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CloudKitchens

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CloudKitchens
IndustryFood industry
Founded2016
Founders
Area served
United States
Key people
Travis Kalanick (CEO)
ServicesSoftware, Real Estate, Virtual restaurant
ParentCity Storage Systems LLC
Websitecloudkitchens.com

CloudKitchens is a Los Angeles-based company that operates ghost kitchens and develops related technology. The company was founded in 2016 and was later acquired by Uber's cofounder Travis Kalanick. The company provides commercial kitchen spaces restaurants focused on food delivery, including production kitchens, CPG, meal prep, food prep, catering, and others, repurposing underutilized real estate and providing software to manage online orders.[1][2]

History

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CloudKitchens was established in 2016 by entrepreneurs Diego Berdakin and Sky Dayton, with its first facility in Los Angeles, California.[3][4] In 2018, Travis Kalanick, cofounder of Uber, acquired a controlling stake in CloudKitchens' parent company, City Storage Systems, for approximately $150 million and became CEO.[5][6] John Curran, a former executive at Amazon, was appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in 2021.[7]

The company secured significant funding, including $400 million from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund in 2019 and $850 million in 2021 in a round that included Microsoft.[7][8][9] By 2019, the company was valued at approximately $5 billion, growing to an estimated $15 billion by 2021.[7]

CloudKitchens expanded to multiple countries, acquiring London-based FoodStars in 2019, followed by acquisitions in Latin America including Mexico-based Nano and Colombian company Cocinas Ocultas.[10][11][12] The increase in food delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic also contributed to the company’s growth.[4]

By 2022, CloudKitchens had acquired around 40 properties in 24 cities, with expenditures exceeding $130 million, and employed over 4,000 individuals worldwide.[13][12] In different regions, it operates under local brand names, such as Kitchen Central in Brazil.[12]

CloudKitchens maintained limited public communications for several years.[14] In 2024, Kalanick broke that trend and publicly presented a concept referred to as the Internet Food Court, aiming for delivery times under 15 minutes through automation.[15] This system targets dense urban areas and workplace districts.[16] By this time, CloudKitchens reported operating hundreds of kitchen units in different countries.[15][7]

In 2022, Kitchen United raised $100 million in an attempt to compete with CloudKitchens.[17] Kitchen United eventually exited the competition, selling its real estate assets in late 2023.[18]

Operations

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Ghost kitchen facilities

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CloudKitchens constructs private kitchen spaces for rent in shared facilities equipped with necessary cooking equipment and utilities.[19] Restaurants can lease these kitchens to operate delivery-focused businesses without the cost of a full storefront. Additional services typically include refrigeration, maintenance, janitorial support, and front-of-house staff for pickup orders.[19]

Real Estate

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The company’s model involves acquiring and converting underused properties into kitchen centers in areas with high delivery demand.[20] This approach allows the company to control layout, make technological upgrades, and benefit from potential property value increases.[21][22]

Some of CloudKitchens' real estate includes software and robotic automation that reduce operation costs for tenants.[23]

Otter Software Platform

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Otter is a software suite developed by CloudKitchens to consolidate delivery orders from multiple platforms.[24][25] The system helps restaurant operators manage incoming orders, streamline workflows, and analyze sales data across platforms.[24][25] Initially created for internal use, Otter is now available to external restaurants and reportedly handled 18% of food delivery transactions in the U.S. as of 2024.[26]

The company has expanded Otter's capabilities to include point-of-sale terminals, kitchen display units, and ordering kiosks.[27]

Other Ventures

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  • Picnic: An on-site meal service for workplaces using smart food lockers where employees can order from multiple restaurants in a single transaction.[28]
  • Lab 37: A robotics division focusing on automated infrastructure for restaurants, including the "Bowl Builder" that can serve up to 200 meals per hour without human intervention.[29][30]
  • Future Foods: Creates and licenses virtual restaurant brands to operators both inside and outside CloudKitchens facilities.[31][14] These virtual brands often resort to provocative names like "Excuse My French Toast" and "Send Noods."[32][25][25] Future Foods handles marketing including food photography.[33] Other novelty brands include Egg the F* Out,[32] B*tch Don't Grill My Cheese,[34] Charcootz,[4] LA Breakfast Club,[4] Brooklyn Calzones,[25] Devil's Soul Food,[25] and Phuket I'm Vegan.[34]
  • ProFoods: Helps enterprises and restaurant brands find and develop optimal new locations.
  • Launch.co: An incubator program in collaboration with Jason Calacanis to support new entrepreneurs in the food delivery industry.

Notable Collaborations

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CloudKitchens builds ghost kitchens and other real estate for established chains such as Sweetgreen,[35] The Halal Guys,[36] Chick-fil-A,[37] Wendy's,[37] and Burger King.[37]

Lobbying

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CloudKitchens has been linked to lobbying activities in the United States through the Digital Restaurant Association (DRA), an organization established in 2022 with support from Tusk Holdings, a consulting and investment firm led by Bradley Tusk, an early investor in Uber and associate of Kalanick.[38][39] The DRA advocates for regulatory changes affecting the food delivery industry, including legislation that would require third-party delivery platforms such as DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub to share customer data with restaurants.[38] The organization has also supported proposals to cap the commissions charged by these platforms to restaurant members.[39] Supporters argue that these measures could improve transparency and help restaurants better engage with customers. Critics, however, have raised concerns about consumer privacy and the implications of data sharing with smaller businesses that may lack advanced data protection infrastructure.[38]

References

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  1. ^ Kemp, Emma (June 17, 2020). "Ghost Ops: Counterfeit Kitchens in the Pandemic Age". Retrieved May 29, 2025.
  2. ^ "DeepSeek Panic, US vs China, OpenAI $40B?, and Doge Delivers with Travis Kalanick and David Sacks" on YouTube
  3. ^ Bolich, Sophie (July 26, 2023). "Paper Table Delivered Meals, Not Results, Former Tenants Charge". Urban Milwaukee. Archived from the original on May 12, 2025. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d "Amidst COVID-19, CloudKitchens Redefines Restaurants As We Know It". HNGRY. April 6, 2020. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  5. ^ Bhuiyan, Johana; Schleifer, Theodore (March 20, 2018). "Travis Kalanick is buying a new company that rehabs real estate and will run it as CEO". Vox.
  6. ^ Davis, Dominic-Madori Davis; O'Kane, Sean (September 24, 2024). "Exclusive: From dinners with Travis Kalanick to fired after maternity leave: one of CloudKitchens' earliest employees is suing". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on May 12, 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d Morris, Meghan (January 5, 2022). "Travis Kalanick's food startup CloudKitchens has tripled its valuation to $15 billion and tapped an Amazon veteran as CFO". Insider. Archived from the original on August 26, 2022.
  8. ^ Fleischmann, Isabela (September 8, 2022). "Uber Founder Grows CloudKitchens in Brazil with Capital Boost from Microsoft". Bloomberg Línea. Archived from the original on May 12, 2025. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
  9. ^ Lee, Dave; Bradshaw, Tim (September 7, 2022). "Microsoft invests in Travis Kalanick's CloudKitchens start-up". Financial Times.
  10. ^ Winkler, Rolfe; Jones, Rory (November 7, 2019). "Meet Travis Kalanick's Secret Startup, CloudKitchens". WSJ. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  11. ^ Feld, Olivia (March 26, 2019). "Travis Kalanick's new venture buys UK 'dark kitchens' business". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on May 12, 2025. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  12. ^ a b c Pooler, Michael; Lee, Dave (December 9, 2022). "Travis Kalanick, construye un nuevo imperio de dark kitchens". Grupo Milenio (in Mexican Spanish). Archived from the original on May 12, 2025. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  13. ^ Nicoll, Alex (November 15, 2020). "How Uber founder Travis Kalanick's real-estate buying frenzy could transform ghost kitchens into a new speciality asset class". Business Insider. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  14. ^ a b Meghan Morris; Allana Akhtar (April 23, 2021). "Travis Kalanick's startup refused to change 'Happy Ending' branding for an Asian restaurant menu item, saying it wouldn't cave to woke culture, employees said". Business Insider. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
  15. ^ a b Michaels, Laura (May 8, 2024). "Uber Co-founder Travis Kalanick Envisions 'Internet Food Court' Future". foodondemand. Archived from the original on May 9, 2024.
  16. ^ Joe Guszkowski (July 2, 2024). "Company linked to Travis Kalanick brings bulk restaurant delivery to LA".
  17. ^ Nancy Luna (January 13, 2022). ""Why Kitchen United's CEO is following a drastically different playbook than ghost kitchen rivals Reef and CloudKitchens as he plans for supercharged growth in 2022"". Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  18. ^ Canham-Clyne, Aneurin; Moran, Catherine (November 28, 2023). "Kitchen United will sell or close all physical units, pivot to software". Restaurant Dive. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  19. ^ a b Marston, Jennifer (October 13, 2022). "The next generation of ghost kitchens: 10 new startup concepts around the world". AgFunderNews. Archived from the original on May 12, 2025. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
  20. ^ Kate Conger (December 24, 2019). "Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Leaves Board, Severing Last Tie". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
  21. ^ Jonah Engel Bromwich (December 24, 2019). "Farm to Table? More Like Ghost Kitchen to Sofa". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
  22. ^ "Ousted Uber cofounder Travis Kalanick has reportedly spent $130 million on his ghost kitchen startup. Here's what it's like inside one of the secretive locations". Business Insider. October 20, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
  23. ^ Zhuyi Xue; Suming J. Chen (March 19, 2024). "Why Our Food Prep Time Prediction Works Better".
  24. ^ a b "Try Otter: Integrations". tryotter.com. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
  25. ^ a b c d e f Emilie Friedlander (March 30, 2021). "The Mysterious Case of the F*cking Good Pizza". vice.com. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
  26. ^ "Travis Kalanick | All-In Summit 2024" on YouTube
  27. ^ "A first-of-its-kind multichannel POS system". March 1, 2025.
  28. ^ "Restaurant Business". Restaurant Business.
  29. ^ Lab37 (September 20, 2023). "Introducing Bowl Builder". Retrieved March 2, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  30. ^ Tarun Pondicherry (March 2024). "Moving Millions of Orders with Robotic Conveyance". Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  31. ^ Josh Dzieza (June 1, 2021). "The Great Wings Rush". The Verge. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  32. ^ a b Jones, Rory; Winkler, Rolfe (November 7, 2019). "Saudis Back Travis Kalanick's New Startup". WSJ. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  33. ^ Joe Guszkowski (April 1, 2021). "How a virtual brand turned a Chicago brunch spot into a bagel concept". Restaurant Business. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  34. ^ a b Adrianne Jeffries (September 15, 2020). "What Are Ghost Kitchens". themarkup.org. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  35. ^ Mike Isaac; David Yaffe-Bellany (August 14, 2019). "The Rise of the Virtual Restaurant". The New York Times. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  36. ^ Graham Rapier (November 7, 2019). "Uber founder Travis Kalanick has reportedly raised $400 million for his next act from Saudi Arabia. He'll be competing directly with his old company". Business Insider. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  37. ^ a b c Meghan Morris (April 22, 2021). "Travis Kalanick's stealth $5 billion startup, CloudKitchens, is Uber all over again, ruled by a 'temple of bros,' insiders say". Business Insider. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  38. ^ a b c Albergotti, Reed (May 3, 2024). "Ex-Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has a new mission in LA". Archived from the original on May 6, 2025. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  39. ^ a b "Restaurant Lobbying Group Preps Fight Against Delivery Apps". PYMNTS.com. October 6, 2022. Archived from the original on May 12, 2025. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
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