Emerging space: Ghost kitchens
October 24, 2019Description
Ghost kitchens are stripped-down commercial kitchens with no dine-in option. Sometimes called cloud kitchens, dark kitchens, virtual restaurants or restaurant-as-a-service (RAAS for short), ghost kitchens function as hubs for online delivery and catering. Ghost kitchens exist in several varieties, but they all share a common feature: they’re focused exclusively on food delivery.
For example, restaurant-owned and operated ghost kitchens like Taster and Keatz focus on delivery-only operations and run ghost kitchen infrastructure. Ghost kitchen providers, including CloudKitchens and Kitchen United, support restaurants that want delivery options by building out and operating kitchen infrastructure. Well-known delivery apps give restaurants access to their ghost kitchens, but those companies must also sign-on to use the associated delivery app.
The growing prominence of ghost kitchens relates to consumers’ interest in food-delivery options. As the popularity of ordering food online grows, ghost kitchens emerge as an attractive option for restaurants that get little foot traffic and/or seek to spend less on real estate and kitchen staff. Ghost kitchens can even be used by multiple restaurants—an effective way to split the cost of kitchen upkeep and maintenance.
Leading company activity
25
131
$46.9B
378
Key growth metrics
$16.5B
$270M
$2B
Trending companies in ghost kitchens
Uber Technologies is a technology provider that matches riders with drivers, hungry people with restaurants and food delivery service providers and shippers with carriers. More than 91 million people in 60+ countries order rides or food through Uber at least once a month.
HQ: San Francisco, CA
Latest funding: $500M, PIPE (May 10, 2019)
Doordash
DoorDash is a food delivery app that provides on-demand food-ordering and delivery services. Offering a range restaurants and menus to select from, DoorDash features enable users to schedule deliveries and keep an eye on their orders with real-time tracking.
HQ: San Francisco, CA
Latest funding: $600M, Series G (May 23, 2019)
Deliveroo optimizes food ordering and delivery by integrating web and mobile consumers with restaurant tablet-based point-of-sale order management terminals, enabling customers to order food across restaurants for delivery to their doorsteps.
HQ: London, England
Latest funding: $575M, Series G (May 16, 2019)
Most active investors in ghost kitchens
Founded in 2009, DST Global is a private investment firm that invests in later-stage, high-growth companies operating in the Internet sector.
HQ: Hong Kong
Ghost kitchen investments: 11
Last deal date: October 2, 2019
Accel is a venture capital firm that invests in companies operating in the internet infrastructure, internet software, consumer services, mobile, software, IT and cloud-enabled service sectors.
HQ: Palo Alto, CA
Ghost kitchen investments: 10
Last deal date: October 2, 2019
Founded in 1972, Sequoia Capital is a venture capital investment firm that invests in IT, healthcare, manufacturing, mobile, nanotechnology, financial service, internet, energy, media and retail sectors.
HQ: Menlo Park, CA
Ghost kitchen investments: 9
Last deal date: October 10, 2019
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