CloudKitchens

CloudKitchens provides customizable commercial kitchens in popular food-delivery areas for delivery-only food and beverage operators, at a lower cost than traditional restaurant space. CloudKitchens buys or leases warehouse spaces and creates cloud kitchens, or dark kitchens, that restaurant businesses can rent to cook food for sale via delivery apps like DoorDash or Uber Eats. The company also provides software to support food and beverage startups and companies using the cloud kitchens, allowing them to expand their operations with minimal upfront capital and time.

CloudKitchens has more than 4,000 employees across the United States, Latin America, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East. CloudKitchens is based in Los Angeles, California, and its parent company is City Storage Systems (CSS). CSS is operated by Travis Kalanick, who is the CEO of both CSS and Cloudkitchens and was a cofounder and CEO of Uber. John Curran, previously CFO of Amazon’s international consumer division, joined CloudKitchens as CFO in November 2021.

CloudKitchens: How it Works

CloudKitchens offers a wide range of products and services designed to make it easy for restaurants to quickly start deliver-only kitchens. The company provides ready-to-use and easy-to-customize commercial kitchens and software to manage the business that also integrates with several delivery software systems. CloudKitchens also provides cleaning, maintenance, and security.

CloudKitchens sets up its kitchens in locations that have high food-delivery demand, allowing restaurant owners to start or expand their businesses with lower real estate costs, more efficient labor costs, and lower upfront costs.

CloudKitchens has also started using its surplus space in its facilities to store other goods, such as pet food or over-the-counter medicine.

City Storage Systems (CSS) was cofounded by Sky Dayton and Diego Berdakin in 2016. Uber's ex-CEO Travis Kalanick joined the company in 2018 as CEO, bringing with him a $150 million investment from his 10100 fund and buying out existing investors. He has since rebranded the operating company CloudKitchens, which remains a subsidiary of CSS.