Jul 20 2021 19 mins
You don’t need a dedicated storefront to make great food. With the rise of virtual brands and ghost kitchens, companies are producing and delivering food out of underutilized kitchens and making a killing.
Owners of virtual brands like Umami Burger, C3 is partnering with companies to expand into even more locations. They’ve recently raised $80 million in a Series B funding round to help boost their expansion efforts as they utilize ghost kitchens.
Join restaurateur Philip Camino and chef Nyesha Arrington as they take a closer look at what hospitality companies like C3 are doing and the boom of ghost kitchens and virtual brands on your favorite food delivery apps.
Listen to Philip and Nyesha discuss C3:
- C3, known as Creating Culinary Communities, recently raised $80 million in a Series B funding round
- C3 is a food tech company that has several virtual restaurant brands, including Umami Burger, Krispy Rice, and Sam’s Crispy Fried Chicken in ghost kitchens
- C3 recently partnered with the point-of-sale integration company Chowly, giving more than 10,000 partners access to C3’s virtual brands
- This allows partners to create additional revenue streams by allowing C3’s virtual brands to work out of their kitchens
- C3 is looking to expand to 12,000 locations by 2021, leasing an assortment of hospitality and retail spaces to open food halls and physical locations for its virtual restaurants
- They plan to open a 40,000 sq/ft food hall at Brookfield Manhattan West in NYC
- They also agreed to acquire a 24,000 sq/ft food hall in Atlanta by 2022
- C3 recently started their Citizens Go app, allowing customers to order from multiple virtual brands in one order
- Dickey’s Barbeque Pit recently announced plans to add 100 ghost kitchens to its operations via a partnership with Combo Kitchen
- In a deal with Nathan’s Famous, Franklin Junction will operate Arthur Treacher’s also out of 100 ghost kitchens before 2022
Links:
Restaurant Dive - C3 raises $80M to grow virtual brand footprint
Restaurant Dive - Dickey’s to add 100 ghost kitchens through Combo Kitchen partnership
Restaurant Dive - C3, Chowly partner to bring virtual brands to 10K restaurants
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