2. About Kitopi
• Shaking up the traditional brick and mortar model of restaurants, the premise of a cloud
kitchen’s ability to provide cost-efficient infrastructure and offer delivery-only services
presents a viable revenue stream for F&B brands.
• According to Allied Market Research, the size of the global cloud kitchen market is
expected to grow at US$71 billion by 2027- a market that Dubai-headquartered state-
of-the-art managed cloud kitchen platform kitopi is striving to take a bite out of.
• With a mission of “satisfying the world’s appetite,” the enterprise founded by Mohamad
Ballout, Saman Darkan, Bader Ataya, and Andres Arenas enables restaurants and F&B
brands to scale their reach and open delivery-only locations by providing infrastructure
and its own proprietary software with minimal overheads and time. Since its launch in
2018, Kitopi has seen its entity grow at a fast-paced rate- currently, it operates over 60
kitchens in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain, and works with more than 200
brands, including Shake Shack, KLC Virtuals, Luca, Papa Johns and iHOP.
3. • It has even diversified its offerings by utilizing its supply chain to include subscription-based
meal plans and on-demand groceries delivery. And it’s interesting to see how the enterprise’s
plans are further unfolding- in July this year, Kitopi announced that it has successfully raised
$415 million in a Series C led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with the round also joined by Chimera,
Abu Dhabi’s DisruptAD, Riley, Dogus Group, Next Play Capital, and Nordstar.
• Though valuation details remain undisclosed, a Bloomberg report noted that Kitopi had crossed
the $1 billion valuation mark, which makes it the latest Middle East unicorn and the fastest one
yet
4. QUESTIONS
1.What has enabled the emergence of cloud kitchen players like kitopi ?
• The cost of setting up a cloud kitchen, as compared to a traditional dining or shopping
restaurant, is significantly lower, but highly in profit format.
• The kitchen and expert cooks are all necessary for food making. In most cases, a third party
handles the delivery and thus saves the owners a huge amount of money. Even if the owner
of the kitchen decides to deliver orders himself, the costs are considerably lower than the
cost of renting a restaurant and staff serving the food.
• Kitopi allows restaurants to open only delivery locations by providing minimum capital and
time required for infrastructure and software and by ensuring that the entire journey for good
customer experience is taken care of: order receipt and processing, cooking, delivery and
customer feedback management.
• Supply chain management another technology driven area at kitopi, included planning ,procurement,
warehousing and logistics. While the steps were same as in any restaurant operation ,managing them
was different.
5. 2. are the main operational difference between meal preparation in traditional
restaurant and kitopi kitchen ?
6. HOW DOES KITOPI CREATE VALUE FOR
RESTAURANT, CUSTOMER AND FOOD DELIVERY
COMPANIES
• CLOUD KITCHEN LIKE KITOPI CREATE VALUE FOR RESTAURANT BY MAKING
COOKING AND ORDER TAKING IN ONE PLACE IT MAKES THE WORK EASIER
FOR THE RESTAURANT SO THAT THEY CAN INCREASE DAY TO DAY
ORDERS.
• IT REDUCES THE OVERALL COST OF COOKING AND DELIVERY AS WELL AS
THE TIME TO REACH THE CUSTOMER IS REDUCES SIGNIFICANTLY, HENCE
THEY MAXIMIZE THEIR PROFIT.
• THE VALUE FOR THE CUSTOMERS IS LOW COST AND FAST DELIVERY AND
THEY WANT AVAILABILITY OF THEIR VARIED FOOD CHOICES. CLOUD
KITCHEN ENABLES THIS BY HAVING VARIOUS GHOST KITCHENS WITH
MULTIPLE CUISINE TO SATISFY THE CUSTOMER WITH FAST DELIVERY .
• CLOUD KITCHEN BY DEFAULT HAVE VERY HIGH EFFICIENCY THUS THE
AGGREGATORS ARE ASSURED MAXIMUM PROFITS AND VALUE CREATION.
7. SHOULD KITOPI INCREASE ITS B2C ACTIVITIES?
WHY? WHAT OTHER GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES
SHOULD KITOPI PURSUE?
• CURRENT MARKET SCENARIO FAVOURS MORE TO B2C BUSINESS SO IT
WOULD BE PROFITABLE FOR BOTH KITOPI AND CONSUMER BY SWITCHING
IT FROM B2B TO B2C.
• KITOPI WITH THEIR ONE HOUR DELIVERY PROPOSITION ATTRACTED THE
CUSTOMERS AND WOULD MAKE SURE OF THEIR SUPPORT AND LOYALTY
FOR THE B2C IDEA.
• KITOPI CAN EXPAND THEIR BUSINESS TO OTHER LOCATIONS ALL OVER
THE WORLD WOULD BE A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR THEM AS WELL AS
OTHER RESTAURANTS AND ALL OVER THE WORLD.
• KITOPI HAS INVESTED IN MULTIPLE LEADING REGIONAL BRANDS,
INCLUDING CLOUD RESTAURANTS, LEAP NATION, RIGHT BITE, UNDER500,
AND ICHIBAN, MARKING ITS NEXT PHASE OF GROWTH.
• KITOPI WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT AND GROW LICENSED BRANDS
ALONGSIDE ITS PORTFOLIO OF INVESTED BRANDS
8. HOW SHOULD KITOPI THING ABOUT BUILDING A
SAFE GROWTH TRAJECTORY VS OTHER
STAKEHOLDERS
• AUTOMATE OPERATIONS
• IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
• GET LISTED ON FOOD AGGREGATOR AND DELIVERY PLATFORMS
• PARTNER WITH FOOD BLOGGERS ON INSTAGRAM
• IMPLEMENT PENETRATION PRICING
• OPEN A STAND ALONE RESTAURANT