While the phrase "Ghost Kitchen" may seem like something out of a haunted house, the reality is more mainstream. This week’s startup is a kitchen that does delivery-only.

⚾ The Elevator Pitch:

While it's hard to pinpoint when the first ghost kitchen opened, the pandemic has normalized this type of innovative operation. Many restaurant business owners now use ghost kitchen services as it requires less upfront cost, little or no employees, and is free of traditional real estate expenses. The market size of the full-service restaurant business was estimated to be around $1.2 trillion, however, majority of this market has been untouched by online-first infrastructure.

Kitopi, a Dubai-founded startup uses Smart Kitchen Operating System (SKOS) to build infrastructure for ghost kitchens. The company describes itself as the biggest Middle East managed cloud kitchen company. It already powers food preparation for 200+ brands every day, covering international chains like Papa John’s and Pizza Express.

👇 The Drop Down

Site: https://www.kitopi.com/
Founded: 2018
Stage: Series C
Tech Trend: Cloud Kitchens
Traction: Expanded to 50 countries, 60+ Kitchens, 200+ Brands, has a team of 3000+ Kitopians, $415M investment led by Kitchen Fund, valuation close to $2 billion, Featured on CNN, Bloomberg, Crunchbase, Pitchbook, RLI, and Menabytes.
Team - Food Lover, Entrepreneurs, and Chefs in the restaurant industry
Mohamed Ballout (CEO) | Sami Bejjani (CFO) | Saman Darkan (COO)

🔍 Why we like it

1. 🥫 Directly Improves Small Businesses Post Pandemic
   Having incorporated their proprietary SKOS (Smart Kitchen Operating System), Kitopi has revolutionized how small restaurant owners operate and expand their businesses. After integrating Kitopi into their businesses, restaurants are able to significantly increase order volume while reducing kitchen preparation time by up to 40%.
2. 📈 Rapidly Growing (Internationally)
   Kitopi started just 4 years ago in 2018 and already services cloud kitchens across the world in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and UAE. The company is rapidly expanding into the US Market and has already doubled its workforce since last year. The company has grown so fast in fact, that they crossed the $1 billion valuation mark early last year (#unicornStatus)
3. ⭐They are backed by the best in the category
   There are tons of ghost kitchen services, but nobody has figured out the true scale and opportunity in this industry. Kitopi has surrounded itself with the best-in-class, both in terms of workforce and partnerships. It recently raised new funding from DisruptAD, Chimera, SoftBank, and others. “We’re humbled to work with world-class partners, and our focus is now to expand our team and continue to innovate and pioneer cloud kitchen space,” said Mohamad Ballout, Kitopi CEO.

🤝 Get involved with Kitopi

• Follow them on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram
• They are currently Hiring
• Check Kitopi Blog and Newsroom section to learn more

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