Eating is always a good business.
Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “Siamese Rabbit Race” (ID :sv_race), author Lexie.
This fall is really a good day for American takeaway apps. In September, Postmates raised $225 million, IPOs are on the market, and DoorDash raised $100 million in November, with a current valuation of $13 billion.
When the take-out wind is blowing, a new concept of “ghost kitchen” emerges.
The recent startup of Uber founder Travis Kalanick, CloudKitchens, can be said to make this fire even more prosperous
Uber founder: the most unfortunate successful entrepreneur
Speaking of Travis Kalanick, the ratings of people in the circle are very different.
Someone called him a girl, and some said he was tempered. If you have seen the American TV series “Silicon Valley”, Gavin, the CEO of Silicon Valley leader Hooli, may be the most suitable description for him, but at the same time his decisive and successful decision has attracted a large number of fans.
After the founding of Uber’s predecessor UberCab in 2009 and a seven-year CEO at Uber, Travis Kalanick was asked by investors to leave Uber in a series of scandals and controversies in 17 years. This news surprised many people at the time. No.
After leaving Uber, he was not idle. Last year, he set up an investment fund 10100 Fund, which included real estate, e-commerce, and technological innovation in China and India.
CloudKitchens: From taxi to kitchen
In March of this year, he bought a controlling stake in City Storage Systems with $150 million in the fund, with the goal of buying cheap real estate and then reusing it through emerging technology.
City Storage Systems has two branches, one is CloudRetail and the other is today’s protagonist CloudKitchens????
At the beginning of this month, CloudKitchens had just received a $400 million investment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth-fund, which gave the company a valuation of $5 billion.
It is understood that this is Saudi Arabia’s largest A-round investment in start-ups. They were also Uber investors, which means that Kalanick and old friends are once again working together.
What is the ghost kitchen?
CloudKitchens represents the recent rise of the “ghost kitchen” trend, which seems to sound a bit cool and mysterious.
But this is not a special track for Halloween, but another new concept in the sharing economy. Many people also like to call it “commission kitchen”, “virtual kitchen”, “share kitchen” and so on.
From the appearance, the store looks very ordinary and low-key ????
The entrance screen shows the order details????
The diners are checked in at the door to pick up ????
Place takeaway shelves????
Although wood has a photo of the kitchen, the overall look is relatively simple and clean, and the graffiti wall painting adds a touch of trend.
Besides, CloudKitchens doesn’t reveal much information.
The basic routine is actually that the restaurants rent some idle space, the chef prepares the food in it, and then the seller will take it directly to thousands of households. TechCrunch called this model WeWork in the catering industry, because there are some kitchens, such as sink stoves and other basic equipment, Wifi, water and electricity.
In this way, many merchants want to expand the market without having to open a new storefront. Novice catering staff can immediately let you taste their craft without having to worry about opening a store.
Interestingly, mystery runs through the entire business of CloudKitchens.
There are only seven partners listed on the official website. They do not specify the specific address of the meal. The employees of the company are also banned from listing their employers on LinkedIn. Even Kalanick has never accepted public interviews on this topic. This investment from Saudi Arabia was only known to a few insiders until the final publicity.
What kind of medicine is sold in Kalanick’s gourd, but he is notoriously elusive.
Stealing China, making a comeback
The development of the sharing economy in China can be said to be typical of the whole industry. From sharing bicycles to sharing umbrellas and sharing charging treasures, the characteristics of our people’s love sharing have created the success of one company after another.
Ghost kitchen, the shared kitchen, is inspired by the operation mode of the kitchen. It is from the huge domestic take-away industry. The data shows that the Chinese take-away market has reached 37 billion US dollars. From 16 years, there are 256 million people using online take-out service in China, which has increased to 350 million last year.
The leader in this field is Panda Selected????
Panda Star Kitchen was founded in 16 years and is headquartered in Beijing. At the beginning of this year, it completed a $50 million Series C financing, which is the first C-round financing in the shared kitchen sector.
This round was led by Tiger Global Management, after investors DCM and GenBridge Capital continued to participate in the investment.
By providing catering companies with integrated solutions for commercial real estate, operations management, supply chain, brand promotion, etc., Panda Star Kitchen has greatly reduced the operating costs of the catering industry.
The company has more than 500 domestic excellent food and beverage brands, including Haidilao, Zhen Kungfu, Ba Man Beef Powder, Ruixun Coffee, etc., covering 120 sites in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.
According to the news, Kalanick is working with the former COO Zhang Yanqi (who was previously the youngest regional general manager of Uber), and the next goal is to bring CloudKitchens into the Chinese market.
It seems that after he led Uber out of China in 16 years, he is not completely determined about this market and is ready to make a comeback.
The battle of the kitchen, who fights with each other
Of course, CloudKitchens is not the only ghost kitchen in the industry, and many companies have joined this fierce competition.
Zuul KitchEn: New York shared kitchen
Because of the experience of parents frustrated in the restaurant industry, Zuul Kitchen founder Corey Manicone has repeatedly stated that the shared kitchen is the only way to meet the large demand of the restaurant industry.
▲ Zuul founder Corey Manicone (second from right)
With this belief he founded Zuul Kitchen.
Luoul opened its first store in New York last month. Currently, they are working with customers such as Sweetgreen, Junzi, Naya and other popular New York restaurant brands.
Kitchen United: California Shared Kitchen
And another strong competitor, Kitchen United, based in Pasadena, Calif., just completed a $40 million Series B round of financing in September.
RXR Realty, one of New York’s largest real estate investment openers, is the lead investor in this round, along with the venture capital GV behind Google, which has a total financing of $50 million.
Even the takeaway app is no longer satisfied with only the gangsters and has joined the war.
For example, DoorDash recently opened its own shared kitchen in Redwood City
Partners are popular food brands such as Nation’s GIant Hamburgers, Rooster & Rice, Humphry Slocombe, and The Halal Guys.
The ultimate goal is to combine the various meals. For example, if you order Rooster&Rice for lunch, you can add a Humphry ice cream as a dessert.
This gives the customer a better meal experience and a potentially high profit for DoorDash.
Subversion of the Catering Industry
In fact, the threshold of the catering industry is high, mostly stuck in the cost, many entrepreneurs have good ideas but can not afford the high initial cost.
The emergence of a new model of shared kitchen today has given the traditional catering industry a big hit. Behind the scene is a new style of catering, especially for young people in the fast-paced life of the mobile phone to take away the take-away preferences.
Data shows that last year consumers spent more than $10 billion on takeaway software such as UberEats and GrubHub.
Wells Fargo’s survey earlier this year showed that 70% of the 650 people surveyed in the US said they had called takeaways in the past month, while Forbes data showed that online The food and beverage delivery industry is expected to reach $200 billion by 2025.
In addition to the ghost kitchen, the mobile kitchen is also a model that merchants have recently loved.
ZumePizza: Mobile Pizza Dining Cart
In September, Zume, a well-known technology startup that uses robots for pizza, and a chain of fast food light food & pizza have partnered to use the mobile kitchen to bring pizza to the streets.
Like the Ghost Kitchen, mobile kitchens can cut costs, allowing merchants to go to new markets for user taste surveys or to add to the original market.