Kalanick’s CloudKitchens, Ideal Bet for Pandemic, Hits Snags

As Americans dine-out less and order-in more, “virtual kitchens” are emerging in dense metropolitan areas to house dozens of delivery-only concepts in converted warehouses. The biggest player in the US is CloudKitchens, backed with $150m from Uber founder and ex-CEO Travis Kalanick. Watch as we provide an inside look into these mysterious kitchens ... See more

One path is exemplified by CloudKitchens. At its core, CloudKitchens is simple: Build commercial kitchen spaces in less-trafficked areas and rent them out to operators to run delivery-only food businesses.

Grubhub was early to the food delivery game and unlike its VC-backed competitors, it was consistently profitable. That its business model worked should have given Grubhub a leg up, but what it actually meant was that the company was playing a different game from competitors bloated with venture capital and untethered to things like profit and unit ... See more

Despite these enormous acquisitions and partnerships, delivery app giants struggle to reach profitability, even while charging feeble restaurants exorbitant fees. From this viewpoint, the food delivery ecosystem is broken. It’s one of the reasons why smaller, more localized delivery services have emerged with a new focus: to help restaurants market... See more

Warehouse woes only compounded an already dire situation: Joymode has struggled to build its customer base post-Series A, which Fernandez believes has scared off potential investors: "It's like you can feel their allergic reaction," he says, adding that WeWork's bungled August 2019 IPO hasn't helped him make his case. But WeWork may be a symptom ra... See more

“It almost feels like, you must have a social media acumen, you must be savvy in this area that is adjacent to your business, but not directly embedded in your business, in order to be successful and visible,” Walsh continued. That means achieving metrics like plenty of tagged photos on Instagram and positive user reviews on the business’s listing

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