Travis Kalanick, the former CEO of Uber, could very well wind up being more famous for his ghost kitchens than as his stint as Uber’s CEO.
He has joined companies like GrubHub and DoorDash is making waves in the restaurant industry through third-party food preparation and delivery.
Corey Manicone, the co-founder and CEO of Zuul Kitchens, said: “I think, at that time, Travis planting his stake in the space was a whole new proof of concept, of market validation. Every single VC that we had spoken to since then effectively circled back.”
Ghost kitchens, also known as dark, virtual, and cloud kitchens, cater to the demand for off-premise dining. In 2018 alone, customers spent an estimated $10.2 billion through platforms such as GrubHub and UberEats. This left many restaurants struggling on how to meet those orders. The solution that soon presented itself was ghost kitchens.
Kalanick’s ghost kitchen start-up is called CloudKitchens, and he is reportedly funding it out of his own pocket, without the need for outside investors.
Zuul Kitchens will soon be facing more competition from Kitchen United, a company that recently got $40 million in a B funding round.
Kitchen United CEO Jim Collins said: “Early on, we talked to a lot of investors who pushed hard for us to think about making KU look more like this company or that company, who were the darlings of the investment community at the time.”
REEF Technology is another company that wants to enter this field of business. This start-up, formerly known as ParkJockey, is reportedly valued at $1 billion. REEF co-founder and CEO Ari Ojalvo said: “Ghost kitchens are an emerging area, so obviously capital from SoftBank means that we’re looking at very fast growth across the sector. The types of investors that we work with are attracted to the hybrid nature of being both a profitable business and a hyper-growth business.”
Comment Template