 25+ years driving brand expansion across global food, beverage, and retail markets.
LinkedInNeil is a strategic growth and commercial leader with 25+ years driving brand expansion across global food, beverage, and retail markets.
He has led worldwide sales for prominent consumer brands — including global sales for Natural Delights (Bard Valley Medjool Dates) across the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia-Pacific — and has held senior commercial leadership roles spanning the Americas and the Middle East, from export strategy to large-scale distribution.
As co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Yakuma, he bridges product innovation and commercial execution — crafting go-to-market strategies that translate enterprise POS technology into high-ROI customer experiences for multi-location chains and franchises. Neil's leadership ensures Yakuma's vision is not only seen, but sold.
His career began as a US Army combat engineer — the origin of the execution-first, mission-ready discipline he still brings to commercial leadership today.
Areas of expertise
Neil’s POS Insights
- Operator Reality Is it too early to invest in a serious POS?
- Operator Reality Why We Don't Compete for the Cheapest Register
- Operator Reality Omnichannel Is Not a Feature. It's an Execution Model.
- Operator Reality When should a retailer or restaurant change its POS system?
- Operator Reality Why Growing Chains Replace Generic POS After 5-10 Locations
- Operator Reality Why We Refuse to Participate in "Best POS" Reports
- Operator Reality Why everything worked with one store - and broke at five