CloudKitchens

CloudKitchens is a ghost kitchen and virtual restaurant company started by Diego Berdakin in 2016.^[1]

Saudi Arabia investments[]

In January 2019, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund, invested $400 million in the startup's Series A round. By that time Kalanick had invested $300 million in the company, he sold $1.4 billion of his Uber stock by May 2019.^[2][3]

Several sources noted that this was the first investment by the Saudi fund since the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. Sources also noted Kalanick's ties to Saudi Arabia.^[4][5][3]

Travis Kalanick purchased a controlling stake in City Storage Systems LLC (created by Diego Berdakin) for $150 million, which operates as the parent company of CloudKitchens and is operated by Berdakin and .^[6] This parent company arrangement allows CloudKitchens to operate as a shell company and to keep a level of secrecy or stealth to the startup.^[7][6][8][9]

Ghost kitchen operations[]

A ghost kitchen (or "dark kitchen"^[2]) allows the kitchen space to operate as a commissary to others, which lets the costs be shared and can exist in lower-overhead spaces than a standard restaurant.^[10][11][12] Ghost kitchen partners include:

• Sweetgreen^[10]
• The Halal Guys^[5]
• Fat Sal's Deli^[5]
• Chick-fil-A^[6]
• Wendy's^[6]
• Burger King^[6]

Otter[]

CloudKitchens created Otter, a food order platform, which consolidates orders from various platforms (such as Uber Eats, Postmates, Caviar, Doordash), for kitchens.^[13][14]

Internet Food Court[]

In April 2020 CloudKitchens launched — and closed — an experiment called the "Internet Food Court" in Koreatown, Los Angeles, with retro 8-bit. The Internet Food Court allowed families to order delivery from 100 virtual restaurants.^[1]

Future Foods[]

CloudKitchens' virtual restaurant division is named Future Foods.^[15][16] Virtual restaurant brands (or "pseudo-restaurants"^[17]) are the opposite of a ghost kitchen: they allow existing restaurants to deliver food with the Future Foods brands.^[10] Future Foods handles marketing including food photography.^[18]

These Future Foods brand orders are organized for a restaurateur using the Otter order system.^[14]

CloudKitchens brands[]

• Excuse My French Toast^[3][14]
• Egg the F* Out^[3]
• B*tch Don’t Grill My Cheese^{[3][8][14][19]}
• Charcootz^[1]
• LA Breakfast Club^[1]
• Send Noods^[14]
• Brooklyn Calzones^[14]
• Cupid’s Wings^[14]
• Cheeky’s Cheesesteaks^[14]
• Groovy Island Pizza^[14]
• Pimp My Pasta^[14]
• OMG BBBQLOL^[14]
• F*cking Good Pizza^[14]
• Hummus Hero^[14]
• Beverly Hills Platters^[14]
• Bob’s Kabobs^[14]
• Fabulous Falafel^[14]
• Pastrami & Pickles^[14]
• Big Hotdog Energy^[14]
• Burger Mansion^[15]
• Killer Wings^[15]
• Devil’s Soul Food^[14]
• Phuket I’m Vegan^[19]

Acquisitions and lobbying[]

It acquired FoodStars BH Ltd, which had opened in 2015.^[8][17] Bradley Tusk provides political lobbying for the company.^[6]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website